MARCH 2025 READING

While Justice Sleeps by Stacey Abrams

Published 2021 Doubleday, 468 pp

ISBN-13 978-0385546874

Book Club Meeting

March 25, 2025, 7:00 pm
Hosted by: Janet Redfield

Book selected by: Janet Redfield

Snack provided by: Janet Redfield

Wine provided by: Donna West/Ann Manzano

Accessibility

Finger Lakes Library System (17 copies)

E-book

NY Public Library (4 copies)

E-Audiobook

NY Public Library (58 copies)
Audible (Amazon)

Stacey Abrams: About the Author

"Introduction: Stacey Abrams is an American politician, lawyer, businesswoman, and writer. In 2018 she was the first Black woman to become the Democratic nominee for governor of Georgia. She lost the election by a small number of votes. Since the election she has worked to support voter rights and to increase the number of voters in Georgia.

Early Life: Stacey Yvonne Abrams was born in Madison, Wisconsin, on December 9, 1973. She is the second oldest of six children. Her parents moved the family to Gulfport, Mississippi, where her mother worked as a librarian and her father as a dockworker. When she was in high school the family moved to Atlanta, Georgia. Her parents became United Methodist ministers. They taught their children the value of service to others, church, and school.

Abrams attended Spelman College and studied political science, economics, and sociology. During her time at college, there was a Town Hall meeting with the mayor. At that meeting she let him know that he was not doing enough for young people. When the mayor began an Office of Youth Services in 1993, Abrams was hired as a research assistant.

Abrams went on to study public policy at LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, Austin. Then she studied law at Yale Law School.

Career: Abrams began her career as a tax lawyer in Atlanta. In 2002, when she was just 29 years old, Abrams became Atlanta’s deputy city attorney. She led more than 20 attorneys and paralegals. In 2006 Abrams was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives. In 2011 she became the first Black Minority Leader in the House. Abrams served in that role until 2017. While in office Abrams began the New Georgia Project. The project worked to register voters, particularly young people and people of color.

In 2018 Abrams ran for governor of Georgia, but she was unsuccessful. Brian Kemp won the election by one percentage point. Abrams believed that she lost because voters were kept from voting, which is called voter suppression. Abrams began an organization called Fair Fight to protect voter’s rights. She is credited with adding thousands of democratic voters in Georgia.

Abrams again ran for governor of Georgia in 2022. She lost to Kemp once again."

SOURCE

While Justice Sleeps

Kirkus Reviews

"More of a curiosity for political junkies than a satisfying story of international intrigue."

"A progressive superstar pens her first political thriller.

Anyone who follows the news knows Abrams as a politician and voting rights activist. She's less well known as a novelist. Using the pseudonym Selena Montgomery, Abrams has published several works of romantic suspense.

Her new novel begins when Supreme Court Justice Howard Wynn falls into a coma. His clerk Avery Keene is shocked to discover that her boss has made her his legal guardian and granted her power of attorney. The fate of one of the most powerful men in the world is in her hands—and her life is in danger.

Abrams gives us nefarious doings in the world of biotech, a president with autocratic tendencies and questionable ethics, and a young woman struggling to unravel a conspiracy while staying one step ahead of the people who want her out of the way. Unfortunately, the author doesn't weave these intriguing elements into an enjoyable whole.

Abrams makes some odd word choices, such as this: 'The intricate knot she had twisted into her hair that morning bobbed cunningly as she neared her office.' The adverb cunningly is mystifying, and Abrams uses it in a similar way later on.

There are disorienting shifts in point of view. And Abrams lavishes a great deal of attention on details that simply don’t matter, which makes the pace painfully slow. This is a fatal flaw in a suspense novel, but it may not be the most frustrating aspect of this book.

For a protagonist who has gotten where she is by being smart, Avery makes some stunningly poor decisions. For example, the fact that she has a photographic memory is an important plot point and is clearly a factor in Justice Wynn’s decision to enlist her help. When she finds a piece of paper upon which is printed a long string of characters and the words "BURN UPON REVIEW," Avery memorizes the lines of numbers and letters—and then, even though she knows she’s being surveilled, she snaps a shot of the paper with her phone, thereby making the whole business of setting it on fire quite pointless.

More of a curiosity for political junkies than a satisfying story of international intrigue."