Above the Law

"Justice is not an option ...

A gangland shootout on London's streets - a policeman's daughter cut down in the crossfire - a Yardie gunman thrown into jail. But is Yardie assassin Earl Whitely really guilty? And if he isn't, why is he too terrified to name the real killers?

Plunged into this world of shadows is Andrea Chambers, who left the Bar a decade ago after losing custody of her mixed race son, Calvin. But not only is Calvin Earl's best friend, he is also the Yardie's only lifeline. For through her son, Earl can force Andrea back into the courts. He can compel her to confront her demons, to defend the indefensible, and to take on the most charismatic and sinister power-broker in the underworld: DCI John Hogarth of the Met's Organised Crime Task Force.

A senior officer fighting back against crime by breaking the law .. a mother torn between her duty to the truth and her loyalty to her son ... a world of unspeakable violence and corruption all around us, spiralling out of control ...

With gun crime escalating in our cities and the biggest police corruption inquiry for a generation, Dias' Above the Law is torn from today's headlines - and offers a glimpse of tomorrow's.There is only one place to find justice in this country. And that is on the street.

Dexter Dias is a practising banister, specialising in high profile criminal and civil liberties cases. He chose to join a set of chambers specifically created to represent those defendants and litigants disadvantaged by poverty and discrimination. During the 1990s, he began to appear in an almost unbroken sequence of murder, manslaughter, international drugs and terrorist trials, representing some of the most dangerous, violent and powerful criminals in the land. A chance meeting with Ruth Rendell while he was defending a murder was the impetus for his fiction writing. Above the Law is Dias' fourth novel, following the best-selling False Witness and then Error of Judgement and Rule of Law.

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