Mercy
As he makes an 11th hour plea for mercy, lawyer Alex Sedaka is resigned to the fact that his client Clayton Burrows will be executed.
Charged with the rape and murder of 18-year-old classmate Dorothy Olsen - a girl he mercilessly bullied and victimised at school - the case seems cut and dry.
But then the victim's mother makes an astonishing offer - clemency in return for the whereabouts of her daughter's body before she herself dies of the terminal disease ravaging her body. Alex must now convince Clayton to come clean - but he still protests his innocence.
Is this another one of Clayton's games to or is he an innocent man about to be condemned to death?
David Kessler dropped out of school at the age of 15 and was self-educated from then on. He struggled for 25 years to become a published author before finally making his breakthrough with A Fool for a Client, a legal thriller set in New York.
This was followed up by The Other Victim, Tarnished Heroes and Reckless Justice. He also courted controversy by co-writing Who Really Killed Rachel (about the Wimbledon Common murder) with Colin Stagg, the man who was falsely accused of the crime.
The book is now out of print, but since then, the real murderer - who was named in the book - has been convicted of the crime.