83-year-old federal judge publishes his first novel
An 83-year-old federal judge has published his first novel, and it’s received positive reviews from the legal press.
The title of Senior U.S. District Judge Frederic Block’s book is Race to Judgment, reportNew York Law Journal, the Wall Street Journal and Above the Law (in stories here and here). Block previously wrote a memoir about his time on the bench called Disrobed: An Inside Look at the Life and Work of a Federal Trial Judge.
The book, released last fall, is about crusading black lawyer Ken Williams, a character based on the late Brooklyn, New York, district attorney Ken Thompson. In 2013, Thompson challenged incumbent Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes and won the election.
Law.com calls Race to Judgment a “riveting story” that takes the reader “on a fast-paced ride through the underbelly of the New York State criminal justice system.” Its review is by criminal defense lawyer Benjamin Brafman, who finds “personally disturbing” a secondary plot involving a rabbi and incest.
Above the Law’s reviewer, Toni Messina, calls the book “a swift and fun read,” though it “could have been tighter in spots” and “the dialogue more natural.”
Block tells the Journal and Above the Law that he decided to write the book at the suggestion of a friend, another federal judge who had written his own work of fiction. The story is based on cases he has handled over the years.
Block also draws on his musical knowledge in the book. He makes Ken Williams a country music writer, and the songs are available for streaming. “I think of this as my way of competing with John Grisham—can he write music?” Block tells Above the Law in an October interview.
Block says he is working on a sequel called Radical Justice. “It begins with a courtroom being blown up and turns into a whodunit, while exploring the judiciary’s role in the war on terror,” Block says,
One of the characters in his book-in-progress is based on Brafman, Block tells Above the Law.
