THE ONE-EYED JUDGE
by
Michael Ponsor
The One-Eyed Judge is the second novel
written by Michael Ponsor, a U.S. District Court judge for the District of
Massachusetts, about Judge David Norcross, also a Massachusetts federal judge.
As I loved Ponsor’s first novel, The
Hanging Judge (see review dated
October 28, 2014), I jumped at the opportunity to read The One-Eyed Judge. And once again, Ponsor does not disappoint.
Child
pornography. That is the gruesome crime with which Professor Stanley Cranmer is
charged. Ironic, as Cranmer is an English professor at Amherst College,
specializing in Lewis Carroll. After the case is assigned to Judge Norcross,
his life is thrown into turmoil – and not just because his girlfriend is a
colleague and friend of Cranmer’s.
While reading
The One-Eyed Judge, I was reminded of
what I wrote while reviewing The Hanging
Judge: as a lawyer and former federal judicial law clerk, Ponsor’s fiction
is just the sort of book that I usually avoid. But, Ponsor masterfully incorporates
his many years of experience on the federal bench, and The One-Eyed Judge is a realistic and gripping legal thriller.
I
thoroughly enjoyed The One-Eyed Judge,
and I cannot wait to read the next Judge Norcross novel.
