Sooooo… What do you think of this novel, Curious One? I’m gonna start off by saying that Degree of Guilt, written by Richard North Patterson is one of the most intense novels I have read when it comes to raising questions of personal ethics and morals. Literally every page is full of questions, lies, half-truths, concerns and confusion. Honestly, even with my personal struggle regarding half the content, I loved Degree of Guilt.
I’ve never read or been too interested in courtroom-based novels, but I’m glad I read Degree of Guilt. It was suggested to me by a friend, and I will definitely say it was worth it.
Degree of Guilt Gets Personal
Regarding my personal struggle with the content, I will say that it’s hard for me to read and go through the assault of one character within most books who have that situation; but Degree of Guilt went through at least 3 (and in my opinion 4) women who had to recount their stories on this topic more than once. I will touch on this content slightly, but I won’t be able to analyze it like I usually do for these discussions. Like I said. That type of content is difficult for me to get through, but that in no way took away from the impact of Degree of Guilt to any reader.
With that said, let’s get started! I enjoyed how it began with a scene from one of our main characters, Mary. You got three and a half pages from her point of view in the very beginning before you realized what was going on. It was nice to have that short, complex and important point of view to draw back on during the trial prior to delving into the world that Degree of Guilt was building for you to enter.
This novel was full of an intense suspense that did not stop until the final 15 pages. I don’t agree with Mary on why she didn’t tell the truth about what happened to her in the hotel room of Mark Ransom. What I mean by that is that she WAS assaulted. She WAS blackmailed. And what happened to her WAS backed up by the other women who both did and did not have to testify. From what I gathered, her only reasoning behind lying to everyone was that she didn’t want the tapes about her to be discovered. Hence why she omitted in the beginning that they even existed.
However, what I’m trying to say is that if she had told the truth about what happened and why she was there and how and why she ended up killing Mark Ransom, she would have been in a better situation AND she wouldn’t have been lying. She could have just as easily told the truth about what happened and omitted the tape. I’m not sure that makes sense to you, Curious One, it’s a bit jumbled in my mind right now, but I fully believe that eventually, in the end, the truth is always better, safer and smarter than any half lie or half truth you can concoct. Especially when dealing with such serious, impactful and lawful subjects as attempted rape and murder.
I definitely think that rules can be bent and even broken if a situation calls for it, but things like lying can bring you nothing but pain and problems in the future. Both near and distant.
Bad People
Mary was, is, simply put, a bad person. She manipulates, lies, breaks and ruins whatever she must in order to save herself first. She keeps claiming that she does it for her son, Carlo, but really… it all stems back to the truth. She is lying to even him all in the name to save face. And the statement that was thrown around so much was “it’s too late now. The damage would be astronomical!” To me, that is even more absurd. Lies almost always find the light and the damage is almost always worse after more time passes. I did not like Mary at all.
I also was struggling with the prosecutor in Degree of Guilt. I’m talking about Marnie Sharpe. She was said to have built her career on helping those who have been assaulted and serving justice for them. But when it came to her cross examination of Linton (the short story writer that Ransom raped during a writer’s conference) she was brutal, making it seem like because Linton didn’t struggle “hard enough” that you could pose the question to her situation – asking if it truly was rape. That threw me over the edge.
Pieces of this book took time to address the struggle that victims of rape rarely came forward. For a multitude of reasons. But it then turns around and questions two women who come forward with rape stories, asking if it really happened that way. I mean, come on. Total double standard that though it had its place in the overall effect of the novel, was uncalled for if the impact it was trying to make was to bring to light the concerns behind why women don’t tell anyone what happens.
You can’t tell someone that it’s okay to tell their story, especially in a public courtroom, and then badger them with doubt and skepticism. It should not be what happens.
Sharpe Misses the Point, While Masters Scores
Sharpe was too advantageous for her own good and it made me dislike her so much. She crafted such a beautifully compelling version of events as to what drove Mary to kill Ransom that in my opinion, she wasn’t much better than Mary really. I couldn’t really put my finger down on her motivation and reasoning behind hating Mary so much though.
At first I thought it was because she wanted to get the truth out of Mary’s story and she knew she was lying, but if her whole career has been built off of helping those who have come forward about being raped, she should definitely know that every victim reacts and takes the mental damage differently. If she is as skilled as she was portrayed to be, then I think she should have realized Mary was lying, but not about the attempted rape. She was so vindictive and brutal. And I realize that is the purpose of cross-examination and prosecuting, but wow. She was on a whole different level. Picking and choosing what was relevant and what wasn’t ate away at me.
Judge Christine Masters was remarkable! I absolutely loved her character. She was passionate, considerate, kind, harsh and 100% human. It was a breath of fresh air, getting to know a judge who had a heart, but was still determined to be as fair and strict as needed to get to the bottom of the issue. She, thankfully, wasn’t portrayed as the usual harsh, judgmental and very male judge that you typically get dealt in a novel that might include the courtroom perspective. I have only praise for her character development throughout Degree of Guilt and can truly only compare her to a breath of fresh air among the other characters. Maybe it’s because she wasn’t so much a main character where you got handed pieces of information about her past to the point of debilitation – not like the others. Anyways, Judge Christine Masters was a brilliant and compassionate judge who did the best with the hand she was dealt.
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Degree of Guilt Outside the Courtroom Drama
Paget, on the other hand, was Mary’s lawyer and her son’s father. He obviously played a major role in Degree of Guilt. He was a character that I both liked and didn’t like. I was absolutely sitting on the fence with a leg hanging over each side when is comes to him. He agreed to keep things from their son, Carlo, but he had more of a moral struggle with all of it than Mary did – which was nice. And their past was a convoluted mess of lies and carefully crafted phrases – which I was annoyed with.
He got played so many times by Mary that I couldn’t help but not have compassion for him anymore. In the beginning I did, but when more and more things were revealed between the two of them, I just lost that emotion. It kept being reiterated that it happened more than 15 years ago, but I didn’t seem to care about that very much. I always believe people can change, and though Mary did not, Paget did. I felt he should have been smarter about her than he was this time around.
ESPECIALLY knowing what she did 15 years prior to the setting of Degree of Guilt. Just saying.
Oh! And Mary lied to him 15 years ago. When she told him she was pregnant, she said it was his child. But it was revealed through one of her tapes that Carlo is actually the child of the man they put in prison 15 years ago. Mary never told Paget and to my disappointment, he agreed to not tell Carlo. I think that they were close enough and that Carlo was mature enough to not let it change who he was and the relationship he had with Paget. I mean, the boy is 15, he is smart, he works hard, he asks questions and he handled everything that was going on in his life remarkable well.
Carlo’s Outlook
I absolutely disagree with them withholding that from Carlo. Maybe they will tell him in a few years, but I doubt it.
Have I mentioned yet how much I dislike Mary? Hahah!
Carlo was a great character. He still had that youthful outlook on life, but he was described as being very observant and to me, that was wonderful. He understood why Paget worked so hard and didn’t make drama over it. I don’t know. I feel like most shows or books with parents who are working demanding jobs make a really big deal out of it and to me it doesn’t make perfect sense. Like, if you are dating or married or the child to someone in a demanding field you have grown up with it, married into it or realized the situation long before you made it such a big deal. That’s a whole other topic for another day though…
Terri Peralta, My Favorite In Degree of Guilt
Terri Peralta was my favorite. Young, but not naïve and she was incredibly hard-working. She pulled at my heartstrings consistently and never made me hate her. Well, except when she allowed Richie (her husband) to manipulate her. But I think she knew what was happening and his plan all along. She just didn’t want to admit that he was that bad of a person.
Terri did a lot of the legwork behind the discovery of Mark Ransom’s pattern. She found out the importance of Laura Chase (the actress that gave Ransom arousal), the impact of Caldwell being blackmailed just like Mary, the severe connection between the final sexual acts between Ransom and his ex-wife Melissa Rappaport, she was able to connect and reach out to Marcy Linton when no one else had for 5 years and she was able to get inside the mind of Mary and find the tapes – the truth behind why Mary was seen outside of the room prior to calling 911, but after she had killed Ransom.
All-in-all, Terri was the best.
Quick Notes from Degree of Guilt
Richie on the other hand. Man, I hated him SO much. You only read about him a handful of times, but each time I was biting my tongue to keep from screaming and each time I wanted to tell Terri to leave him. Richie can only be described as selfish, manipulative and conniving. Three of the worst traits for humanity. He also, in my opinion, abused Terri both mentally and physically. He was disgusting and that’s all I’m going to say. He is no better than Mark Ransom.
This novel was exhausting. It took me longer to read than I would consider normal for myself and I think it’s a mix of the courtroom and law terminology and the difficulty of the characters’ morality in many of the situations.
Paget was an amazingly built character. Being the only male that I would consider a main character, he had his work cut out for him.
Mary was a piece of work that kept you feeling hate or disgust, but also pity and maybe hope that the charges would be dropped against her.
Carlo was well-rounded and though he was used and verbally abused as a child, he came out the better for it due to his father, Paget.
Marnie Sharpe was arrogant, and I honestly loved to hate her.
Judge Christine Masters was remarkable and perfect for this novel. She gave you a more realistic view of humanity and allowed you a break from all the drama.
Terri was by far my favorite character. Full of compassion, understanding and a strength that very few women possess.
Richie was psychological scum.
And Mark Ransom was revolting in every way possible.
Final Thoughts on Degree of Guilt
Degree of Guilt is literally the perfect name for this novel. Every single character went through a process of feeling guilt and they alone were able to determine the severity – the ‘degree’ of their guilt. It was a beautiful literary process that was so subtle. I loved it. I also loved how you weren’t given the answer to Mary’s degree of guilt (given by the judge) until the last 15 pages.
It was so full of suspense and confusion and revelation after revelation trying to change your mind. I would suggest reading Degree of Guilt to anyone who enjoys suspense or thrillers. Even though it’s prominently set in a courtroom and you are reading lots of varying arguments, coming from someone who doesn’t particularly enjoy courtroom drama to any extent, it is worth the read. You truly get to ask yourself what you would have done or what you would want to do in a multitude of ethical situations.
I think you know, Curious One, how much I enjoy asking myself questions. Especially the hard ones. And Degree of Guilt is full of hard questions.
Richard North Patterson, for how much I didn’t enjoy the particular content, did a remarkable job connecting to the reader on multiple levels. Degree of Guilt was on New York Times bestseller list for more than six months and to be a courtroom drama novel with that success means something. Especially in 1993 when it was published. He was also a trial lawyer, which makes sense in hindsight. He did remarkable well with explaining and keeping the courtroom jargon understandable for the average Joe reading his novels.
I’ve found that a lot of times the author gets lost in trying to explain law terminology and it can easily take the reader out of the world they are trying to create, therefore leaving a bad impression in their memory about their writing style. Patterson didn’t have this problem, in my opinion. Like I said, remarkably well!
I had no idea when I started Degree of Guilt that it is technically the second book in a series of four that centers around Christopher Paget! I just might be on the lookout for the other three. Who knew?!
So, Curious One, I’m going to end it here. Hopefully, I didn’t miss any of my thoughts and you were able to enjoy following me into the world of Degree of Guilt.
As usual, I hope your week is going along splendidly and you are remembering to enjoy some of the simpler things in life. Keep being curious and asking your questions!
I think it might be time for another book…
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