Jason Kolarich is the kind of lawyer you’d want representing you if your life was on the line.  Sure, he likes to have a few too many vodkas at night and still hasn’t recovered from the emotional damage left by the death of his wife and daughter, but he’s tough, he’s smart and he’s willing to do nearly whatever it takes to give you the best possible defense.  

And in David Ellis’ new novel, The Wrong Man, Jason Kolarich has his work cut out for him. That’s because he’s asked to take up the defense of a homeless Iraqi war veteran accused of murder. The veteran, whose war wounds include post-traumatic stress disorder and schizophrenia, is charged with robbing and killing a young paralegal.  

At first, Kolarich begins diligently preparing an insanity defense, but, as is often the case with good legal thrillers, things aren’t always what they appear. And in this case, what begins to appear are the interweaving threads of a more sinister plot involving organized crime figures, corporate malfeasance and terrorism.

The Wrong Man is Ellis’ eighth novel and like Chicago’s other well known writer of legal thrillers, Scott Turow, he’s a lawyer by profession. A graduate of Northwestern University School of Law, Ellis is currently Special Counsel to Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and also served as the House Prosecutor during the impeachment trial of Governor Rod Blagojevich in the Illinois Senate.

On the Afternoon Shift, we get a behind the scenes look at the Blago impeachment, the life of a lawyer, and story behind The Wrong Man.