Whenever I review a new title from David Baldacci, I always marvel at how this prolific writer remains fresh and interesting with each release. That being said, his latest novel, A CALAMITY OF SOULS, is completely different. It took him 10 years to complete, and it may be not only one of his finest books to date, but quite possibly his most important.

Two sheriff’s deputies from Freeman County, Virginia, open this story with the apprehension and brutal beating of a Black man who has been arrested as the only possible suspect in the murder of his elderly white employers. The accused is Jerome Washington, and the victims are the extremely wealthy Leslie and Anne Randolph.

"There are so many twists in this unpredictable thriller, with some serious instances of human depravity sprinkled in for good measure, that it reads like a literary classic."

Defense attorney John Robert Lee, who goes by Jack, has been making a name for himself but is about to become aligned with a case that seems impossible to win or receive any justice for. While visiting his parents, he receives a message that Miss Jessup had called there for him and needed to speak with him. She has been known to the family for decades and is a well-respected maid to one of their neighbors.

Jack and his father take a ride to the Black part of town to meet with Miss Jessup. She proceeds to tell Jack that her son-in-law, Jerome, was wrongfully arrested for the Randolphs’ murder. Employed by them as a handyman, he found their bloodied, lifeless bodies in their bedroom as deputies arrived. The law wants to railroad Jerome for this gruesome double homicide and is already threatening the death penalty.

Jack meets with Jerome and is shocked by how badly beaten and injured he is. The assigned defense attorney did nothing to help Jerome and merely moved along with the prosecution’s case. Jack believes Jerome, a decorated Vietnam veteran, and agrees to defend him. Keep in mind that the book’s setting is the late 1960s, shortly after the assassinations of MLK and RFK, when there is little to no chance for a Black man in these circumstances to escape the death penalty in the South.

As Jack begins to look into the matter, he receives almost a complete wall of resistance and hatred. When the prosecution brings in a heavy hitter from out of town, he realizes the magnitude and importance of this case. And the likelihood of an all-white jury does not make this uphill task any easier.

Assisting Jack is Desiree DuBose, a Black lawyer who specifically works on racially charged cases such as this one. She is well-educated, well-spoken and unlike anything the courthouse in Freeman County has ever seen. Not only does this unwinnable case weigh on Jack, his team is faced with dirty surprise upon dirty surprise.

David Baldacci has done such an outstanding job plotting this lengthy tale that there is not much I can say about this intense case without giving away something juicy. There are so many twists in this unpredictable thriller, with some serious instances of human depravity sprinkled in for good measure, that it reads like a literary classic. A CALAMITY OF SOULS is indeed an important novel, one that Baldacci was born to write and a story to which only he could do justice.