The Final Case

A Novel

By: David Guterson

Narrated by: George Newbern

Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

From the award-winning, bestselling author of Snow Falling on Cedars—a moving father-son story that is also a taut courtroom drama and a bold examination of privilege, power, and how to live a meaningful life.

"Ultimately, the mystery at the center of The Final Case is not about innocence or guilt, but about how one family’s profound attachments can stand alongside breathtaking cruelty in another.” —Scott Turow, The New York Times Book Review

A girl dies one late, rainy night a few feet from the back door of her home. The girl, Abeba, was born in Ethiopia. Her adoptive parents, Delvin and Betsy Harvey—conservative, white fundamentalist Christians—are charged with her murder.

Royal, a Seattle criminal attorney in the last days of his long career, takes Betsy Harvey’s case. An octogenarian without a driver’s license, he leans on his son—the novel’s narrator—as he prepares for trial.

So begins The Final Case, a bracing, astute, and deeply affecting examination of justice and injustice—and familial love. David Guterson’s first courtroom drama since Snow Falling on Cedars, it is his most compelling and heartfelt novel to date.

©2022 David Guterson (P)2022 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“A unique, moving book . . . Nearly impossible to put down . . . It has an unexpected poignancy that builds as the pages turn . . . Though a story of hate is at its center, it’s enveloped by a larger story of fiction and wonder and love—most brightly that of a son for his father.”—Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times

“Masterful . . . Sublime . . . Ultimately, The Final Case is a thorough investigation into what makes the two main characters tick while providing readers truth about the human condition in that satisfying way only great fiction can do."—Elena Hartwell, New York Journal of Books

“Elegiac and touched with Seattle Noir . . . The novelist’s celebrated eye for detail is evident on page after page . . . Like Faulkner and Shakespeare, Guterson puts grotesquely evil acts at the center of his narratives. Like John Gardner, the stories are told in non-experimental ways and with a firm moral core . . . As in an earlier review of Guterson’s novels, ‘Here’s the admirable thing. His books keep getting better.’”—David Brewster, Post Alley

Underwhelming post trial

I went to highschool with “Betsy”. I wished the Post-trial chapter would have elaborated on the sentencing a bit more. What changes were made to foster system because of this?
What happened to dad and siblings?

two stories-criminal was a 5*; tea shop story 3*

Enjoyed most of book. The part about his father and his attitude toward his defense work; life in general and his love of the law was right on. As a prior criminal defense attorney I related to his dad and his relationship with his son very closely to my own life and sons. I just could not see the author’s purpose for including the “Tea shop” portions in the story. I thought the author’s treatment and portrayal of the grandmother’s biases clearly had a cause and effect on the daughter and her husband and the way they treated their children, especially the victim. These two people were brainwashed, cultists and as the judge pointed out truly believed they were right in how they handled things with all their children and had NO remorse. His descriptions of the failures of society and government agencies local, state and international were very sloppy at best. People I have met in Seattle whom new the author’s dad loved him and his approach to the practice of law. Jeff Lantz

A quiet book

I loved this book. It was a quiet book about a regular life and all those that are touched along the way. A contrast of good and evil, and struggle of the in-between.

Frustrating

A finely sculpted courtroom drama with an important message, inexplicably padded with endless, irrelevant character sketches.

A good story not a great reader

I enjoyed the story but it was hard to do so because I was not a fan of the style of the reader for the audible edition. Overall he read with a sardonic tone of voice that made it hard to identify with not only his narrative character but with the overall sensitivity of the book itself. In addition he consistently mispronounced the name of one of the central locations in the story to the point that it became annoying. One might think he would take the time to understand how the name of a particular county is pronounced by those who live there but he failed to do so. I listen to a lot of books on tape and often find that the readers do a great job but in this case I listened in spite of not because of the reader and it's substantially detracted from my enjoyment of the novel

Newbern’s performance underlines a horrific situation

George Newbern gives Guterson’s account of his father’s last case a dispassionate delivery that makes the adoption and death of Abigail by a right—wing religious couple seem inhuman. This gentle Ethiopian girl was unprepared for the ferocity of the unshakable and merciless beliefs of her adoptive American parents. That such a case could happen, and that the perpetrators could be so convinced of their rightness, is a terrible indictment of our flawed social welfare system. Such people should never have been approved to adopt a child of a different race.

The judge’s summation in sentencing the couple to the maximum allowable penalty was very intense even though it was restrained. She left no doubt about her condemnation of the brutal mistreatment of this vulnerable girl that resulted in her death by exposure to the cold.

Disappointing.

An abrupt turn halfway through and the story lost direction and fell flat. A disappointing waste of time.

Almost great.

Maybe I'm too shallow to appreciate a moralizing diversion from a really good story. I was very much enjoying the story until it took a good plot turn. And immediately another turn from enjoyable narrative to mildly confusing narrative.

Finally the ending went full circle and ended well, but the middle didn't rock my world.

2/3 of very good novel.

Not what the title implies

Was very disappointed. The title only describes about 40% of what the title implies. Would recommend if the title was different.

Good story with much rambling

Too many words surrounding too little story. Repetitious, repetitive, redundant, wordy, and sometimes just plain dull. But between all that was a fascinating glimpse into the workings of a trial as told by the son of the lawyer for the defense.