Directed Verdict » (Reprint)

Randy Singer serves on the Board of Legal Advisors for the American Center for Law and Justice, a public service law firm that defends religious freedom both in the United States and abroad. He spent twelve years as a trial lawyer in one of Virginia’s largest law firms, working as head of the litigation section. He serves on the North American Mission Board in Atlanta, Georgia, where he lives with his wife, Rhonda, and their two children.

In Saudi Arabia, two American missionaries are targeted by the infamous religious police—Muttawa. The man is tortured and killed; his wife arrested on trumped-up charges before being deported to the United States. Compelled by the injustice of her plight, young attorney Brad Carlson files an unprecedented civil rights suit against Saudi Arabia and the ruthless head of the Muttawa. But the suit unleashes powerful forces that will stop at nothing to vindicate the Arabian kingdom. Witnesses are intimidated and some disappear;
jurors are bribed; and a member of Brad’s own team may be attempting to sabotage the case. As Brad navigates a maze of treachery and deception,
he must gamble his case, his career, and the lives of those he loves on his ability to bring justice to one family, challenge the religious intolerance of a nation, and alter the course of international law. Directed Verdict is a Christy Award–winning novel.

Publishers Weekly

There is plenty of room in evangelical Christian fiction for fresh voices, and debut novelist Singer is a promising one. The story opens with some fairly graphic violence as Sarah and Charles Reed, missionaries to Saudi Arabia, are tortured for their Christian faith and framed for cocaine use. Charles dies, and after returning to the U.S., Sarah's life insurance company refuses to compensate her for his death, citing his "addiction." Desperate for the means to raise her two children, she hires attorney Brad Carson, who seizes the opportunity to sue the nation of Saudi Arabia for their persecution of the Reeds. The resulting lawsuit ends up in the courtroom of the Hon. Cynthia Baker-Kline, a prochoice judge who had an earlier run-in with Carson over a prolife protester he represented. Despite opening the novel with a few stereotypes, Singer eventually smashes others, as in his depiction of Carson's legal secretary (who, with her overweight physique, pack-a-day cigarette habit and constant scowl is no Della Street). There's the requisite witnessing, but some suspense as to who does and doesn't convert to Christianity. The pacing would have been improved by some judicious pruning and tightening, but the story is compelling, and the reader is left guessing until the last chapter about the identity of a potential double-crossing informant. Legal thrillers are gaining ground in the evangelical Christian market, and this is an agreeable addition to the genre. (Oct.) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.