Victim or the Crime - The Day Before Jerry Died by Paul Sanders is a tale of suspense and self-discovery, starting when Dan Wilcox finds himself with his mother stabbed to death, and blood on his hands. He doesn't think he would commit matricide but can't remember and needs time to figure it out. Dan does what any famous author who loves the Grateful Dead would do: he runs away with his psychiatrist. In her professional capacity, Diana wants to work through what happened too. She knows Dan has had more lows than highs but the extent of the trauma inflicted by his mother and his father abandoning them is just the tip of the iceberg. Jerry Garcia caps off the trinity of death, and Dan barely has time to grieve while looking to prove his guilt or innocence to himself.

Paul Sanders crafts a gripping tale in Victim or the Crime - The Day Before Jerry Died, one that keeps urging readers to sort out the enigma of Dan's guilt or innocence alongside the protagonist himself. The interplay between suspense and introspection infuses the narrative by heightening the stakes, especially when the police start to close in and shots are fired. In the interests of full disclosure, I am from a generation where all I knew of the last of the mainstream Deadheads was that they are our grandparents now, but Sanders made me want to learn about them. Now I can proudly say that I know all the words to Bertha. With this in mind, the tie-in to the death of Dan's abusive past and his rebirth as a man in his own right, with the ability to stand up for himself and find the answers that eluded pre-rebirth Dan, is not lost on me. Dan is no longer the Wharf Rat and has agency enough to not only pull himself out of a dark hole, with Diana's help, of course, but to set the record straight about what his mother was, what she did, and what he realizes happened in the house where his mother died.

Victim or the Crime: The Day Before Jerry Died is a work of fiction in the murder mystery, legal thriller, and suspense subgenres. It forms part of the Juror's Perspective series penned by author Paul Sanders and is best suited to the mature adult reading audience. This intense thriller novel begins with the nightmarish events that lead our rich and famous protagonist, Dan Wilcox, into a spiral of grief and confusion after he wakes up covered in his mother’s blood. Together with his psychiatrist, Diana, Dan must unravel the dark history of his own family and face some nasty truths about his heritage to find the truth and save himself from incarceration.

Author Paul Sanders has crafted a sensational work of mystery and thrills which revolves around a powerful psychological drama at its core. Dan Wilcox seems at first to be the typical privileged wealthy guy, and that sets the dynamic off at a really interesting angle as we see him undergo not only the trauma of losing his mother but the horrifying possibility that he might have killed her and doesn’t remember. This fractured psyche is captured skilfully by Sanders with every well-placed moment of dialogue and thought presentation, and Dan’s inner tension matches the pace of the novel as he comes under increasing pressure from the cops on his tail. Overall, Victim or the Crime: The Day Before Jerry Died is a fantastic standalone read that also adds to a fantastic collection of legal thrillers, and I can’t wait to see what comes next from this talented author.