Featured Reading Guide
Richard North Patterson
Christopher Paget is a trial lawyer with a famous past: as a young investigator in Washington he unearthed a scandal that brought ruin to the President and an abrupt end to his affair with journalist Mary Carelli. Now, fifteen years later, Carelli is a famous TV journalist in New York and Paget is leading a relatively tranquil life raising their son in San Francisco. Until a charge of murder changes everything. The victim a world famous (and infamous) novelist. The accused Mary Carelli. When Paget agrees to defend her, largely for the sake of their son, her claims of attempted rape and self…
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Richard North Patterson has written a number of novels including the international bestsellers, Degree of Guilt , Eyes of a Child , The Final Judgement , Silent Witness , No Safe Place , Dark Lady and Protect and Defend . His novels have won the Edgar Allan Poe Award and the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière. He and his wife, Laurie, live with their family in San Francisco and on Martha’s Vineyard.
topAbout the Book
Christopher Paget is a trial lawyer with a famous past: as a young investigator in Washington he unearthed a scandal that brought ruin to the President and an abrupt end to his affair with journalist Mary Carelli. Now, fifteen years later, Carelli is a famous TV journalist in New York and Paget is leading a relatively tranquil life raising their son in San Francisco. Until a charge of murder changes everything. The victim a world famous (and infamous) novelist. The accused Mary Carelli. When Paget agrees to defend her, largely for the sake of their son, her claims of attempted rape and self-defence seem water-tight. But gradually secrets from her past come to light and Paget is suddenly facing an explosive mix of public trial and personal conflict leaving his own and his son’s fates vulnerable and exposed.
topRichard North Patterson interview/review
Sunday Times, March 1999
“Law is essentially the study of human nature and lawyers are, in a sense, story tellers. They have to construct narratives in order to present their cases in a coherent way and they also need to understand the psychology of their clients, their adversaries, the judge and the jury.”
“I have no regrets about leaving law. Writing is entirely self-defined work and it’s wonderful to have the freedom nowadays to do exactly what I want.”
“But I have no regrets about my legal career either. I wouldn’t be a writer now if I hadn’t been a lawyer first. I think writers need to have a life first so they have something to write about.”
“Readers often try to identify me with the heroes of my books. So far that would make me both gay and straight, both black and white, both male and female. The truth is I’m all of my characters and none of them.”
“I long ago exhausted my fascination with my own life and I’ve moved onto other people’s. I try to create characters of complexity and depth who are true to life, but I’m careful not to simply re-create people I’ve known in my life.”
“As a writer I’m chiefly concerned with exploring the psychological motives of my characters. And I like to think that as well as providing good entertainment I raise some important issues.”
topStarting Points for Discussion
- Rape is a central theme of Degree of Guilt, which shows both the difficulties encountered by women fighting for justice and how rape can be used as a clever defence. Discuss the moral ambiguities of this complex issue.
- Degree of Guilt features several very successful and forceful women – what are the difficulties in male writers constructing female characters, and does North Patterson succeed in making them believable?
- Paget takes on Mary’s case even though he has doubts about the veracity of her story – compare & contrast courtroom ethics with what society deems to be morally acceptable.
- Degree of Guilt features a Marilyn Monroe type actress and her affair with a much-loved, boyishly handsome politician – how and why does North Patterson use real life to inform his fiction?
- The issue of confidentiality runs throughout Degree of Guilt – to whom do the psychiatrists tapes morally belong and what comment is North Patterson making on the American therapy culture?
- There are strong examples of both good parenting and the damage that can be done to children by their mothers and fathers. Discuss the characters attitudes towards parenthood and the roles they play in their children’s lives.
Other Books by Richard North Patterson
Dark Lady
The setting is Steelton, a struggling Midwestern town trying to save its de…
Degree Of Guilt
Christopher Paget is a trial lawyer with a famous past: as a young investigator…
No Safe Place
No Safe Place centres on seven days in a closly contested Presidential pri…
Private Screening
The nation is stunned silent when presidential hopeful James Kilcannon is shot…
Protect And Defend
‘She was a girl, really, with short red hair and a waif-like slimness. But …
Silent Witness
1967, Lake City, Ohio. Tony Lord and Sam Robb, both in their teens, are best…
Suggested Further Reading
- A Time to Kill ~ John Grisham
- Presumed Innocent ~ Scott Turow
- The Simple Truth ~ David Baldacci
- The Big Picture ~ Douglas Kennedy
- The Attorney ~ Steve Martini