No Physical Evidence

Joshua Jin is one of the more interesting protagonists to come along in mystery fiction for quite a while. The Sacramento Chinese American D.A.'s professional life has fallen apart following the death of his daughter and the departure of his wife. So mired in grief that he dissolves in tears while trying a man for murder, he's exiled to an out-of-the-way department where he's handed a politically charged Chinatown child rape case and told to make it go away. It shouldn't be hard, because there's no physical evidence, and the victim, a 13-year-old girl, won't name the man police know was responsible. Further, the perpetrator is represented by a brilliant criminal defense lawyer who happens to be the woman Jin jilted for his soon-to-be-ex wife. But Jin realizes that his personal salvation depends on fighting a system that would ignore a little girl's pain.

This gripping courtroom drama ranks with the best of Scott Turow in its brilliant depiction of the inner reaches of the human soul; the final pages throw a curve that you won't see coming. Lee's voice in this second novel (after China Boy) is confident, sure, and passionate, and his characters memorable and resonant. This is a novel with great heart, and Lee is a writer to watch. --Jane Adams

A lawyer divided between cultures and torn by grief. A gripping, page-turning plot. An intense courtroom showdown. Acclaimed author Gus Lee combines these elements into an electrifying novel of legal suspense as several lives hinge on the verdict in one shocking case.

Joshua Jin is a deputy district attorney whose life is in crisis and his job in jeopardy. Now he is handed a politically charged Chinatown case involving the rape of a thirteen-year-old girl. The victim refuses to talk. The ex-con charged with the crime was arrested on a hunch. And . . . there is no physical evidence.

As an Asian-American prosecutor, Jin is under immense pressure from Chinatown to win a conviction. First, however, he must earn the confidence of his stone-silent client, a distant, troubled teenager who trusts no one. Working against a brilliant, high-priced defense attorney who wants nothing more than to crush the opposition--particularly when her opposition is Josh Jin--he throws his heart and soul into an impossible case that is far more explosive than he had ever imagined.

A stunning courtroom drama pulsing with the rhythm of the streets and the politics of the Asian-American experience, No Physical Evidence is fast, furious, and surprising: a passionate novel of crime, punishment, and ultimate redemption.