200,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock 🇳🇿 

Black Friday Sale on Now! Save up to 25% off Books, Toys, Board Games, & Puzzles! ✨

The Legal Limit

3.93 goodreads logo

Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.

Check link for latest rating.
( 1,218 ratings, 189 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The Legal Limit by Martin Clark is a gripping tale of two brothers involved in an impulsive crime that changes their lives forever. As one becomes a successful prosecutor and the other remains entangled with criminal paths, complex legal and moral challenges ensue. The novel deftly examines themes of loyalty, justice, and the thin line between right and wrong in a small Virginia town.
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$5800

International Supplier

This title is in-stock with overseas suppliers. While it is not available locally, we fly books in weekly from the US and UK to our Auckland warehouse for immediate dispatch.

AVAILABLE WITH SUPPLIER Ships from our Auckland warehouse within 2-3 weeks

Found a better price? Request a price match

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you're interested in a gripping legal drama peppered with familial conflict and moral dilemmas. It vividly explores themes of justice, loyalty, and the complex human motivations behind crime. With finely drawn characters and a compelling narrative, this tale offers both suspense and deep emotional resonance.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

Intricately plotted, intelligently conceived, and relentlessly entertaining, Clark's novel ties together family loyalty and the legal system in one slippery knot.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

A dark and gripping novel of two brothers and the murder they hid, taken from Clark's real life as a circuit court judge. First time in paperback. Vintage Contemporaries.

Gates Hunt is a compulsive felon, serving a stiff penitentiary sentence for selling cocaine. His brother, Mason, however, has escaped their bitter, impoverished upbringing to become the commonwealth's attorney for their rural hometown in Virginia, where he enjoys a contented life with his wife and spitfire daughter. But Mason's idyll is abruptly pierced by a wicked tragedy, and soon afterward trouble finds him again when he is forced to confront a brutal secret he and his brother had both sworn to take with them to the grave, a secret that threatens everyone and everything he holds dear.

Intricately plotted and relentlessly entertaining, The Legal Limit is an exploration of the judicial system's roughest edges, as well as a gripping story of murder, family, and the difficult divide that sometimes separates genuine justice from the law.

Series: Vintage Contemporaries

View all
  • The Way Through Doors
    An unusual and haunting love story from the acclaimed author of Samedi the Deafness. A VINTAGE CONTEMPORARIES ORIGINAL. With his debut novel, Samedi the Deafness, Jesse Ball emerged as one of our most extraordinary new writers. Now, Ball returns with this haunting tale of love and storytelling, hope and identity. When Selah Morse sees a young woman get hit by...
    Paperback
    $3600
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Where I'm Calling From
    The final story collection from "one of the great short story writers of our time" (The Philadelphia Inquirer) features classic stories from Cathedral, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, and earlier volumes. "Among the masterpieces of American fiction." - The New York Times Book Review By the time of his early death in 1988, Raymond Carver had...
    Paperback
    $4000
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • If Not, Winter
    In this "gorgeous translation" (The New York Times), one of our most fearless and original poets provides a tantalising window onto the genius of a woman whose lyric power spans millennia. Of the nine books of lyrics the ancient Greek poet Sappho is said to have composed, only one poem has survived complete. The rest are fragments. In this miraculous...
    By Sappho
    Paperback
    $5600
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • The Legal Limit
    A dark and gripping novel of two brothers and the murder they hid, taken from Clark's real life as a circuit court judge. First time in paperback. Vintage Contemporaries. Gates Hunt is a compulsive felon, serving a stiff penitentiary sentence for selling cocaine. His brother, Mason, however, has escaped their bitter, impoverished upbringing to become the commonwealth's attorney for their...
    Paperback
    $5800
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • American Psycho
    INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • In this modern classic, the acclaimed author of The Shards explores the incomprehensible depths of madness and captures the insanity of violence in our time or any other. "A seminal book.” —The Washington Post One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years American Psycho follows Patrick Bateman as he moves among the young...
    Paperback
    $5200
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • Dept. of Speculation
    From the acclaimed author of Weather comes a slim, stunning portrait of a marriage—a beguiling rumination on the mysteries of intimacy, trust, faith, knowledge, and the condition of universal shipwreck that unites us all. One of the 10 Best Books of the Year - The New York Times Book Review A Best Book of the Year: The New Yorker, The...
    Paperback
    $5200
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • Old School
    The protagonist of Tobias Wolff's shrewdly—and at times devastatingly—observed first novel is a boy at an elite prep school in 1960. He is an outsider who has learned to mimic the negligent manner of his more privileged classmates. Like many of them, he wants more than anything on earth to become a writer. But to do that he must first...
    Paperback
    $4000
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Secret History
    ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE'S 100 BEST MYSTERY AND THRILLER BOOKS OF ALL TIME • INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • A contemporary literary classic and "an accomplished psychological thriller ... absolutely chilling" (Village Voice), from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Goldfinch. One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years. Under the influence of a charismatic classics professor, a...
    Paperback
    $5800
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • The House on Mango Street
    The House on Mango Street is a National Bestseller and a coming-of-age classic, acclaimed by critics, beloved by readers of all ages, taught in schools and universities alike, and translated around the world. It is written by Sandra Cisneros, the winner of the 2019 PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature. The House on Mango Street tells the remarkable story...
    Paperback
    $4300
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • The Dog Stars
    SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the author of The River: In this "end-of-the-world novel more like a rapturous beginning" (San Francisco Chronicle), Hig somehow survived the flu pandemic that killed everyone he knows. His gripping story is "an ode to friendship between two men...the strong bond between a human and a dog, and...
    Paperback
    $5400
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • Interior Chinatown
    NOW A HULU ORIGINAL SERIES • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • “A shattering and darkly comic send-up of racial stereotyping in Hollywood” (Vanity Fair) and a deeply personal novel about race, pop culture, immigration, assimilation, and escaping the roles we are forced to play. Willis Wu doesn’t perceive himself as the protagonist in his own...
    Paperback
    $5600
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • Glamorama
    The New York Times bestselling author of American Psycho and Less Than Zero delivers a gripping and brilliant dissection of our celebrity obsessed culture. “Arguably the novel of the 1990’s…Should establish Ellis as the most ambitious and fearless writer of his generation…a must read.” —The Seattle Times Set in 90s Manhattan, Victor Ward, a model with perfect abs and all...
    Paperback
    $5200
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

The Legal Limit by Martin Clark has been praised for its engrossing narrative and compelling legal drama, reminiscent of an Elmore Leonard and John Grisham blend. Reviewers commend its sharp, realistic dialogue and intricate plot, noting its combination of humour and deep themes about law and justice. It's described as a masterful, suspenseful thriller that delves into family dynamics and ethical dilemmas, set against a richly detailed backdrop of small-town life.

Book Hero reading reviews

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780307388667

Publisher: Random House USA Inc

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 02 June 2009

Country: United States

Imprint: Random House Inc

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 25.0mm

Width: 132.0mm

Height: 202.0mm

Weight: 329g

Pages: 416

About the Author

Martin Clark, a circuit court judge, lives in Stuart, Virginia. His first novel, The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living, was a New York Times Notable Book, a selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club, a finalist for the Stephen Crane First Fiction Award, and appeared on several best-seller lists.

Also by Martin Clark

View all
  • Aquatopia
    It occupies 72% of the surface of our planet, yet the depths of our oceans are less known to us than the Solar System: 90% remains unexplored. The deep, like outer space, has been a locus for science fiction since Jules Verne, with both the ocean and space giving rise to imaginary aliens, mutants and monsters. But there is one...
    Paperback
    Sold Out
  • The Plinko Bounce
    New York Times Best Thriller of 2023 New York Times Editors' Pick 2023 For seventeen years, small-town public defender Andy Hughes has been underpaid to look after the poor, the addicted, and the unfortunate souls who constantly cycle through the courts, charged with petty crimes. Then, in the summer of 2020, he's assigned to a grotesque murder case that brings...
    Paperback
    Sold Out
  • The Plinko Bounce
    New York Times Best Thriller of 2023 New York Times Editors' Pick 2023 For seventeen years, small-town public defender Andy Hughes has been underpaid to look after the poor, the addicted, and the unfortunate souls who constantly cycle through the courts, charged with petty crimes. Then, in the summer of 2020, he's assigned to a grotesque murder case that brings...
    Hardback
    Sold Out

Browse lists from our team

More from General Fiction

View all
  • On Sale
    13% off
    Yesteryear
    A BOLD AND BITING SATIRE. WILL HAVE YOU GASPING TO THE FINAL PAGE — Nita Prose WICKEDLY FUNNY, BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN AND FRIGHTENINGLY PERCEPTIVE — Abigail Dean INVENTIVE, ADDICTIVE, A WILD RIDE — Ashley Audrain SHOT THROUGH WITH HUMOUR AND LACED WITH DARKNESS — Clare Mackintosh The Stepford Wives meets The Handmaid's Tale — Hannah Deitch My name was Natalie Heller...
    Paperback
    $2600
    Elsewhere:
    $3699
    (3)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • On Sale
    14% off
    Theo of Golden
    THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING PHENOMENON'For anything to be truly good, there must be love in it. Nothing is what it's supposed to be if love is not at the core.' One morning, a stranger arrives in the town of Golden. No one knows who he is or where he came from…His name is Theo and he's arrived there by chance –...
    Paperback
    $2500
    Elsewhere:
    $3499
    (6)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • The Wedding People
    'BEST READ OF THE YEAR SO FAR' THE TIMES 'BOOKS AS FUN AS THIS ONE ARE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN' GUARDIAN Phoebe Stone arrives at a grand beachside hotel in Rhode Island wearing her best dress and least comfortable shoes. Immediately she is mistaken for one of the wedding people — but she's actually the only guest at the Cornwall...
    Paperback
    $2399
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    (3)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • New Release
    A Court of Splintered Harmony
    Romance, danger, and intrigue await you in the breathtaking sixth book in the #1 bestselling Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR) series.What was broken will be remade.Deep in the heart of the continent, Koschei the Deathless is stirring. Though he's been bound to a mountain lake for millennia, the insidious threat of his return now spreads across the Fae territories,...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3699
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • On Sale
    10% off
    New Release
    Threshing Day
    The next book in the blockbuster Empyrean series, Threshing Day contains thirteen stories starring your favorite characters and their dragons. The deluxe first edition includes sixteen beautiful original full-color illustrations by artist Joe Requeza.    Rebecca Yarros is the #1 New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of over twenty novels, including Fourth Wing and In the...
    Hardback
    $6300
    Usually:
    $6999
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Throne of Glass Box Set (Paperback)
    Enter the realm. Unleash the darkness. Live the legend. Discover the worldwide phenomenon of the #1 New York Times-bestselling Throne of Glass series in this gorgeous 8-book box set! In a land without magic, an assassin is summoned to the castle. She has no love for the vicious king who rules from his throne of glass, but she has not...
    Set
    $12400
    Elsewhere:
    $15500
    (6)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • New Release
    Chain Reaction
    Jack Reacher, \"the coolest continuing series character\" (Stephen King), returns in a brand new, pulse-pounding read from Lee and Andrew Child. The world’s bestselling hero is back in a brand new, high-octane adventure! ‘She knew that finding Reacher would not be easy . . .’ Washington DC. General Susan Turner needs help from the only guy she knows will get...
    Paperback
    $2999
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    (3)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • On Sale
    11% off
    Assassin’s Apprentice
    Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb marks the beginning of an extraordinary adventure in the rich and immersive world of the Six Duchies. Set against the backdrop of a kingdom teetering on the brink of civil war, this gripping tale introduces readers to FitzChivalry Farseer, a royal bastard whose existence threatens the stability of the crown. When the crown prince's secret...
    Paperback
    $1700
    Elsewhere:
    $2299
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • On Sale
    20% off
    A Court of Thorns and Roses Paperback Box Set (5 books)
    All five of the Court of Thorns and Roses paperbacks packaged together in a gorgeous box set. "Passionate, violent, sexy and daring." —USA TODAY on A Court of Thorns and Roses Feyre is a huntress. The skin of a wolf would bring enough gold to feed her sisters for a month. But the life of a magical creature comes at...
    Set
    $8000
    Elsewhere:
    $12495
    (4)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Threshing Day
    New Release
    Threshing Day
    The next book in the blockbuster Empyrean series, Threshing Day, contains thirteen stories starring your favourite characters and their dragons. The deluxe first edition includes sixteen beautiful original full-colour illustrations by artist Joe Requeza and silver-gilded edges. *while stock lasts. Discover the beloved world of the record-breaking, multi-million-copy bestselling series where power always demands a price, secrets darken every hallway,...
    Hardback
    $4999
    Elsewhere:
    $5500
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • On Sale
    19% off
    John of John
    The stunning new novel from the Booker Prize-winning, Sunday Times-bestselling author of Shuggie Bain and Young Mungo.'John of John has the emotional range and sense of sympathy of his earlier books, but this book is special, it has an urgency, an immediacy, a brilliant sense of place, the drama of fierce emotion repressed, concealed and volcanically exposed' - Colm Tóibín'To read John of John is to move to...
    Paperback
    $2500
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    (4)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • On Sale
    14% off
    A Court of Wings and Ruin
    The third instalment of the GLOBAL PHENOMENON, romantic fantasy epic and TikTok sensation, ACOTAR. From multi-million and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas. In A Court of Wings and Ruin, the gripping third book of the ACOTAR series, Feyre Archeron faces the ultimate battle for her world. Having returned to the Spring Court, she is determined to gather...
    Paperback
    $1800
    Elsewhere:
    $2299
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 200,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.