Perversion of Justice - Julie K Brown

 What a fantastic book this is!   The Jeffrey Epstein story, told by an investigative reporter from the Miami Herald, filled with the detail we are not allowed in the UK in case it damages our esteem for Prince Andrew.

The scandal about Epstein is the virtual free ride he got from prosecutors in 2008 when he pleaded guilty to one chatge of sex with a minor and thus officially became a paedophile.   This was a plea deal worked out over several years between local prosecutors in Florida and Epstein's star-studded defence team (which actually included Kenneth Starr, the special prosecutor in the Clinton impeachment).  And it stank.   Epstein was given a cursory prison sentence, most of which he served on community control; while technically incarcerated he was allowed out every day to visit his 'office' where in fact his supervisors turned a collective blind eye while he was in turn visited by teenaged blondes.   Later, he was supposed to follow reporting rules for sex offenders as he jetted about the US but never actually did.

This is the scandal which initially drew Julie K Brown to the case.   Over coming years she prepared a series of articles about the case which ultimately drew the attention of New York prosecutors who charged him with a proper list of offences and successfully opposed bail.   Then we have the suspicious death and the secondary Ghislaine Maxwell, which was ongoing as Brown's book went to press.   I hope there is a follow-up in which Brown gives us her view on why Maxwell remains silent even after conviction and a sentence which could see her spend the rest of her life in prison.   In other words, how high does this highly organised sex-ring for the super-rich actually go?   Already, in this book, Brown does not shy away from telling us who the victims implicate in their depositions.   There is at least one high-profile name here I didn't realise was involved.

The best thing about the book, though, is the writing: American journalese at its finest, crisp, conscise, yet bordering on the poetic in the forensic choice of words.   Julie Brown may have learnt her trade the hard way but she learned it well.   A fine book by a fine writer on a hugely important matter.   I cannot recommend it highly enough.