While Justice Sleeps : A Novel

Notes From Your Bookseller

Stacey Abrams: American politician, lawyer, voting rights activist, bestselling non-fiction author AND author of pseudonymously penned romance novels. Can we stop, swoon and repeat right now? Yes. Yes, we can. Because NOW we add THRILLER novelist to her accolades. They say it’s best to write what you know, and we think the title says it all.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ? A gripping, complexly plotted thriller set within the halls of the U.S. Supreme Court, where a young law clerk finds herself embroiled in a shocking mystery crafted by one of the most preeminent judges in America–from celebrated national leader and bestselling author Stacey Abrams.

„Abrams follows in Dan Brown’s footprint with this masterfully plotted thriller that unfolds like the ultimate chess match–bold move to bolder move with lives hanging in the balance.“–Lisa Gardner, author of Before She Disappeared

„A first-class legal thriller, favorably compared to many of the best, starting with The Pelican Brief, which it brings to mind. It’s fast-paced and full of surprises–a terrific read.“–Scott Turow, author of Presumed Innocent

Avery Keene, a brilliant young law clerk for the legendary Justice Howard Wynn, is doing her best to hold her life together-excelling in an arduous job with the court while also dealing with a troubled family. When the shocking news breaks that Justice Wynn-the cantankerous swing vote on many current high-profile cases-has slipped into a coma, Avery’s life turns upside down. She is immediately notified that Justice Wynn has left instructions for her to serve as his legal guardian and power of attorney. Plunged into an explosive role she never anticipated, Avery finds that Justice Wynn had been secretly researching one of the most controversial cases before the court-a proposed merger between an American biotech company and an Indian genetics firm, which promises to unleash breathtaking results in the medical field. She also discovers that Wynn suspected a dangerously related conspiracy that infiltrates the highest power corridors of Washington.

As political wrangling ensues in Washington to potentially replace the ailing judge whose life and survival Avery controls, she begins to unravel a carefully constructed, chesslike sequence of clues left behind by Wynn. She comes to see that Wynn had a much more personal stake in the controversial case and realizes his complex puzzle will lead her directly into harm’s way in order to find the truth. While Justice Sleeps is a cunningly crafted, sophisticated novel, layered with myriad twists and a vibrant cast of characters. Drawing on her astute inside knowledge of the court and political landscape, Stacey Abrams shows herself to be not only a force for good in politics and voter fairness but also a major new talent in suspense fiction.

Editorial Reviews

„Supremely entertaining…A page-turner, plot-driven in the extreme…It succeeds brilliantly.“–The Boston Globe

„Stacey Abrams delivers a taut, twisty thriller, drawing the reader into the hallowed halls of the Supreme Court along the strands of a complex web of politics, raw ambition and deadly deception.“–Nora Roberts

„While Justice Sleeps is a mesmerizing legal thriller that does the rare thing: It uses the novel to get at the truth. Stacey Abrams is a powerful new voice in fiction.“–Michael Connelly

„In While Justice Sleeps, Stacey Abrams firmly establishes herself as a powerful new player in the crime thriller space, with her heroine Avery providing a voice to women everywhere. Twisty, clever and full of surprises, this will be one to watch this Spring. Abrams proves she is not only a force for change in politics but a force to be reckoned with in fiction, too.“–Karin Slaughter

„Glossy, gritty, breathlessly suspenseful, effortlessly authentic, and altogether wonderful. Why am I not surprised?“–Lee Child

„A political-legal thriller that should hold the reader rapt from its opening line . . . to the extraordinary climactic courtroom scene that turns the plot upside down with ironic flair and utter conviction.“–Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

„Twisty good fun. . . . As the stakes rise, and murderous villains lurk, readers come to understand that horrific moral and ethical boundaries have been crossed. The unfolding morality tale, ‘the labyrinthine game the law demanded,’ plays out in the final fireworks scene at the Supreme Court. Abrams plays it to the hilt.“–The Christian Science Monitor

„Abrams’ debut is a pip of a thriller – a sweaty-palm sprint through the hidden corridors of government and the shadowy streets of DC. I fervently hope she will write many more.“–Kathy Reichs

„While Justice Sleeps is one of the best political thrillers I’ve read in years. It checks all the boxes: roller-coaster plot twists and turns, a fascinating look behind the scenes of the Supreme Court and other Washington institutions, nods to the latest trends in tech and medicine, and, most important of all, an utterly compelling main character, Supreme Court clerk Avery Keene. Author Abrams has given us a book that demands to be read in one sitting!“–Jeffery Deaver

„A killer thriller. Loaded with legal intrigue, corrupt politicians, and the history of chess, Abrams proves why the most powerful piece on the board is the Queen. Well played and so much fun.“–Brad Meltzer

„While Justice Sleeps is a legal thriller of the highest order. Its crisp prose and high-octane plot call to mind the best of John Grisham, but Avery Keene is a fresh, modern heroine entirely of Abrams’ own making. Abrams is now on my ‘automatic pre-order’ list of authors. An absolutely phenomenal read.“–Cristina Alger

„When it comes to the law and the fight to save democracy, Stacey Abrams knows what she’s talking about. While Justice Sleeps also proves that she knows how to craft a compelling and suspenseful mystery.“–Mark Billingham

„[Abrams] displays her considerable talent for fiction in this gripping legal thriller. Shadowy figures….earth-shattering consequences….[a] deadly knot of deception….fiendishly intricate clues leading to a horrifying secret that implicates powerful and dangerous people. The buzz is loud and wholly deserved for this shrewd and exciting legal thriller by prominent voter-rights activist and best-selling Abrams.“–Booklist (starred review)

„Abrams keeps the plot churning, concentrating on the myriad power plays that go on behind the scenes as she brings in greed, a controversial merger between a biotech and a genetics firm, and self-centered politicians.“–The South Florida Sun Sentinel

– From the Publisher

01/01/2021

In When Justice Sleeps, Abrams takes a break from her considerable political responsibilities to craft a legal thriller featuring Avery Keene, who clerks for Supreme Court Justice Wynn and takes over the background investigation of a key case when he falls into a coma. In Hairpin Bridge, Adams’s No Exit follow-up, Lena Nguyen doesn’t believe that estranged twin sister Cambry committed suicide; otherwise, she likely wouldn’t have called 911 16 times before her death (100,000-copy first printing). In Hummel’s Lesson in Red, follow-up to the Reese’s Book Club x Hello Sunshine pick Still Lives, Maggie Richter faces another artworld mystery. In Edgar-nominated, New York Times best-selling author McCreight’s Friends Like These, a bachelor party in the Catskills is a cover for a staged intervention to help one of the guests, but someone ends up dead (75,000-copy first printing). Abducted from her found-religion parents’ isolated Arkansas homestead and returned unharmed yet still treated as damaged, teenage Sarabeth gladly makes her exit, but in International Thriller Writer Award winner McHugh’s What’s Done in Darkness, she gets called back five years later to help with a copycat crime. Following Mangin’s nationally best-selling Tangerine, Palace of the Drowned stars flailing British novelist Frankie Croy, who is staying in a friend’s vacant Venice palazzo in 1966 while struggling to regain her early writing promise and doesn’t quite trust a fan who comes her way (200,000-copy first printing). Having had a huge international best seller with The Silent Patient, Michaelides aims for another winner in his Untitled new work (one-million-copy first printing). Following the New York Times best-selling, Reese Witherspoon-optioned Something in the Water, Steadman returns with The Disappearing Act, about a British actress who realizes that she’s the only witness to the disappearance of a woman she auditioned with during Hollywood’s harried pilot season.
– Library Journal

2021-01-27
A progressive superstar pens her first political thriller.

Anyone who follows the news knows Abrams as a politician and voting rights activist. She’s less well known as a novelist. Using the pseudonym Selena Montgomery, Abrams has published several works of romantic suspense. Her new novel begins when Supreme Court Justice Howard Wynn falls into a coma. His clerk Avery Keene is shocked to discover that her boss has made her his legal guardian and granted her power of attorney. The fate of one of the most powerful men in the world is in her hands–and her life is in danger. Abrams gives us nefarious doings in the world of biotech, a president with autocratic tendencies and questionable ethics, and a young woman struggling to unravel a conspiracy while staying one step ahead of the people who want her out of the way. Unfortunately, the author doesn’t weave these intriguing elements into an enjoyable whole. Abrams makes some odd word choices, such as this: „The intricate knot she had twisted into her hair that morning bobbed cunningly as she neared her office.“ The adverb cunningly is mystifying, and Abrams uses it in a similar way later on. There are disorienting shifts in point of view. And Abrams lavishes a great deal of attention on details that simply don’t matter, which makes the pace painfully slow. This is a fatal flaw in a suspense novel, but it may not be the most frustrating aspect of this book. For a protagonist who has gotten where she is by being smart, Avery makes some stunningly poor decisions. For example, the fact that she has a photographic memory is an important plot point and is clearly a factor in Justice Wynn’s decision to enlist her help. When she finds a piece of paper upon which is printed a long string of characters and the words „BURN UPON REVIEW,“ Avery memorizes the lines of numbers and letters–and then, even though she knows she’s being surveilled, she snaps a shot of the paper with her phone, thereby making the whole business of setting it on fire quite pointless.

More of a curiosity for political junkies than a satisfying story of international intrigue.
– Kirkus Reviews