Maze is an unenviable client, making a poor appearance in court, having frequent awkward outbursts during the trial, and looking as guilty as Bradley is trying to prove that he is. But Lauren Hill doesn't care and she will stop at nothing to win, that is, until she gets a very strange visit from God.
The Almighty appears to her in the middle of court, replacing the form of Judge Howell and having a few choice things to say about the way Lauren has been living her life. You see, in her rabid pursuit of success, she has tossed her daughter and husband to the side, ignoring them while focusing on work. She's also a serial adulteress and sees her husband as weak and pathetic, instead of being thankful that he cares for their teen daughter in lieu of her absent mother. Even when God himself appears and appeals to her to stop her life of sin, she rebukes him, thinking perhaps she is hallucinating and is going crazy, just like her mother before her. The truth is, she seems a bit crazy to those who are in court around her because she is talking nonsense, or at least it appears that way to everyone else.
Despite God injecting himself several times during court and also at other places in an effort to get through to Lauren, she still refuses to believe what she is seeing before her very eyes and has no intention of rectifying her ways. After all, she is at the top of the food chain, so why change now? It just might take a few shocking revelations from those around her to wake Lauren up, but will it be in time?
In Defense of Guilt didn't really appeal to me as I read it, mainly because I honestly didn't like Lauren's character at all. I didn't care whether she repented because she was a creep. I know that's not a nice attitude to have, but the people around her weren't all that great either, so I really didn't connect with any of the characters or care too much about their eventual fates. The book is well written, but I wasn't driven to get to the end like I typically am with a book.
Also, I do have to say that people who are not Christians probably won't like or appreciate this book. There is a lot of talk of guilt, sins and redemption, and if you aren't a Christian, you may not want to read about that. On the flip side, I would imagine that a lot of Christians will be offended by the "F bombs" scattered through the book. It's not a lot, but they are definitely there.
Overall, I am not sure who specifically this book is for, whether it is meant to reach out as a ministry to those needing redemption or for those who are already Christians? You'll have to decide whether this book is something for you or not.
