Seraphim by Joshua Perry – Review

Joshua Perry worked as a New Orleans Public Defender for ten years. In his debut novel, Seraphim, he writes about two cities. New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina was a thriving economic hub with a sprawling middle class. Post-Katrina, the situation is different. New Orleans has become a magnet for gangsters, conmen and, perhaps worst of all, carpetbagging attorneys – the latter of which is how Ben Adler, Public Defender, describes himself.

When a sixteen-year-old boy confesses to the murder of a local celebrity (and Post-Katrina hero of the city), Adler and his partner, the amusingly named Boris Pasternak, end up representing the boy. Adler knows that the chances of his client receiving any kind of justice, he suspects that the confession is false, are slim. Perry gives numerous anecdotal examples of the New Orleans justice system in a state of dysfunction. His style is to mix black comedy with a simmering indignation. In fact, Seraphim a triumphant mixture of styles. As a legal thriller, it hurtles towards an explosive climax in the best tradition of the novels of Scott Turow or John Grisham, As a literary novel, it is alive with beautiful prose that will haunt you for long afterwards.

In a past life, Ben Adler was a rabbinical seminary student. He rejected his calling to work for a system he knows his corrupt, but hopes to profit from. Until this case turns his life upside down. Seraphim is a compelling read.