From Booklist
The Langsariks, a culture of space-living mercantile raiders, have been brought to heel by the governing power known as the Judiciary. Confined to a single spaceport town and deprived of their fleet, the Langsariks have to serve eight years of probation before they can be truly free again. A series of brutal raids now leaves evidence of being planned and carried out by Langsariks officers. Garol Vogel, the Judiciary Bench investigative officer who organized the amnesty that allowed the Langsariks to honorably surrender, has to discover the truth about their involvement in the raids. Meanwhile, a narrative window into the mind of the true perpetrator reveals a thoroughgoing conspiracy to destroy the Langsariks. When a witness to one of the raids escapes to take sanctuary rather than bearing construed false witness about the Langsarik family he hopes to marry into, a religious organization, the Malcontent, must join forces with the Bench to prevent another bloody attack. A chilling and engaging novel of false accusation and the power of personal responsibility. Roberta Johnson
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Book Description
"[Matthews] brilliantly uses science fiction's freedom of creation." (The Denver Post)

"Matthews will stand out in a field dominated (in numbers if not in stature) by mediocre imitators." (Analog)

A stand-alone novel set in Susan R. Matthews's critically acclaimed "Judiciary" universe, Angel of Destruction focuses on Bench officer Garol Vogel and his attempts to make peace with the Langsarik people-the people his own Judiciary drove into a life of piracy...

FROM THE PUBLISHER