While Justice Sleeps
Stacey Abrams
#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. more
367 pages, Hardcover
First published Bantam Doubleday Dell/Penguin Random House Publishing Group/Bertelsmann
3.96
Rating
40007
Ratings
4769
Reviews
Stacey Abrams
23 books 2182 followers
Stacey Abrams is an American politician, lawyer, author, and businesswoman who was the house minority leader for the Georgia General Assembly and state representative for the 89th House District. She is a Democrat. Abrams is a candidate in the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial election.If elected, Abrams will be Georgia's first female governor and the first black female governor in the United States.
Abrams, one of six siblings, was born to Robert and Carolyn Abrams in Madison, Wisconsin and raised in Gulfport, Mississippi. The family moved to Atlanta where her parents pursued graduate school and later became Methodist ministers. She attended Avondale High School and was the school's first African-American valedictorian. While in high school, she was hired as a typist for a congressional campaign and was later hired as a speechwriter at age 17 based on the edits she made while typing.
In 1995, Abrams earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Interdisciplinary Studies (Political Science, Economics and Sociology) from Spelman College, magna cum laude. While in college, Abrams worked in the youth services department in the office of Atlanta mayor Maynard Jackson. She later interned at the Environmental Protection Agency. As a Harry S. Truman Scholar, she studied public policy at the University of Texas at Austin's LBJ School of Public Affairs and went on to earn her J.D. from Yale Law School.
Abrams worked as a tax attorney at the Sutherland Asbill & Brennan law firm in Atlanta, with a focus on tax-exempt organizations, health care and public finance. She was appointed the Deputy City Attorney for Atlanta at age 29.
Abrams co-founded and served as the senior vice president of NOW Corp. (formerly NOWaccount Network Corporation), a financial services firm. She co-founded Nourish, Inc., a beverage company with a focus on infants and toddlers, and is CEO of Sage Works, a legal consulting firm, that has represented clients including the Atlanta Dream of the WNBA.
Abrams has had an extensive writing career, penning several best-selling novels under the nom de plume of Selina Montgomery. Abrams is also the author of 'Minority Leader', a book of leadership advice to be published by Henry Holt & Co. in April 2018.
Community reviews
Me on Nov 6, 2020: A Stacey Abrams novel. It could be the word “vote” for 80,000 words and it gets five stars from me. Me in March 2021 when I read the book: It turns out Stacey Abrams can write a DAMN good legal/medical thriller. This is a story about a supreme court with a swing vote, a judge in a coma, and a law clerk-turned legal guardian who is left to solve a mystery that will change the country’s future. This is a brilliant and brainy thriller that involves genetic bioengineering, political prowess, and a lot of chess. more
Stacey Abrams, lawyer and Georgia Democratic political rockstar when it comes to voting rights, showcases her ability to write a complex, taut and riveting legal thriller, featuring the extraordinary Avery Keene, a protagonist in the vein of Grisham's Darby Shaw in The Pelican Brief, memorably played by Julia Roberts in the movie. Avery is the law clerk, with an eidetic memory, to the brilliant if cantankerous, Justice Howard Wynn, so often the critical swing vote in the Supreme Court. Her life becomes a deadly and challenging nightmare when Wynn slides into a coma, apparently he is a sufferer of Boursin's Syndrome, and shockingly he has appointed her his legal guardian with power of attorney. This is an act that enrages the President, Brandon Stokes, and Celeste, Wynn's wife who wants to switch off his life support. The suspicions of Homeland Security's Major Will Vance and the FBI are aroused, whilst the intense media scrutiny is behind the public shredding of her reputation, discrediting her professionalism, and questioning her integrity, nothing and no-one is off limits, including Avery's drug addict mother, Rita. more
First and foremost, we should appreciate how talented this woman is. In the midst of helping to sway a national election and two senator races, Stacey Abrams wrote and edited a nearly 400-page thriller. And not just a boilerplate thriller, either, but one replete with genetics, chess theories, Supreme Court operating procedures, company mergers, political hierarchies, and a bunch of other moments of textured research I am surely forgetting. Some people are too talented-- can't she share some of her skillset with others. We start out with a rollicking first chapter, laying the ground for a complex thriller, posing several juicy questions to chomp into. more
Praise for "While Justice Sleeps", a masterfully plotted legal drama, a cracking political thriller, and a live game of chess where the puzzle and plot is unravelled by deciphering a series of cryptic moves on a chess board. Avery Keene, a bright law clerk for the legendary and sometimes controversial Justice Howard Wynn, is thrust into the spotlight when she is appointed legal guardian and power of attorney for Justice Wynn during a political crisis. Wynn, a prominent judge has slipped into a coma ahead of a very important political and ethical vote that draws out his many enemies, and conspirators who will stop at nothing to keep hidden dark and damaging secrets including those who seek to influence the vote to their own ends. The book “While Justice Sleeps” is a brilliant and complex suspense thriller that takes us from the corridors of Washington to India, involving an American biotech company and an Indian genetics firm. Avery tries to uncover what Wynn has been secretly researching by unravelling a sequence of chess board clues left by Justice Wynn, putting herself and others in danger. more
Wow, I REALLY wanted to like this, but it was tough to get through. It is dense with unnecessary knowledge, which I guess showcases how smart Stacey Abrams is but does not make for a good read. She included every detail but a compelling story in this one. more
this was my first legal thriller and i might need to get into this genre because it was so much FUN. it reminded me of how to get away with murder . more
While Justice Sleeps by Stacey Abrams is a 2021 Doubleday publication. When Justice Howard Wynn slips into a coma, all hell breaks loose. His law clerk, Avery Keene, has been given the power of attorney for the judge- not his wife, not his son… Avery. And she has no idea why he would do that. Naturally, this doesn’t sit too well with many people. more
I wanted to like this more than I did, but it's just not very exciting. There are a million characters to keep track of, and the third person omniscient POV makes for some jarring narration (there are occasionally passages where we jump into a character's POV for one paragraph or a few sentences before switching again). That, in conjunction with an abundance of unnecessary detail and some truly bizarre syntax and diction that read like Abrams wrote with a thesaurus tab open on her browser, make for a not-entirely-enjoyable reading experience. There are some really fun elements, like the chess theme, but not enough for this to rise above "kinda good. ". more
This story is much longer than necessary to its detriment. Seriously, a junkie mom. Are you kidding me. What's that got to do with justice. Cutting 1/3 of this would have made it better. more
Even if it wasn't the legend Stacey Abrams writing this book, it still sounds really good. A murder mystery on the Supreme Court. I mean, who wouldn't want to read this. more
An engaging and well written political conspiracy thriller with a President who is rotten to the core. Hard to believe really. . more
Every time I teach my Reading class, I ask my students to read a book from a genre they don't usually read, and then I try to do the same, although I've done this enough I'm now turning to subgenres. I've read thrillers, but never a legal thriller. Avery Keene is the law clerk for one of the Supreme Court justices, and when he falls into a coma, she finds herself named his legal guardian. She is thrown into international intrigue and a string of hidden documents that only she can solve. The audiobook includes an intro by Abrams, where she talks about the publishing journey that began in 1995, where publishers felt some of the characters were too unrealistic - a president out for his own financial gain, justices of questionable character, etc. more
"Knowing the law isn't about the school (you went to), it's about the mind, the heart, about understanding what the law intends as much as reading beneath what it says. Knowing how to find one's way to the truth. "This legal thriller was a nice breather from my usual selections. I knew Stacey Abrams had written romance novels under a pseudonym, but I have no interest in that genre. When I read she had written this novel, my interest was piqued. more
Stacie, Stacie, what have you done. I love you, love all the work you do to make my country better, and to make my country honest. But this book is a dump. Abrams has written many romance novels under a pseudonym, and she has proven she can write. However, she needed to hire a professional editor for this novel. more
Okay, so not only did she practically save American democracy, but girlfriend can write a DAMN GOOD BOOK. Wow, am I impressed. I was a little cautious stepping into this one, Stacey Abrams is a political rockstar, and I knew she had written many romance novels to moderate success, but writing a thriller is a particular skill set that authors just either have or they don’t, and believe me, she’s got it. This book is INTENSE, JUICY, and a page turner. I mean she threw everything at us here and I loved it. more
This is an interesting legal/medical thriller. The book is well written. The story is plot driven. The reader must stay alert as the story has many moving parts. The characters are interesting. more
I have been an admirer of the remarkable Stacey Abrams since she was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 2007. This talented and courageous woman has presented a political thriller that delivers an exciting plot that primarily can gain accolades as spine tingling entertainment. Additionally, she obliquely raises concerns about the structure of the American political system while maintaining a focus on her mesmerizing storyline. Avery Keene is a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Howard Wynn. She is a biracial child with a drug addicted mother. more
Stacey Abrams is a force to contend with. Brilliant, visionary and dedicated to justice, she shines like a brilliant star. This being her debut novel, I assumed her intelligence and political background would play roles, but never fathomed she'd craft a high velocity political crime mystery such as this. Avery Keene is a young, dedicated law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Howard Wynn, the swing vote on countless cases for decades. When he's rushed to the hospital in a coma, the reader is immersed into a labyrinth akin to a Sherlock Holmes plot, filled with ciphers, oddball clues and 'chess moves'. more
3. 5 stars - This was a really fun and effective political thriller. Things went a little off the rails in the last third, but as a whole, this is a thought provoking and entertaining take on a political mystery thriller with a splash of medical ethics thrown in. more
Excellent book, perfect for those who love sophisticated or political thrillers. The story centers around Avery, a young law clerk whose thrust into a world of international intrigue and investigation into genealogical warfare. Her employer and mentor slips into a catatonic state just as his status on the Supreme Court proves immensely important to a merger of a technological and biological firm. The sequential events that follow take the reader on a ride filled with unearthed secrets, hidden clues, complicated riddles and a trail of dead bodies to account for as Avery tried to dodge the chaos to find the truth and secure democracy. I loved this book, and have never really read anything like it. more
I wanted to love this book, the synopsis and the author made it an irresistible choice to read. But, it wasn’t fast and taut enough for a political thriller, although it is a worthy performance by a well-known public figure turned author. WHILE JUSTICE SLEEPS pits an irascible Supreme Court Justice against a President he abhors. The Justice is suffering from a disease that forces him to act obliquely. He just hopes the clerk he has treated like furniture for several years is able to solve his chess problem aka his final wishes. more
First off, 5 stars. no, actually all the stars. for Stacey Abrams, champion of democracy. tho as evident by my rating, perhaps not not champion of political/legal thrillers. It feels like it's been a long time since I read this kind of book after being on a steady diet of the likes of Grisham and Clancy (and many others) in the 1990s (is that when they were all the rage. more
A political thriller with pharma companies, FBI, Homeland Security, cutting edge medical research, the White House, conspiracy theories, there’s a hell of a lot going on in this book and it somehow manages to come out the other end in a satisfying and exciting conclusion. I won’t go into the spiel as it’s fairly complicated and the publishers have done a pretty good job in their synopsis anyway. There is a lot to take in. It’s information heavy and it’s kind of one of its weaknesses in a way. There is so much going on that has to be explained, it can take away from the pacing of the book. more
QUICK TAKE: I read this one a few months ago and am way late in posting my review, so apologies if this one is a little vague. here's what I can tell you: this was an enjoyable legal thriller reminiscent of classic Grisham, with a great female protagonist at the center. I could have done with a little less "you were sleeping with the judge, weren't you" from literally every single character, but otherwise I think there's a lot to like and recommend in this one, and I would definitely prioritize a sequel if superhero Stacey Abrams manages to find time between saving the world to write another. more
While justice sleeps, Stacey Abrams smothers it with a pillow. . more
Always looking for new and exciting authors, I turned to this political thriller by Stacey Abrams. Having heard of her political aspirations, I was keen to see how Abrams would handle writing and entertaining the larger public. The story, full of political and mystery themes, kept my attention throughout and explores some unique US constitutional aspects. With the reader always waiting for the other shoe to drop, the story gains momentum until a tense reveal in the final chapters. Abrams has made quite the impact and I am eager to see about getting the second novel in the series to see if things stay as intense. more
Avery is a clerk working for Justice Howard Wynn, who is the swing vote on many high profile cases. After an erratic event Justice Wynn overdoses and falls into a coma. Avery is shocked to learn he has appointed her as his power of attorney over both his son and ex wife even though they don't have a close relationship. She's already dealing with the resurgence of a drug addicted mother demanding cash and as she soon discovers there are a lot of people who want Justice Wynn dead and don't mind taking her out in the process. Teaming up with his son Jared and his lawyer Nick she must put together the cryptic clues he left behind about his research on a foreign genetics company with nefarious ties. more
Before reading: I did not think this was real at first. OMG a thriller from the epic Stacey Abrams. I AM EXCITED. After reading: 2-3 stars (rounding up bc it's SA). I wasn't a fan. more
I expected a lot from this, and I struggled. It was a slow start, which usually doesn't seem to draw me in, and the political jargon lost me pretty quickly after that. I read a lot of legal thrillers so was able to follow most of the Supreme Court scenes, but by then I was pretty sure I had no idea what was going on. As this was the audiobook, I would like to try the ebook as I think the quality of the audio also affected my experience. . more