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About the Book

About the Book

Race to Judgment

RACE TO JUDGMENT is a "reality-fiction" debut novel loosely based on a number of high-profile cases handled by its author, a federal trial court judge, over his 23 years on the federal bench in Brooklyn --- such as the Crown Heights riots and the Peter Gotti trial.

It tracks the rise of the fictional African-American civil rights protagonist Ken Williams (in real life, the recently deceased Brooklyn DA Ken Thompson) from his days as an Assistant United States Attorney through his meteoric rise to unseat the long-term, corrupt Brooklyn DA because of a spate of phony convictions against black defendants, including another one of the judge's real cases (JoJo Jones in the book) for the murder of a Hasidic rabbi. Williams' dramatic courtroom antics (with the aid of his colorful private eye) results in JoJo's exoneration after 16 years behind bars. In addition, Williams defends a young black guidance counselor accused of killing the rabbi's son many years ago, and champions the cause of a young Hasidic woman raped by her father.

As a hobby, Williams plays jazz piano and writes country songs written by the author --- which are reproduced in the book and can be heard on eBooks and the Internet.

Race to Judgment
by Frederic Block

  • Publication Date: October 10, 2017
  • Genres: Fiction, Suspense, Thriller
  • Hardcover: 368 pages
  • Publisher: SelectBooks
  • ISBN-10: 1590794389
  • ISBN-13: 9781590794388