Rule of Evidence

JAG in Space #3

by John G. Hemry, Jack Campbell

The struggle for justice among the stars is a never-ending fight…
At the very edge of South Asian Alliance territory, the USS Michaelson is conducting maneuvers alongside her sister ship, the USS Maury, in a show of military strength. The Michaelson’s legal officer, Lieutenant Paul Sinclair, is pleased, since his girlfriend, Lieutenant Jen Shen, is serving aboard the Maury as an engineer. The operation is going by the numbers—until the Maury is wracked by devastating explosions and its engineering section is destroyed.

Paul is overjoyed when Jen is found alive, but his happiness is short-lived. Jen, as the sole survivor in Engineering, is suspected of negligence—or worse, sabotage—and faces court-martial. Now Paul must find out what really caused the explosions. But the more he learns, the more he faces the terrible  possibility that the woman he loves may be guilty of sabotage and murder...

Genres: Science Fiction, Military Fiction, Military Science Fiction, Space Opera, Audiobook, Fiction, Mystery

288 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 1, 2005

About the author

Also writes under the pseudonym of Jack Campbell.

Reviews

[JV Findlay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this, the Third book in the JAG in Space series by John G. Hemry. Really enjoyed his Lost Fleet series - read them all - and loved this series too!

[Shaz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was entertained by this, but I didn't really believe any of it and therefore although the stakes are high I thought this installment was less successful as a legal space drama than the previous two. The thing that was most striking, in fact, was the way this trial held a sort of mirror to the previous one.

[Drew Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Captivating and engrossing.

[Angie Boyter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Second attempt: Listened to Audible version while walking. I agree with my original evaluation BUT stuck it out and quite enjoyed the book once the legal problem part of the plot got off the ground, about halfway through the book. I am enjoying these series characters, not just Paul and Jen but also supporting roles like Suppo, the older supply officer who always has words of wisdom for Paul. I also enjoy recognizing the military culture that I came to know through dealing with military folks in the current day. I am sorry there is only one more in the series to read and that he seems disinclined to write another.

First try in 2014:I'm not going to rate this because I only read 25% of it. I have enjoyed several of Hemry's books, but this one just seemed to plod. There was way too much description of the ship and its maneuvering. The book description centers on a legal problem that the protagonist's girlfriend encounters as a result of a serious explosion on her ship and sounds very good, but he is JUST TAKING TOO LONG to get there. There are lots of other books in my stack; I'll go to one of them!

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great science fiction book by John G. Hemry a.k.a. Jack Campbell. This book is a blend of hard SF, military SF and legal drama. It describes the first tour of duty of a young Navy Ensign (Ensign Paul Sinclair) on a deep space ship. One of his side jobs is as the ships legal adviser. This time Paul’s girlfriend Jen gets tangled up in a massive court martial when the engineering section of her ship explodes and she ends up being the only survivor. Everyone but Paul seems to think she is guilty of causing the explosion. Paul sets out to prove her innocence. A great read which I highly recommend.

[Mothwing · Rating 3 out of 5]

Odd that "innocent until proven guilty" doesn't seem to apply in space as it does on earth.

[Travis Kole · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story picks up where the last one left off. At this point, if you enjoyed the first 2 books you will continue to enjoy this one. I have to say I am a little addicted to this series and I got a few more days to wait for the last book to arrive. The characters are what drive the interest in the story. It has a cool setting, we have a disaster that must be solved, and we get some of courtroom drama as well. I dont necessarily know why its called JAG in Space when Paul Sinclair isn't leaning towards being a JAG officer. It might be explained in the last book, but I really have no complaints. Its a solidly written sci fi military novel that has me staying late into the night to finish it. We will see if that is going to be natural to reading other Jack Campbell series, but I enjoy this series.

[David Danko · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the summary for the book states, it focuses around a multinational space force exercise, and the damage to a US Space Forces ship during an exercise that results in the trial of Jen Shen, the woman that the main character, Paul Sinclair, is dating. The cause of the problem is readily apparent to readers early on in the book. However, the information available to the characters, and the bias of some of them, makes the trial much less certain in their minds.

One other tidbit. As I read this, I couldn't help but reference the JAG Season 1, Episode 6 "Pilot Error" in which a Pilot and RIO are killed in a plane crash that the investigation believes the pilot caused, until Rabb looks further into it and discovers that it resulted from the new equipment that was being tested for Naval aircraft use.

[Boulder Boulderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this one so much, for two reasons. The first is the Court seems ready to convict based on literally no evidence of wrongdoing (why would you assume that, in the absence of all other evidence, a trusted and respected officer would blow up their ship and arrange it so that they escape, as opposed to some kind of murder-suicide deal? Not what I would have gone with).

The second is that the cause of the explosion on the Maury is extremely clear from the beginning, so the "twist" is more like "what would always be assumed to be the reason". So yeah, not great.

[Roy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the least entertaining of the Jag in Space series, but that is according to my own tastes. The story of the collision causing the tremendous damage and loss of lives and the subsequent trial of Sinclairs girl friend as the scapegoat for an accident that seems to have no other possible cause is quite claustrophobic and hard to read. Also, the true cause of the problem is apparent to the reader very early on and the wait for the characters in the story to discover this is a bit annoying. Still this is a strong series of books and still worth the read. On to what is currently the last in the series.

[Beth Friedman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is the highest stakes and the least believable of the series, especially in that it's the main character's fiancé who's accused of sabotage and murder on zero evidence except the fact of her survival. She's eventually exonerated, but it's the next book where she points out how little will there was among the people conducting the court martial to look at the holes in the case until the smoking gun was found at the last minute. The cover-up felt entirely realistic, but the scapegoating not so much.

[BobA707 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: Really well written and thoughtful book, the plot is weak and the action thin, but the premise is excellent. Just as good as the first 2 books in the series

Plotline: Very simple plot but superbly presented. A few plot holes in this one.

Premise: Totally believable, but not very far in the future

Writing: Simple, very descriptive, the detail is breathtaking. Not particularly subtle at times.

Ending: Predictable but satisfactory

Pace: Never a dull moment!

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brutal and cunning! Rule of Evidence will keep you guessing as to where things are going to go and how they are going to turn up! The characters of Paul, Jen are puit through theire paces! Old plot lines are brough up but at the same time new ones are set up as well! How things turn out is always kept in the air! Edge-of =the-seat from the start! You will be up late to see how things turn out!

Crisp High Five! Brilliant and Highly Recommeded! Get it When You Can! :D

[Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

I usually don’t finish books I would end up rating a 2 so credit to the author for writing a series that I felt was worth pushing through. My traditional negatives. Characters betrayed by the institutions that should support and protect them. Beyond that. As predictable as the rest of the series but very well written with believable characters and the ever difficult believable court scenes though this one pushed credulity at times.

[William Scarborough · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another Court Room Drama

Mr. Hermes writes a good court room drama. For those that like them this is a book to read. I have to say though, this one had a weak , hard to believe ending .

[Tim N · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lieutenant Sinclair needs to defend his girlfriend, as the space navy once again proves its incompetence by charging here with a crime she did not commit.
I still enjoyed this, but this series is steadily going downhill.

[Mark Zodda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another enjoyable entry in the series though this one is a bit more farfetched as Campbell stretches things to form the basis for his plot. Starting to understand why there is only one more entry in the series after this. Still it was diverting.

[Stephen Dawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A story that dragged me through, making me laugh and cry. I don't ask for much more in a novel. It needed some suspension of disbelief at times but I'll forgive that in the circumstances.

[Steven Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am so behind on Courts Martial interesting to read.

[Steven desJardins · Rating 2 out of 5]

A predictable level of not good, but not so bad as to be actively annoying.

[Online Eccentric Librarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/

With this third in the series, we continue the pattern of action/character building in the first half of the story and then the trial in the second. It's a formula that works and once again the unrealistic tv-courtroom drama is (mostly) avoided in favor of an engaging but grounded court martial trial.

Story: Paul's hope-to-be fiancee Jen Shen is working in the engineering department aboard the Michaelson's sister ship Maury. After a routine exercise testing new stealth equipment, the Maury disappears in an explosion that takes out most of the ship. Jen is the only survivor from the Engineering department - creating suspicion that she was the cause of the explosion. Paul will have to use all his resources to defend Shen and save her from court martial - or even the death sentence.

Admittedly, this was the least favorite of mine for the series. Although still as engaging as the previous, the cause of the accident was obvious and completely overlooked by everyone. It made the lawyers, who had hitherto looked quite competent, look rather silly. And, ok, if you've read a Campbell book, you already know that military hardware is inherently unreliable - explosions are more likely to be the cause of manufacturing problems than a bomb. So I had a hard time with the credibility of a trial that purports malice rather than incompetence - even considering the possibility of coverups.

All the same, Campbell brings in some strong pathos here. The loss of comrades is never glossed over and Jen gets to be both strong and very vulnerable. Paul does ride a white charger to save the day (sadly - it was a bit too deus ex machina) but I enjoyed the book all the same.

I listened to the Audible version of this book and the narrator did an excellent job.

[Dan Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third of Hemry’s (aka Jack Campbell’s) “JAG in Space” series, following the legal complications in Paul Sinclair’s career in the United States’ space navy. He is still serving aboard the USS Michaelson, and now he has risen up to the rank of Lieutenant. He is still the ship’s legal officer which is how he is usually dragged into the legal matters in the first place.

This time the legal drama hits closer to home for young Sinclair as someone close to him ends up in the crosshairs of a serious investigation. Instead of being a nominally neutral player in the legal games, this time he is hard over in the camp of the defense counsel, going up against the toughest prosecutor he knows. It’s not just personal. It’s desperate.

Overall I liked the book, but a couple of anachronisms bothered me. First, there was more of this notion of “US-controlled space” vs. “SAA-controlled space”. That bugged me in the first book, and it was back in full force here. Yes, I get the on-Earth naval parallels, but they did not translate well into space where the borders in deep space seemed to have no correlation to any planetary asset. Then there was a defense contractor conspiracy that seemed to be lifted right out of the Pentagon Papers. That translated into the future somewhat better – greed and ambition will always be with us – but I still found myself annoyed by it.

Still, the courtroom drama was good, and I liked the more personal stakes this time. I didn’t like it as much as the second book, but I will likely look for book #4 in due time.

[Jeffrey Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

I suppose I’m biased toward forgiving a lot because I like the ‘Lost Fleet’ novels so much, but something about these Paul Sinclair JAG books has me pushing through to the end despite the fact that they’re not the most unique or inventive stories.

This time around, Paul’s girlfriend Jen gets tangled up in a massive court martial when the engineering section of her ship explodes and she ends up being the only survivor. The accident and all the deaths get laid squarely at her feet and no one wants to look for any other explanations.

The plot here is transparent for the most part, so all of the excitement comes from how the case progresses and evidence is discovered rather than discovering what actually occurred. The romance framing all of it is also nothing special – both characters are largely stereotypical in many ways, at least as far as the romantic developments and behavior are concerned.

There are a few tertiary characters that make things more interesting – many of them have more real depth than the protagonists. The courtroom maneuverings and negotiation are also well-written and contain legal dueling and back-and-forth enough to be entertaining.

As I said, this is not really a good book – the writing and characters are mediocre for the most part. Despite that, I found myself powering through it, and I can’t put my finger on why exactly. I suppose these books have become my guilty pleasure for the moment.

[Scott Cleveland · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the third book of a series, and I have not read the two earlier works. While there were references to things that happened in the other two, the story stood on its own. The author clearly has significant knowledge of naval matters and military courts, and it primarily reads like a legal procedural--the science fiction aspect is merely a backdrop.

The Plot: The protagonists girlfriend is accused of causing a ship-board disaster that results in massive damage and loss of life. There is no concrete evidence to support the charges, but the Navy goes ahead with a court martial on the logic that since she alone survived, out of her entire division, she must have caused it. The protagonist and her lawyer face setback after setback in her defense and all seems lost until the protagonist locates exonerating evidence at the last minute.

The only thing in the story that I considered a flaw was the fact that the accused was so obviously NOT guilty. I had trouble buying that the Navy would go ahead with charges. It would have been more nail-biting had there existed a plausible reason to suspect her guilt.

[Andreas · Rating 3 out of 5]

The third book in the JAG in Space series continues in the same vein as the first two. Incident followed by court martial. This time, however, Paul Sinclair’s girlfriend Jen Shen is accused of conspiracy, sabotage and murder after a freak accident on board the U.S.S. Maury.

This is, in my opinion, the best of the series. Maybe that is because so much is on the line personally for Sinclair. Maybe it is because of the kafkaesque elements of the story as Shen is accused and looks to be on her way to life in prison or even execution. While in Burden of Proof, circumstancial evidence was used to chuck a bad officer out of the Navy, now it is being used to build a case against someone innocent. The ethical dilemmas posed make the books interesting, and this one especially so.

Note: Hemry also writes under the pseudonym Jack Campbell.

http://www.books.rosboch.net/?p=845

[Tufty McTavish · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I fair enjoyed the opening half of the book, it did end up following pretty much the same template as the other two in the series that I've read thus far; setup, event, court-martial trial. It mixed things up a little though, but having read three books in the series in quick succession I was able to skip over a good chunk of boilerplate naval procedural text.

The characters also feel stiff and wooden, predictable and mechanical in their dialogue, as was the plot in the latter half. Despite that it was probably my favourite in the series so far, for the first half of the book anyway. Perfectly average light-weight sci-fi/legal adventure.

[***Dave Hill · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite of the series so far, on some levels. Sinclair's life, naval career, and faith in the system are endangered when his cruiser's sister ship suffers a catastrophe, and someone he knows couldn't be responsible is accused of mass murder.

The increased emotional stakes make this a more intense book than the previous two, but there are still a lot of cardboard cut-outs and wildly telegraphed (but still highly conventional) plot twists to deal with. The legal battle in this outing also, despite the higher emotional investment of Sinclair, much more pedestrian and by the numbers.

Still good, well-domesticated flugg, and I'm still looking forward to the next volume.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book. I think I could read John Hemry all day and never get bored, but I did feel I was ahead of events for almost the entire book and waiting for the characters to take a closer look at details I was aware of from the start. I love being surprised by twists and turns and revelations usually, but even knowing what was inevitably coming did not spoil the book at all.

The only thing I do think the books have missed out on is having our hero, a legal officer, barely have anything to do with the cases in the story. I want to see him prosecuting or defending more but he acts as a witness to events instead of having any real input.

Still love them though :)

[Janell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was as well written as the first two books but the story seemed a little too far-fetched to me. Still enjoyable, though. The author is well versed in military law and is able to make his story very entertaining in that regard. Each of the books in this series can stand alone since there isn't a running story between them. They do use the same characters so reading them in order helps you understand the characters better.

[Sam Dinkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

High stakes trial

Lt.J.G. Paul Sinclair faces his most severe personal trial in the series. He must muster all the resources he, and everyone he knows, can access in order to prevail in court and to hold himself and his allies together in the fallout from a terrible tragedy befalls his two-ship task group.