The Legal Limit

《華盛頓郵報》、《書籤雜誌》年度選書
維吉尼亞州圖書館票選最受歡迎小說、美國公共廣播電台夏日閱讀選書

　　從小看著哥哥橫在前面、為我擋下爸爸的拳頭
　　我就對自己發誓，要與哥哥一輩子相挺到底
　　只是，那一晚，那一槍之後
　　這個誓言成了我一生無法癒合的傷口、沒有救贖的黑洞

　　為了親人，你會扭曲多少真相？

　　檢察官梅森．杭特自小就跟哥哥蓋茲承受著父親沒來由的暴力，他們從無力還手到立誓保護彼此，一路互相扶持，甚至在父親拋妻棄子後，兩人也熬過了家境艱困的青春期。只不過童年的傷害已經在兄弟倆心中埋下不同的種子：哥哥蓋茲脾氣暴躁、衝動，在運動場上把橫衝直撞的特性發揮得恰到好處，還因此獲得了保送大學的機會；弟弟梅森則是努力向學，靠著獎學金進入大學攻讀法律，前途一片大好。

　　在一個假期即將結束的夜晚，梅森與哥哥在朋友家享受美食好酒後，酒酣耳熱地駕車回家。半途中，他們與蓋茲的情敵韋恩．湯普森狹路相逢，起了衝突。暴怒的蓋茲突然拔槍射殺了韋恩，慌亂的梅森一心想保護哥哥，當下決定只要他們不說，便不會有事。於是兩人仔細而周延地套招，把一切該有的、該消失的都處理妥當。梅森同時也告誡蓋茲要自此改過，走上正路，別再讓媽媽傷心。然而，就像是個惡意的笑話一般，蓋茲從輟學、遊手好閒一路落到販毒被捕，判了個幾乎是終身監禁的刑期。

　　蓋茲困在牢中的年歲，梅森逐步攀上人生的高峰，婚姻、家庭、事業的順利更加對比出兩人的差距，然而從中醞釀的妒恨、懷疑與敵對，終於逼得蓋茲拋出震撼彈，把向來博得眾人信賴的梅森逼到懸崖邊緣，一回身就是聲名狼藉、粉身碎骨。至終梅森得要抉擇哥哥，還是正義

　　一樁法官也難斷定的案件
　　一個跨越二十多年的兄弟情仇
　　在正義與親情激撞的火花中，他們全都跨越了法律的界限

　　Gates Hunt is a compulsive felon, serving a stiff penitentiary sentence for selling cocaine. His brother, Mason, however, has escaped their bitter, impoverished upbringing to become the commonwealth's attorney for their rural hometown in Virginia, where he enjoys a contented life with his wife and spitfire daughter. But Mason's idyll is abruptly pierced by a wicked tragedy, and soon afterward trouble finds him again when he is forced to confront a brutal secret he and his brother had both sworn to take with them to the grave, a secret that threatens everyone and everything he holds dear.

　　Intricately plotted and relentlessly entertaining, The Legal Limit is an exploration of the judicial system's roughest edges, as well as a gripping story of murder, family, and the difficult divide that sometimes separates genuine justice from the law.

　　本書中譯版《兄弟無間》由臉譜出版。

作者簡介

馬丁．克拉克  Martin Clark

　　他白天是美國巡迴法院（高等法院）的法官，晚上就埋首伏案寫小說。他的首部小說《活動屋生活面面觀》（The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living）一出版就獲選為《紐約時報》年度好書，並入圍史蒂芬．克萊恩首部小說獎的決選名單。他的第二本小說《徹底野蠻的惡作劇》（Plain Heathen Mischief）更讓《夏洛特觀察家報》將他譽為「美國文壇的明日之星」。他筆下的法庭比真實的現場還要動人心迫，故事裡的角色一個個都鮮活生動地訴說與辯駁自己的立場。他文字透出的真實性、衝突性，往往讓人再三思索，低迴不已。目前作者和妻子荻娜住在維吉尼亞州的史都華鎮。

　　Martin Clark, a circuit court judge, lives in Stuart, Virginia. His first novel, The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living, was a New York Times Notable Book, a selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club, a finalist for the Stephen Crane First Fiction Award, and appeared on several best-seller lists.