David Baldacci’s A Calamity of Souls
David Baldacci, in an Author’s Note at the beginning of A Calamity of Souls, says that he first began this novel more than a decade ago. He was writing in longhand in a journal, not unlike the one his mother once gave him. Balducci grew up in the 1960s and 1970s in Richmond, Virginia, which, he points out, was the capital of the Confederacy. A major street in the city, Monument Avenue, once was lined with statutes celebrating those who fought for the Old South in the Civil War. Four of the statues representing J.E.B. Stuart, Stonewall Jackson, Jefferson Davis, and Matthew Fontaine Maury, were taken down during civil unrest in July 2020, with one of Robert E. Lee disappearing a year later. That some residents of Richmond fought against the removal of the statutes is testament that in the south some things have not changed.
Baldacci, who earned his JD at the University of Virginia, knows his way around a courtroom. He has published 49 novels for adults, many of them legal thrillers. I’ve read them all (I’m a big fan), and I can say that A Calamity of Souls is hands down his best. Anyone who didn’t live through or has forgotten what the the U.S. was like for Blacks after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, will be shocked and ashamed of the violence, indignities, and humiliation they were forced to endure despite a law that was supposed to grant them equality with whites. Be forewarned: some of these passages are difficult to read.
Baldacci took a risk with this legal thriller. He could easily have offended some of his longtime fans. I was heartened when I saw that the majority of reviews on Amazon were five star reviews and those who wrote did so thoughtfully, understanding what the author’s purpose was in tackling such a complicated topic.
Unlike Baldacci, Jack Lee didn’t graduate from a prestigious Law school like UVA. But he passed the Virginia State bar on his first try and went back to his hometown to set up an office, specializing in criminal law. His father, Frank, is a union mechanic for Old Dixie Transport, his mother, Hilly, a homemaker. His sister, Lucy, suffered brain damage after a pregnant Hilly was administered laughing gas by the dentist. Lucy, now 37, is childlike, but Jack loves and protects her. Jack’s brother, Jefferson, enlisted in the Army, fought in Vietnam, and then deserted and fled to Canada, much to the dismay of his father.
Arriving at his parents’ home for his birthday dinner, Jack learns that Miss Jessup, a Black maid who works for a neighbor, had come over to ask for him. Later, Frank drives Jack to Miss Jessup’s home in a rundown part of the city on a street, ironically named Tuxedo Boulevard, where the stench from the city dump is overwhelming. “Somebody’s idea of a joke, I guess,” Frank tells Jack without smiling.
Miss Jessup tells Jack that her granddaughter’s husband, Jerome, was arrested for “killin’ some folks.” She asks Jack to represent him. Later, Jack learns that the two dead people are Leslie and Anne Randolph, from a wealthy and storied white family. Jerome, who was employed by the couple as a handyman, was found in the blood-splattered room where they died, stabbed by what the police believe was a long knife or sword.
Right off the bat, Jack knows he’s in over his head. The locals quickly vilify him for daring to represent a Black man who has been charged with killing a white couple. The warnings and violence start right away, but Jack becomes even more determined to fight for Jerome.
Jack begins to realize the importance of this murder trial for the state when the attorney general himself, Edmund Battle, shows up as the lead prosecutor. Because this case would be Jack’s first capital murder one, the prosecution files a motion to have him dismissed as Jerome’s attorney for not being an “adequate” counsel. The plan is to have Jack replaced with a public defender who would be cowed by Battle. Jack thinks he can defeat the motion, but he receives support from an unlikely source. Desiree DuBose, is a Black woman who works for Legal Aid. Her credentials are impeccable. She graduated from Howard University and then Yale Law School, where she was editor of the Law School Review. She also won a case before the U.S. Supreme Court. While DuBose expects Jack to step back, he’s determined to stay on as first chair. She agrees to be his co-counsel.
While Jack and Desiree make up a formidable pair, they are still up against a racist judge who was once a member of the Ku Klux Klan, and Battle being back by the governor and local power brokers. Those who are incensed that a Black woman, of all things, is now in court defending Jerome, ramp up the violence that will take several innocent lives.
Even if Jack and Desiree manage to get a not guilty verdict or, better yet, find out who really killed the Randolphs, one case will not extinguish racism. That’s pretty clear from the devastating scene at the end of the book. Yet in present time, A Calamity of Souls, now number one on the New York Times’ bestsellers list, will give people a lot to think about and perhaps change some people’s minds. We can only hope.
A Calamity of Souls
David Baldacci
Top photo: Bigstock
