Shadow of the Corps

by James M Dupont

Overview

One stormy afternoon, Dale Riley finds himself standing graveside for a man he barely knew. Two years ago, fresh out of Office Candidate School, Riley was appointed as the defense counsel for Captain Mike Ruffers, a pilot accused of bombing an Afghani village that killed dozens of civilians and five US Marines. The newly deceased Alex Snead was the prosecutor. Ruffers'''' guilt seemed obvious. Everything about this man sent shivers down Riley''''s spine, but it was his duty as a lawyer and a Marine to present the case to the best of his abilities. Snead''''s suspicious death puts Riley directly in the path of an old enemy and a roaming serial killer as his past and present collide. Nothing is as it seems as the line between guilty and innocent, friend and foe, becomes increasingly blurred.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781605984629
Publisher:	Pegasus Books
Publication date:	07/01/2013
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

James M. DuPont is a former Marine Corps aviator and legal officer with twelve years of active duty service, and over 100 combat sorties in Afghanistan and Iraq. He is currently an airline pilot and a major in the Marine Corps reserves. He lives with his family in Charlotte, North Carolina.

What People are Saying About This

Linda Stasi

If you loved Sorkin’s A Few Good Men, DeMille’s Word of Honor, or Wouk’s The Caine Mutiny, then you will grab DuPont’s novel and not let go until the very last sentence. Move over John Grisham, there’s another lawyer in the courtroom—and he’s packing heat. A terrific read.

Editorial Reviews

This uneven debut thriller opens with Sean Fitzsimmons, a cartoonish thug, picking up a gun and cash from a safety deposit box, then cuts to the military funeral of Alex Snead, a Marine Corps lawyer (JAG) who was shot at his home in Raleigh, N.C. In a court-martial held in 2010, Snead prosecuted Capt. Michael Ruffers for the 2009 bombing of an Afghan village that killed 78 Afghans and five Marines, while Dale Riley, another JAG lawyer, successfully defended Ruffers. Promptly drummed out of the Corps, the unemployed Riley is now living with his wife and baby son in his parents’ home in Charlotte. The court-martial serves as mere background for the attempts of the hapless Fitzsimmons to kill those involved with the case, including Riley and Eric Scholl, Riley’s co-counsel who’s now an FBI agent. Dupont clearly knows his way around the Marines and a courtroom, but the narrative is overly complex. Agent: Liza Fleissig, Liza Royce Agency. (July)

Publishers Weekly

Arguably the best novel to appear in this genre since the arrival of Norman Mailer with his debut, The Naked and the Dead, more than six decades ago. In this remarkable debut, high-octane prose explores the nature of evil to shocking effect.

Tony Geraghty

Shadow of the Corps, which dramatizes life and death in a crumbling American empire and contains the most realistic parking-lot shoot-out I’ve ever read, is a great novel of manners. DuPont might well be Jane Austen reincarnated as an ex-Marine living on the edge.

Justin Scott

An exciting debut legal thriller. Shadow of the Corps maintains a heart-pounding adrenaline level, propelling the reader through the story while blocking out everything else.  This is still a stellar start to the former Marine's fiction writing career. A whirlwind thriller that will leave readers breathless and demanding more.

Jen Forbus - Shelf Awareness

Dupont is active in the U.S. Marines, and his first novel uses his knowledge of the service. Former JAG officer Dale Riley has been struggling to put food on his family’s table. His wife and new baby have been forced to move in with his parents, and he’s packing on the pounds. When he learns of a former colleague’s death under tragic circumstances, Riley quickly realizes that the man was murdered, and it’s only the beginning. The killings relate to a case he tried involving an officer and the bombing of a village in Afghanistan. The scandal surrounding that case was enormous, and now it appears it’s payback time. The courtroom scenes are engaging, and there’s something of the film A Few Good Men here, but it’s more like Grisham with blood.

Booklist

If you loved Sorkin’s A Few Good Men, DeMille’s Word of Honor, or Wouk’s The Caine Mutiny, then you will grab DuPont’s novel and not let go until the very last sentence.  Move over John Grisham, there’s another lawyer in the courtroom—and he’s packing heat. A terrific read.

Linda Stasi author of The Sixth Station

Dupont is active in the U.S. Marines, and his first novel uses his knowledge of the service. Former JAG officer Dale Riley has been struggling to put food on his family’s table. His wife and new baby have been forced to move in with his parents, and he’s packing on the pounds. When he learns of a former colleague’s death under tragic circumstances, Riley quickly realizes that the man was murdered, and it’s only the beginning. The killings relate to a case he tried involving an officer and the bombing of a village in Afghanistan. The scandal surrounding that case was enormous, and now it appears it’s payback time. The courtroom scenes are engaging, and there’s something of the film A Few Good Men here, but it’s more like Grisham with blood.

Booklist