Tiffany & Co.-wearing, 5k-running corporate lawyer Grace Hargrove is one step away from the merger that would mint her position as partner at DC’s most elite law firm, Simon & Hunt. Instead she’s assigned a pro bono case as a “victim’s rights attorney” for some firm bigwig’s niece and sees the goal she’s worked her entire career go up in flames. Out of options, Grace grudgingly meets with young Georgetown student Jacqueline Adams, “a spoiled kid who has had everything handed to her.” But as Grace gets to know Jacqueline, her perception of this “Daddy’s princess” changes. She can’t help but admire Jacqueline’s bravery for speaking up—even as her story reminds Grace too much of her own traumatic past.
Based in contemporary Washington, DC, Ashley Norman’s GRACE’S LAW is part legal thriller, part mystery, part women’s fiction. Centering as it does on sexual violence and its fallout, the novel would benefit from detailed trigger warnings. To represent Jacqueline’s interests “to the prosecution, to law enforcement, and to any other third party,” Grace must navigate a complex tangle of laws that often deliver more trauma than justice. Equally challenging is defending her client in the court of public opinion, where the “onus is on Jacqueline to be a ‘good’ victim [and] check the boxes—a good victim would fight, a good victim wouldn’t wear a dress, a good victim wouldn’t ever smile at the rapist.” But when another shocking crime is committed, the rape trial is derailed and the case becomes more dire than anyone imagined.
While topically anchored in the real world, Norman’s uneven narrative pacing leaves police investigations and court proceedings feeling rushed, eroding their gravitas. In the same vein, a minor love-interest side plot changes from sweet to vaguely inappropriate to trite and back in the rush. All of which may challenge some readers’ suspension of disbelief. Norman’s writing is cogent, well copyedited, and, at times, unflinchingly personal. While supported by a colorful cast of characters, it’s Grace who drives the novel and receives the most nuanced characterization. She is a woman not easily categorized; readers will likely empathize with and dislike her in turn. As Grace’s personal history unfolds alongside Jacqueline’s case, however, Norman demonstrates how the myth of “good” victimhood, where one “must live up to society’s expectations of her behavior to be believed,” has never been anything but harmful.
GRACE’S LAW is author Ashley Norman’s well-written, fast-paced and timely novel of the prejudice and struggle survivors of sexual violence face in the pursuit of justice, even in the #MeToo era.
~R. Poore for IndieReader