by Laura Coates
First published 2022
Laura Coates joins the Department of Justice with a clear mission: advocate for the most vulnerable. She believes the law can be a force for good, a way to protect those who need it most. But her first cases reveal a different reality. She watches as Black communities face harsher policing than white neighborhoods. She sees Black defendants receive different treatment in courtrooms where minorities appear in numbers that far exceed their share of the population. ICE agents arrest an undocumented witness who came forward to help. A white colleague shows her tactics designed to trap young Black defendants unfairly. A judge blames a sexual assault survivor for her clothing choices. Coates finds herself caught between her ideals and the system's demands. As a Black woman and mother, she faces additional challenges that her colleagues do not. Each case forces her to choose between what feels right and what the law allows. The pursuit of justice, she learns, often creates new injustices.
Genres: african-american, crime, non-fiction, 21st-century, social-justice, legal-thriller
Vibes: emotional, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: social-commentary, systemic-injustice
Setting: Department of Justice, Black Communities, Courtrooms
Period: 21st Century
272 pages · Hardcover · Simon & Schuster
Content warnings: racism, sexism