It is hard to believe that there has not been a novel by Richard North Patterson in nine years. During that time, he has written over 300 essays and articles for a handful of national publications, mostly on politics. In his heyday, I always felt that Patterson should be a household name on the same level as, say, John Grisham. Fortunately, his hiatus from fiction has not allowed any rust to build. In fact, the time he spent mired in national politics has built the foundation for what might be his finest book to date.

It begins on a dark road in rural Georgia. Malcolm Hill, an 18-year-old Black man, is driving home after a day of canvassing houses in support of his well-known mother’s Blue Georgia movement to increase voting in Black neighborhoods. He is facing a couple of problems: he had one too many drinks before getting into his car, and a racist white police officer is waiting to confront him.

"The denouement to this case is for the reader to discover. Let me just say that the trial of Malcolm Hill is one that will and should cause much discussion and debate on both sides of the political spectrum.... [I]t clearly stands above and beyond any recent courthouse thriller I have read."

Officer George Bullock begins harassing Malcolm and makes it clear that he knows exactly who the young man and his mother are. When he grabs the voting registration papers on the passenger seat, he finds a loaded Glock hidden beneath them. He points it at Malcolm, and the two struggle for control. The gun fires, directly into Bullock’s face, killing him instantly.

We are then taken back to Harvard University nearly two decades earlier. Chase Brevard, a wealthy upper-crust New England Democrat from Massachusetts, meets and falls for Allie Hill, one of the few Black female students on campus. Their relationship begins as one of wary, mutual respect when it comes to political bearing; it later turns to physical desire and eventually a love affair. Allie is unable to let her loved ones know about this relationship, especially since she is sleeping with a white man. It is completely against her upbringing and will not be readily accepted by her family or her church. One day, seemingly out of nowhere, Allie announces to Chase that she cannot stay at Harvard any longer and returns home to Georgia, seemingly ending their relationship.

Nineteen years later, the reader already knows that Allie is a voting rights activist and the mother of the now-arrested Malcolm. Chase is a Congressman representing his district in Massachusetts with eyes on the Senate and possibly higher political aspirations. When Chase hears about the case, he reaches out to his old girlfriend to confirm two things: that Malcolm is indeed her son and that he's the father. Chase decides to come down and see what he can do to support Allie and Malcolm.

Meanwhile, the prosecution is knuckling under the pressure to pursue the death penalty. The white supremist mobs that gather in the streets outside both the sheriff’s office and the courthouse are shouting for Malcolm to be killed.

TRIAL goes directly to the heart of the racial division not only in fictional Cade County, Georgia, but throughout the entire nation as well. Patterson does a deep dive into the Black experience in this country, specifically the South, in this weighty tome. The setup and character-building is so complex that we don't get to the actual trial until we are 400 pages in. The good news is that it's well worth the wait.

The denouement to this case is for the reader to discover. Let me just say that the trial of Malcolm Hill is one that will and should cause much discussion and debate on both sides of the political spectrum. While this is no TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, it clearly stands above and beyond any recent courthouse thriller I have read. It also is an extremely timely one for the moment in history we are all living through. Welcome back, Richard North Patterson! I hope you are here to stay.