Primal Fear first in Martin Vail series

Paperback

Condition: Good

William Diehl has written five previous best-sellers; each of them superb; selling millions of copies around the world. Yet nothing he has done before can prepare you for Primal Fear. In Chicago; a sainted archbishop is slain; mutilated; and dismembered in his rectory. Moments after the murder; an angelic-looking young man; Aaron Sampler; is found crouched in a confessional; covered with blood and clutching a butcher knife - but swearing he is innocent of the heinous act. Enter attorney Martin Vail. Vail is so good at his job; he's managed to infuriate every judge; prosecutor; and politician in Illinois. Now they're paying him back - by forcing him to defend Aaron Sampler and plead a case he cannot possibly win. But Vail is no ordinary lawyer; and the legal team he assembles is no ordinary backup squad. There's Jack Scalding; and ex-judge whose main passions in life are playing the horses and arguing the law; Tommy Goodman; Vail's top investigator; an ex-boxer studying to be a lawyer so he can follow in Vail's footsteps; Molly Arrington; a young and beautiful psychiatrist; and the one who is the first to understand the extraordinary truth that lies behind the killing of the archbishop. Once Vail begins to do what he does best - figure all the angles - so begins a court battle worthy of Presumed Innocent and a nightmare of terror every bit as horrifying as The Silence of the Lambs. A featured alternate selection of the Literary Guild; and soon to be a major motion picture from Paramount Pictures; Primal Fear is a novel of brilliant suspense; memorable characters; and superb plotting; setting it apart as the thriller of the year.