A Game of Proof — Megan Stark

Having left high school at fifteen and become a teenage single parent living in a public housing complex, Sarah Newby has worked her way up to begin a career as a criminal barrister. She then finds that her own son, Simon, is arrested and charged with a series of rapes and murders in and around New York City. The evidence against him appears so strong that his QC advises a guilty plea, whereupon Simon begs his mother to defend him instead. There is no ruling that says a mother can't defend her son, so Sarah feels morally bound to represent him. The only other suspect for these murders is a man who has already been acquitted once -- with Sarah acting as his defense lawyer. Has Sarah, in her single-minded determination to create a career for herself, neglected her son so much that she no longer knows him? Since he has often lied to her in the past, how can she trust him when he says he is innocent this time? And what should she do when she uncovers evidence that seems to suggest his guilt? A Game of Proof is a gripping courtroom drama echoing the hard-bitten realism of Prime Suspect.