There are some major issues brought up in this book & the author did a good job but should have done some more physical research & actually been around some of the cultures peoples or read up on & listened to them more in any documentary they could acquire. The attempt was more than valent as well as the need for a book like this.
This is a gritty book with antihero main. An alcoholic mess middle aged racist lawyer this side of totally disgraced is drunkenly in a car with a friend when they watch a couple cops pull over a Black man & beat him half to death. SO this lawyer then pulls a mess & gets thrown in jail too trying to get a former fling out of getting arrested a while later & sees the dude again in passing in jail. Later on a few days he and his friend go in & look at computers to see & talk to the same beaten guy working at the store & buy a couple computers from the store guy that was beat who then offers to help them set up after work. Written in almost 50s noir his side kick friend while having some serious issues to being paired with this guy has an altruistic outlook & tries to get some redemption out of his alcoholic buddy in seeing what is more morally/ethically correct. His desire to help the Trinidadian Alec & get the lawyer to represent him which is like pulling hens teeth for multiple reasons. For starter a very real & valid one would be that they were witnesses to what happened. Going against the cops puts bullseyes on their back both with the pair that beat this guy up but any other cop on the force or around. At this point the only way to get anywhere in this case would have been federal realistically. Also, while it was cute for sidekick to reminisce over calling an imperial wizard a grand poobah the same would have gotten him beaten senseless or killed on the spot. There are some other real jagged edges in this but all in all it was a goodd effort on some bad subjects

There is so much to this book and the author brings it together in a way which makes it accessible and not “hard work.” Some very confronting issues are woven into a compelling thriller. I hesitate to use the term gritty but it is a book about resilience, about challenging our own ideals and beliefs and being able to change.

An enjoyable legal thriller with a racist lawyer initially reluctant to defend a coloured man wrongly accused of resisting arrest, an incident witnessed by the lawyer and his best friend. The corrupt police are revealed in the first court case when a hung jury astonishingly results in a mistrial and a second trial becomes necessary. The action speeds up with two murders as the lawyers sometime girlfriend dies after a car crash and a car mechanic dies in an explosion whilst driving the lawyers car! Red necked characters and members of the Klu Klux clan appear as the lawyers racist views change all building to a complex but satisfying conclusion.

Blood On Their Hands by veteran author and journalist Bob Brink is a well-told tale of racism, heroism, and small-town law and order. The story is centered on a criminal defense lawyer who by his admission, is prejudiced against African Americans. The attorney and his friend witness two cops beat a black driver after stopping the driver for a minor traffic offense. Despite the lawyer's bias, his friend cajoles him into defending the black driver. The plot develops nicely and the reader is treated to a modern-day lesson about the evils of ignorance, bias, and hate. Blood On Their Hands is reminiscent of some of our better courtroom/legal dramas. A thoroughly enjoyable and exciting read awaits those fortunate to buy this outstanding novel.