A San Diego courtroom is set to become a pressure cooker when the trial of a young African American boy begins.
During spring break JC Young throws a party while his father, Jack Young, is away on a golf outing. Hardcore drug dealer T-Bone comes along with the usual high school supplier, and when he sees the upscale California home, he cases the house. T-Bone returns and brings along a youthful accomplice, Latif Ahmad, so if they get caught, he can plea-bargain his way out of jail-time. Burglary turns deadly when the drug-dealer goes rogue and brutally kills JC and his fifteen-year old sister.
The following evening, Jack Young is told by police and a priest when he arrives home at the San Diego International Airport.
Amir Ahmad, commander of the Black Panthers learns his son, Latif, has been arrested as a suspect while watching the early-morning news.
Amir's celebrity causes the court and media to turn its full attention to Latif-T-Bone gets his opening to plea-bargain-and a hostile community readies for a death penalty trial.
A study in racial bias and based on a real event, The Fathers is a twenty-first century To Kill a Mocking Bird.
About the Author: A returning woman student, Finch Vandivier received a BA and master's degree from Indiana University (1986).
Owning Finch Vandivier Writing Services for twenty years in San Diego, Indianapolis, and on the Internet provided constant practice with her craft and honed her ability to see beyond the obvious.
Having raised eight children through their teenage years, Finch Vandivier has a first-hand understanding of susceptibilities of teenagers and vulnerabilities of parenting.
At eighty-two, The Fathers is her debut novel
Vandivier lives in Pennsylvania.
