In Dismas Hardy, New York Times bestselling author John Lescroart has created one of the most complex and engaging characters in contemporary fiction.  Hardy, the former bartender, loving husband and father, and reluctant defense attorney of Lescroart's blockbuster novel The 13th Juror, returns in The Mercy Rule to face his most challenging case yet.Set apart from his contemporaries by virtue of his remarkable storytelling, John Lescroart gives readers the novel of his career in The Mercy Rule.  Vowing to spend more time with his wife and kids, Dismas Hardy is hesitant to take on the case of Graham Russo, a could-have-been-great baseball player turned lawyer indicted for the murder of his father, Sal.  Everyone close to the Russos knew Sal was dying, and that he needed morphine injections to ease his suffering.  Graham freely admits to administering those injections, but insists he wasn't there the night of Sal's overdose and resultant death.  Was it suicide, murder--or mercy?With personal and professional tensions mounting, Hardy finds himself face-to-face with a terrifying truth: If this was a murder, he might well be the next person to die.With his mastery of courtroom drama, and solid connection to the human element that makes his fiction so compelling, John Lescroart has created in The Mercy Rule an intelligent and richly satisfying thriller that will keep readers turning the pages far into the night.