One week before his law school graduation, Jake Rutledge is shattered. His fraternal twin, Blake, has died of a drug overdose. When Jake returns to his hometown of Oakley, West Virginia, he discovers that his brother was not the only person hooked on opioid painkillers. The entire region has been ravaged by an epidemic insidiously planned and carried out by one of America’s most powerful pharmaceutical companies.
Still wet behind the ears, Jake is determined to seek justice for all the victims of Big Pharma’s greed. He soon learns that the drug companies’ tentacles reach far and deep. His only hope is to get Nicholas “Deke” Deketomis to help. A partner at one of the country’s most powerful law firms, Deke’s “as tough as a two-dollar steak” and well-known for his winning tactics against corporate wrongdoers. With just enough persistence, Jake coaxes Deke to see Oakley’s devastation firsthand. Overwhelmed, Deke agrees to join forces with Jake.
And that’s when the real heat begins. Death threats, bribes, unlawful property seizure schemes – all are connected to the massive distribution of both legal and illegal drugs. Everyone is impacted, from the highest levels of corporate America to corrupt local officials to their lackeys and hapless victims. The complexity of the schemes is overwhelming.
Working tirelessly, the lawyers begin to uncover the truth. Along the way, Jake falls in love with Anna Fowler, a former homecoming queen who has succumbed to the power of opioids. With his support, she weans herself off the drugs. Hope begins to bloom ― when suddenly, Jake disappears. As Deke undertakes a desperate search to find him, questions swirl. Has Jake abandoned Anna and his crusade? Can the case against the evildoers move forward without him? Will Oakley and its residents survive? Law and Addiction is real-life drama at its finest ― a book that clears away the darkness page by page, spotlighting a profound truth about our society through expert storytelling.
Q: What’s the story behind the title of your book? A: As an attorney, when I was first approached about representing plaintiffs in an action against the major corporate opioid distributors, I knew little about the opioid epidemic. It was only when I started peeling back the opioid onion that I had no choice but to confront its ugliness. The more I discovered, the more outraged I became. My hope in writing this novel is to both edify and entertain. I want to provide readers with a front-row account of this epidemic, but not bludgeon them in the process. While I didn’t try to gloss over the human suffering, I still remain a believer in the power of the human spirit to prevail. I hope this novel sparks a certain level of outrage in readers. As a nation, we need to be outraged by this crisis
Q: Tell us about your series. Is this book a standalone, or do readers need to read the series in order? A: All three of my novels feature the resolute trial lawyer Nicholas “Deke” Deketomis, but each book is a standalone.
In Law and Disorder, money, power, and politics line up against Deke, and he must fight for his freedom, his family, and the future of his prestigious law firm.
In Law and Vengeance, Deke joins forces with Gina Romano, a young lawyer who runs headlong into a life and death struggle against weapons manufacturers, a gun rights lobbyist, psychopathic Chicago police, a hi-tech genius assassin, and the U.S. Department of Justice
And in Law and Addiction, Deke is fighting Big Pharma on behalf of the thousands of American’s trapped by the opioid crises.
Q: Do you have another job outside of writing? A: Yes. I’m senior partner at Levin Papantonio, a plaintiff’s law firm based in Pensacola, Florida. We’ve handled many important cases, taking on Big Pharma, tobacco companies, and the automobile industry, among others. I am also one of the hosts of the syndicated Ring of Fire radio show and the host of America's Lawyer on RT America network.
Q: Where’s home for you? A: Pensacola, Florida.
Q: How did you create the plot for this book? A: I think most novelists are driven by stories they’ve heard or experienced. All of my novels – Law and Addiction as well as Law And Disorder and Law and Vengeance – were driven by real events. These weren’t events that I read about in a newspaper – I’m actually in the middle of them. I’m in court and taking depositions on these issues.
Q: Are any of your characters inspired by real people? A: The characters in my books are based on people I’ve worked with. They’re all composites. I collect little notes about the people I encounter of the years, and those qualities that I’ve found interesting become part of future characters. Take Jake in Law and Addiction, for example. Every day, you have young lawyers who are graduating from law school and trying to figure out what they want to do that’s important – what kind of legacy they want to build. Right out of law school, Jake confronts one of the biggest cases in the country. Oddly enough, this isn’t really unusual for really superb trial lawyers. You have the 1-800-AUTO-CRASH lawyers who handle ten thousand auto cases in their career, and that’s their legacy. But there are other lawyers who want to tell their children that they’ve really accomplished something – they’ve gotten a bad drug off the market, they’ve cleaned up an environmental catastrophe. In this case, Jake decides he can take on the biggest pharmaceutical industry in the world.
Q: Is your book based on real events? A: Yes, I actually wrote Law and Addiction in real time, while I was handling a similar lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies. So, the book is based on real events that I’ve sought to mold into a good story that people will enjoy reading.
Q: Are you like any of your characters? A: Deke is a character that can best be described as a composite. Because of the unusual quality of my practice, I have had the opportunity to work with the very best trial lawyers in America. There are probably fewer than fifty trial lawyers in the entire country who specialize in trying what would be considered complex cases on behalf of injured claimants. I have borrowed both the best and the most problematic qualities from that small group of trial lawyers to create Deke.
Q: Do you have a routine for writing? A: It may be counterintuitive, but the best writing advice I’ve ever gotten is to stop writing when you have a “hot hand.” In other words, when I’m writing a chapter and it’s going very well, I stop. I take a break, think about it, and get some sleep. When I come back the next day, I’m not in that pit looking for the next clever thing to do. I do follow a detailed, chapter-by-chapter outline, but I try to pace the actual writing so that each morning, when I pick up where I left off, it’s to work on something I’m already excited about.
Q: What are you working on now? A: Along with preparing for a West Virginia trial against opioid distributors, I have been focusing on building a national consortium of America’s best trial lawyers lawyers to handle human trafficking cases against corporate entities that have helped the problem flourish. In fact that is the subject of my next book.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mike Papantonio is a truth-teller, a crusader who uses fiction to entertain and inform his readers about some of the most pressing issues of our time. In each of his thrillers, from Law And Disorder to Law And Vengeance, and now Law And Addiction, he lays bare the conspiracies and white-collar crimes that hurt ordinary Americans ― and that are rarely covered by the national media.
A senior partner of Levin Papantonio, one of the country’s largest plaintiffs’ law firms, Papantonio uses his own cases as springboards for his novels. He has aggressively taken on Big Pharma, tobacco, weapon manufacturer, and the automobile industry, among other bastions of corporate greed. One of the youngest inductees into the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame, Papantonio is also a well- known media presence as host of America’s Lawyer on the RT America television network and co-host of the syndicated radio show Ring of Fire. A skilled musician and athlete, he is based in Pensacola, Florida.
"WE HAVE YOUR GRANDDAUGHTER. HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO DO."
That's the text message Supreme Court Justice Arnold Hirschfeld receives as hearings commence in the U.S. Supreme Court to determine the fate of the 28th Amendment - enacted to criminalize abuse of power on the part of our political representatives.
In court to defend the amendment, retired U.S. District Court Judge Cyrus Brooks observes his old friend and law school classmate Hirschfeld acting strangely and dispatches veteran D.C. homicide detective Frank Lotello to find out why.
In the meantime, Hirschfeld's precocious and feisty 11-year-old diabetic granddaughter Cassie, brutally kidnapped to control her grandfather's swing vote upholding or invalidating the amendment, watches her insulin pump running dry and wonders which poses her greatest threat, the kidnappers or the clock. As Brooks is forced to choose between saving our nation or saving the girl.
Book Details:
Title: The Amendment Killer
Author: Ronald S. Barak
Genre: Political and Legal Thriller, Brooks/Lotello Thriller series, Volume 1
Publisher: Gander House Publishers (November 1st 2017)
Ron, what’s the story behind the title The Amendment Killer?
The antagonist kidnaps the 11-year-old diabetic granddaughter of a Supreme Court Justice to cause the Supreme Court to invalidate a Constitutional amendment criminalizing abuse of criminal power. The kidnapper is . . . The Amendment Killer. Alternatively, the entire story is about killing the amendment. Or not. I also considered The Killer Amendment, i.e., a great amendment killing off political misconduct, but The Amendment Killer won out because it is easier to explain and . . . well, it just sounds better. The Killer Amendment is a bit clicheish.
Tell us about your series. Is this book a standalone, or do readers need to read the series in order? The Amendment Killer is the first published novel in The Brooks/Lotello Thriller series. It is the second chronologically (time frame) speaking. The second in the series will be published in late Spring 2018 and is titled The Puppet Master. It’s the first chronologically in the series and is a prequel to The Amendment Killer.
What’s your favorite memory?
I don’t . . . recall.
If you had an extra $100 a week to spend on yourself, what would you buy?
Probably more gadgets than I already buy.
What’s the dumbest purchase you’ve ever made?
More gadgets than I need.
What’s the most valuable thing you’ve learned?
Not to depend on gadgets.
Who would you pick to write your biography?
Me. That way I could save a lot of time having to tell my biographer all about . . . me. Second choice: Walter Isaacson.
What dumb things did you do during your college years?
I majored in physics even though I couldn’t change a light bulb and knew I never would.
Where’s home for you?Pacific Palisades, which is a city (or
municipality) in the county of Los Angeles, State of California. We live
on the bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean between Santa Monica and
Malibu, just west of Brentwood first and Beverly Hills to the east.
What do you love about where you live?
It’s where my wife lives.
Where did you grow up? In Los Angeles. Have you been in any natural disasters?
Except for a significant earthquake, all of my disasters tend to be unnatural.
What is the most daring thing you've done?
A triple somersault high above the ground when I was on my way to becoming an Olympic gymnast.
What is the stupidest thing you've ever done?
A triple somersault high above the ground when I was on the way to becoming an Olympic gymnast. What’s one thing that you wish you knew as a teenager that you know now?
Not to worry about what you can’t control or influence. What makes you bored?
Playing board games.
What is your most embarrassing moment?
Explaining to people why I majored in physics in college when I can’t change a light bulb. What choices in life would you like to have a redo on?
Majoring in physics in college.
If someone gave you $5,000 and said you must solve a problem, what would you do with the money? I’d hire someone who knew how to solve the problem. What makes you nervous?
Not coming up with an answer for this question. What makes you happy?
My wife. What makes you scared?
My wife. What makes you excited?
My wife.
Do you have another job outside of writing?
Aside from practicing law? Yes, bringing up the groceries and feeding the fish in our Koi pond.
Who are you?
The guy not coming up with better answers for these questions.
How did you meet your spouse? Was it love at first sight?
In a Junior High School class, in the eighth grade. My wife says it was love at first sight for me, but probably not for her. What are your most cherished mementoes?
The few gadgets I own that probably do what they’re supposed to do without my having to waste my time on getting the promised result. Come to think of it, I don’t have one of those. Could it be . . . me (not a memento, but the explanation of why none of my gadgets work).
If you could only save one thing from your house, what would it be?
The wife, of course. She’s going to read this.
What brings you sheer delight?
The wife. Have I overplayed the wife card yet? Would you rather be a lonely genius, or a sociable idiot?
Clearly a lonely genius because I’m already a sociable idiot. Could I choose sociable genius? What’s one of your favorite quotes?
“Lawyers, I suppose, where children once.” -Charles Lamb. I use it in the Epigraphs in The Amendment Killer. If you could live anywhere in the world, where in the world would it be?
Pacific Palisades, where I live right now.
What would you like people to say about you after you die?
I’m debating between “Nice guy” and “Who?” What’s your favorite line from a book?
“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.” It’s my favorite because I can remember it. Besides, how would you feel if I had “Where have you been all this time?” What would your main character say about you?
Maybe “Nice guy,” but probably “Who?” How did you create the plot for this book?
Well, just take a look at Washington, D.C. It was a natural. I made the 11-year-old kidnapped youngster diabetic because I’m diabetic. Are any of your characters inspired by real people?
Cyrus Brooks, the main character in the book was inspired by a real person. Who? Me. Because he had a nice wife. Oh yeah, and because he knew about the law and cared about people and dreamed of being a world class dancer, musician and athlete. Is your book based on real events?
Well, just take a look at Washington, D.C. and you tell me. Are you like any of your characters?
Sure. I’m like Cyrus Brooks. We’re both great at whatever we do and have a keen imagination and sense of humor.
Imagine Cyrus has just found out you’re about to kill him off. He decides to beat you to the punch. How would he kill you?
He’d take away my gadgets, especially my keyboard.
With what five real people would you most like to be stuck in a bookstore?
Lee Child, John Lescroart, Andrew Gross, Jon Land, and Anthony Franze.
Are these your favorite authors?
Lee Child, John Lescroart, Andrew Gross, Jon Land and Anthony Franze. Because they write well and they think well. Oh yeah, and because they took the time to read The Amendment Killer and say nice things about it.
What book are you currently reading and in what format?
I only read in e-book. Why? Because my wife is a fast reader and makes me carry a bunch of books whenever we travel. I’m currently reading The Outsider by Anthony Franze because he writes great legal thrillers about the Supreme Court, and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie because the English consider it perhaps the finest mystery novel of all time.
What’s one pet peeve you have when you read?
I’m not a fast reader and there’s not enough time in the day (or night) to read as much as I would like. Do you have a routine for writing?
Not really. I just like to get other things I have to do out of the way so I can lock myself up for an extended period of writing time. Where and when do you prefer to do your writing?
Where? In front of my laptop, wherever it happens to be. When? Anytime I have the time. Or a deadline.
What’s the best compliment you’ve ever received about your writing?
That it was a proverbial page turner, but that it also kept people thinking.
What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever had to write?
Scenes where editors told me I was straying from credible reality but I wanted to make them credible nevertheless. Where is your favorite library, and what do you love about it?
Years ago, I was visiting at Yale and had a chance to spend some time in its main library. It was incredible. It seemed to have everything and seemed like what a library should be. It went on and on forever and seemed to have everything a library could possibly have.
You can be any fictional character for one day. Who would you be?
Sherlock Holmes.
What’s the worst thing someone has said about your writing?
That The Amendment Killer is written poorly, plotted childishly and incredibly boring. I dealt with that by recalling all of the wonderful five star reviews I have received on Amazon and Goodreads. What would your dream office look like?
Like the one I have now, plenty of room for my desk and chair, my computer keyboard and monitor, my other gadgets and my workout equipment. And a nice view of the Pacific Ocean, where I imagine setting the person who said The Amendment Killer is written poorly, plotted childishly and incredibly boring afloat in a tiny dingy without paddle, engine, food or drink.
Sounds like the plot for a new book. What are you working on now?
The Puppet Master, prequel to The Amendment Killer.
READ AN EXCERPT
Chapter 1
Tuesday, May 6, 6:30 am
We have your granddaughter. Here’s what you need to do.
Thomas T. Thomas III reviewed the language. Again. He closed the phone without hitting send. Yet.
He stared through high-powered binoculars from atop the wooded knoll. As always, the girl hit one perfect shot after another.
Cassie Webber. Age 11. He’d been tailing her for three months. It seemed longer.
She was chaperoned everywhere she went. Two-a-day practices before and after school. Her dad drove her in the morning. He watched her empty bucket after bucket and then dropped her off at school. Her mom picked her up after school, ferried her back to the practice range, and brought her home after daughter and coach finished. Mom and daughter sometimes ran errands on the way, but always together. Even on the occasional weekend outing to the mall or the movies, the girl was constantly in the company of family or friends. Having someone hovering over me all day would have driven me batshit.
His childhood had been different. When Thomas was her age, he walked to school on his own. And he lived a lot farther away than the girl. His daddy had never let his driver chauffeur him around. Wasn’t about to spoil him. Spare the rod, spoil the child. Didn’t spoil me that way either.
He kept telling himself patience was the key. But his confidence was waning. And then, suddenly, he’d caught a break. The girl’s routine had changed.
She started walking the few blocks between school and practice on her own. Dad dropped her off at morning practice and Mom met her at afternoon practice instead of school. Only a ten minute walk each way, but that was all the opening he needed.
Everything was finally in place. He would be able to make amends. He would not let them down.
This time.
She completed her morning regimen, unaware of Thomas’s eyes trained on her from his tree-lined vantage point. No doubt about it, he thought to himself. She was incredibly good. Driven. Determined.
And pretty. Very pretty.
He relieved himself, thinking about her. A long time . . . coming. Haha! As the girl disappeared into the locker room, he trekked back down the hill, and climbed into the passenger side of the van. He returned the binoculars to their case. He removed the cell from his pocket, and checked the pending text one more time.
Moments later, the girl emerged from the locker room, golf bag exchanged for the backpack over her shoulders. She ambled down the winding pathway, waved to the uniformed watchman standing next to the guardhouse, and crossed through the buzzing security gate. She headed off to school.
Without taking his eyes off her, Thomas barked at the man sitting next to him. “Go.”
Chapter 2
Tuesday, May 6, 7:00 am
Eloise Brooks stared at Cyrus and shook her head. After more than 50 years of marriage, she understood everything about him there was to understand. Still: “I take the time to make you a nice breakfast. The least you could do is eat it while it’s hot.”
She held the warm cup of tea in both hands. “And can’t you talk to me, Cyrus? Why do you treat me like I’m not here? Like I’m some kind of a potted plant.”
Cyrus moved the eggs around on his plate. Speared a bite of fruit, swallowed it, but showed no visible pleasure in it. “I’m eating. What do you want to talk about? You think the couple cut from Dancing With The Stars last night deserved to be sent packing?”
“Should have got the hook weeks ago. You dance better than he does. Even with your two left feet.”
He didn’t answer. She knew why. “What’re you thinking about? Esposito? Whether 50,000 is enough? Your two left feet?”
“All of the above.”
She gazed at him but said nothing. Notwithstanding his apparent disinterest in the plate of food in front of him, his appetite—and his imagination—were never-ending. He loved upbeat music and dancing. And sports. He couldn’t carry a tune or dance a lick. Except for an occasional round of golf, his sports these days were mostly played out in front of the television. But that didn’t stop him from daydreaming. He danced like Fred Astaire. He sang and played guitar and harmonica like Bob Dylan. He moved around a tennis court like Roger Federer.
However, Eloise knew his real passion in life was the law. He had enjoyed a distinguished legal career, first as a trial lawyer and then as a U.S. District Court judge. Now retired from the bench, writing and teaching, and occasionally trying a case that got his hackles up, when it came to the law, those who knew Cyrus Brooks knew he was second to none. Amazing how sometimes he exuded that—with confidence bordering on arrogance—but at other times did not. More so since Frank Lotello had been shot, and barely survived.
Brooks sat there fidgeting restlessly with the newspaper. Eloise reached over and put her hand on his. “You’ll be great, Cyrus. I need to walk Ryder and get dressed, so we can drive into Court together. Please make sure Maccabee’s dishes have enough water and dry cat snacks.”
Arguments in the case were scheduled to commence in barely two hours. The chance to appear before the United States Supreme Court was rare, even for Brooks, but to do it in a landmark case that could permanently change the U.S. political landscape was unparalleled.
When they were first married, Eloise often attended Cyrus’s court appearances, both to show her support and because the judicial process was new to her. Now long accustomed to Cyrus’s legal adventures, Eloise was a less frequent visitor to the courtroom. Given the importance of this case, she told Cyrus the night before that she planned to attend.
He looked up absently with a gentle, distant smile, still fixed in some far-off place, no doubt grateful for her efforts to distract him, and bolster his confidence. “Macc’s snacks? Sure.”
Chapter 3
Described
by his readers as a cross between Agatha Christie, Lee Child, and John
Lescroart, bestselling author Ron Barak keeps his readers flipping the
pages into the wee hours of the night. While he mostly lets his
characters tell his stories, he does manage to get his licks in too.
Barak
derives great satisfaction in knowing that his books not only entertain
but also stimulate others to think about how things might be, how
people can actually resolve real-world problems. In particular, Barak
tackles the country’s dysfunctional government representatives—not just
back-seat driving criticism for the sake of being a back-seat driver,
but truly framing practical remedies to the political abuse and
corruption adversely affecting too many people’s lives today. Barak’s
extensive legal background and insight allow him to cleverly
cross-pollinatepollenate his fiction and today’s sad state of political
reality.
In his latest novel, The Amendment Killer,
Barak calls upon his real world legal ingenuity and skill to craft a
28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution criminalizingcriminalizng
political abuse and corruption that Constitutional scholars across the
country are heralding as a highly plausible answer to the political
chaos destroying the very moral fiber of the country today. It’s
difficult to read The Amendment Killer, and not imagine what
could—and should—be expected and demanded of those political leaders who
have forgotten they are there to serve and not be served.
Barak is also a committed and strident advocate of finding a cure for diabetes. One of the primary characters in The Amendment Killer
is the feisty and precocious 11-year-old diabetic granddaughter of the
Supreme Court justice holding the swing vote in a case in which Congress
is challenging the validity of Barak’s hypothetical 28th Amendment. It
is no small coincidence that Barak is himself a diabetic. Or that he has
committed 50% of the net proceeds of The Amendment Killer to diabetes research and education.
Barak is singularly qualified to have authored The Amendment Killer, which
will appeal to political and legal thriller aficionados alike. Barak is
a law school honors graduate and a former Olympic athlete. While still
in law school, he authored a bill introduced in Congress that overnight
forced the settlement of a decades long dispute between the NCAA and the
AAU to control amateur athletics in the United States.
Present-day politicians would do well to read The Amendment Killer and not underestimate the potential of Barak’s 28th Amendment. You can read his 28th Amendment at ronaldsbarak.com/28th-amendment-page-2. You can also read his occasional political blogs at ronaldsbarak.com/blog.
Ron and his wife, Barbie, and the four-legged members of their family reside in Pacific Palisades, California.
Dark Money is a thriller, a mystery and an expose’ of the corruption of money in politics.
Jackson Bryant, the millionaire plaintiff lawyer who turned to pro bono work in Dead Peasants, is caught up in the collision of money and politics when he receives a call from his old army buddy, Walt Frazier. Walt needs his assistance in evaluating security for Texas Governor Rob Lardner at a Halloween costume fundraiser thrown by one of the nation’s richest Republican billionaires at his mansion in Fort Worth.
Miriam Van Zandt is the best marksman among The Alamo Defenders, an anti-government militia group in West Texas. She attends the fund raiser dressed as a cat burglar---wounds the governor and murders the host’s brother, another Republican billionaire. She is shot in the leg but manages to escape.
Jack is appointed special prosecutor and must call on the Texas DPS SWAT team to track Van Zandt and attack the Alamo Defenders’ compound in a lonely part of West Texas. Van Zandt’s father, founder of the Defenders, is killed in the attack and Miriam is left in a coma. The authorities declare victory and close the case---but Jack knows better. The person behind the Halloween massacre has yet to be caught. When Walt and the protective detail are sued by the fund raiser host and the widow of the dead man, Jack follows the dark money of political contributions from the Cayman Islands to Washington to Eastern Europe, New York and New Orleans to track the real killer and absolve his friend and the Protective Detail of responsibility for the massacre.
INTERVIEW WITH LARRY THOMPSON
Larry, how did you get started writing? I think I was always destined to be a writer, only it took a while to meet that destiny. I started as a trial lawyer and tried civil cases in Texas for more than forty years. When my youngest son graduated from college and the nest was empty, I decided to start writing.
What's your favorite thing about the writing process? I love when a character does something that had not even occurred to me until I started writing that day. Truly, some characters take over scenes and chapters in books and I have to convince them that I’m the creator, not them. Do you have a writing routine? I usually write in the mornings when I am fresh. Up until recently, I was still a full-time trial lawyer and would write two or three hours in the morning and head to the office. On weekends I expand my writing time to five hours or so.
What do you think is hardest aspect of writing a book? It’s the re-writing that is drudgery. After I finish the first draft, I re-write the complete story 12 to 15 times. Once I get to the last 2 or 3 re-writes, I’m looking for just words that I can improve.
What’s more important – characters or plot? Characters are critical. If the reader cannot identify with the protagonist, feel his agony and revel in his joy, then she will never finish the book.
How often do you read? I read every day. My bedtime routine includes reading a novel for about a half an hour. On weekends I try to read a couple of hours a day. I tell people that I would much prefer reading a good book than watching a television show.
What is your writing style? I call it old-time radio writing. For those who have listened to those old radio dramas, they were carried by dialogue. And the listener had to use his imagination to fill in what he was hearing. If a door slammed, someone left in a hurry. If it creaked, something bad was about to happen. I didn’t realize until I had written a couple of books that Elmore Leonard’s ten rules of writing very well describe my writing style, particularly rule number ten, “Cut out the parts the reader is going to skip anyway.”
Good advice. What books do you currently have published? So Help Me God, The Trial, Dead Peasants, The Insanity Plea and Dark Money.
Is writing your dream job? Absolutely. I can’t think of anything I would rather be doing now. What is the worst job you’ve ever had? Doing construction in the hot days of summer in Texas.What did it teach you? It made me realize that I needed to get an education to avoid that kind of work. Do you have any marketing tips you could pass on to indie authors? I think that book tours like this one are excellent to promote a book. Certainly, they are the best bang for the buck, and I thank you. You're welcome! For what would you like to be remembered? That I was a good writer, a great lawyer, and, most importantly, a successful father of three great children. Would you make a good character in a book? Only as a lawyer, and particularly as a trial lawyer. I know my way around a courtroom (or did I already say that?).
What do you love about where you live? We live on three acres with horses and dogs. I love the space, and I particularly love the two and three hundred-year-old giant oaks that surround our house.
What’s your favorite fast food? As a Texan it would have to be Tex-Mex or barbecue. Personally, I would probably say Tex-Mex.
What do you like to do when there’s nothing to do? All I need is a book and I’m set until something more important comes along. Where is your favorite place to visit? Vail, Colorado. My youngest son lives there. We’ve been spending two months each summer in a house on a mountain top in Vail for about a dozen years. The majesty of the mountains across the valley is indescribable. I play golf with my son. We hike. We go to concerts. We eat in some world class restaurants. And I write. The mountains inspire me.
What is the most daring thing you've done? The most daring and spectacular was rafting through the Grand Canyon. It was so spectacular that I have done it twice. Where is your favorite library, and what do you love about it? The Fort Worth Public Library. I grew up in a different era. At the age of six, my mother would let me walk a block to the bus stop in the summer, clad in shorts, a T-shirt but with no shoes. I rode the bus downtown and walked three blocks to the library where I would return five books and check out five more. I did that every summer for years. That library was instrumental in the development of my love of books and reading.
What are you working on now? This is interesting and somewhat different from what I usually write. My brother was a best-selling writer of true crime in the eighties. He died way too young. His best book was Blood and Money, the true story of murders in the ultra-expensive River Oaks section of Houston. Because it was true, the characters were real. He and Doubleday were sued for libel three times. I successfully defended all three cases. The trials were fascinating. Now after 30 years, Blood and Money is to be made into a television series (things move slowly in Hollywood). In conjunction with the series, I am going to write Blood and Money, The Libel Trials. It will read like fiction but will be completely true.
EXCERPT FROM DARK MONEY
Jack Bryant turned his old red Dodge Ram pickup into the driveway of the Greek revival mansion at the end of the cul-de-sac in Westover Hills, an exclusive neighborhood in Fort Worth. He was amused to see Halloween ghosts and goblins hanging from the two enormous live oaks that fronted the house. The driveway led to wrought iron gates that permitted entry to the back. A heavy set Hispanic man with a Poncho Villa mustache in a security guard uniform stood beside the driveway near the gates, clipboard in hand. He was unarmed.
Jack stopped beside him and lowered his window. “Afternoon, officer. Fine autumn day, isn’t it?”
The guard sized up the old pick-up and the man wearing jeans and a white T-shirt. “You here to make a delivery?”
Jack reached into his left rear pocket and retrieved his wallet from which he extracted a laminated card. “No, sir. Name’s Jackson Douglas Bryant. I’m a lawyer and a Tarrant County Reserve Deputy. My friend, Walter Frazier, is part of the Governor’s Protective Detail. Said Governor Lardner is attending some big shindig here tomorrow night and asked me to lend a hand in checking the place out before he hits town. My name should be on that clipboard.”
The guard took the card, studied it closely and handed it back to Jack. He flipped to the second page. “There it is. Let me open the gates. Park down at the end of the driveway. You’ll see another wall with a gate. Walk on through and you’ll find your way to the ballroom where the party’s being held tomorrow. I’ll radio Sergeant Frazier to let him know you’re on your way.”
The gates silently opened, and Jack drove slowly to the back, admiring the house and grounds. The house had to be half a football field in length. Giant arched windows were spaced every ten feet with smaller ones above, apparently illuminating the second floor. To Jack’s right was an eight foot wall. First security issue. Not very hard to figure out a way to scale it. Fortunately, cameras and lights were mounted on fifteen foot poles that appeared to blanket the area.
Jack parked where he was directed and climbed from his truck. Before shutting the door, he took his cane from behind the driver’s seat. He flexed his left knee. It felt pretty good. He might not even need the cane. Still, he usually carried it since he never knew when he might take a step and have it buckle under him. Better to carry the cane than to fall on his ass.
He found himself in front of another wall. He was studying it when Walt came through the gate. Walt was ten years his junior, six feet, two inches of solid muscle. He bounded across the driveway to greet Jack. They first shook hands and then bear-hugged each other like the old army buddies that they were.
Walt pulled back and looked at Jack. “Damn, it’s good to see you. Been, what, about three years since you were in Austin for some lawyer meeting?”
“Could have been four. I think I was practicing in Beaumont then.”
“Still carrying the cane. That injury at the barracks causing you more problems?”
“No worse, not any better. Every once in a while the damn knee gives out with no warning. I may have to put an artificial one in some day. Meantime, the cane does just fine. I’ve got a collection of about twenty of them in an old whiskey barrel beside the back door of my house. This one is my Bubba Stick. Picked it up at a service station a while back.”
Walt’s voice dropped to just above a whisper. “Follow me into the garden. There are some tables there. We can sit for a few minutes while I explain what’s coming down.”
They walked through the gate. Beyond it was a garden, obviously tended by loving hands. Cobblestone paths wound their way through fall plantings of Yellow Copper Canyon Daises, Fall Aster, Apricot-colored Angel’s Trumpet, Mexican Marigold and the like. Walt led the way to a wrought iron table beside a fish pond with a fountain in the middle, spraying water from the mouth of a cherub’s statue. The two friends settled into chairs, facing the pond.
“This is what the help call the little garden. In a minute we’ll go around the house to the big garden and pool that fronts the ballroom. You know whose house this is?”
“No idea.”
“Belongs to Oscar Hale. He and his brother, Edward, are the two richest men in Fort Worth. Their daddy was one of the old Texas wildcatters. The two brothers were worth a few hundred million each, mainly from some old oil holdings down in South Texas and out around Midland. Life must have been pretty good.
Then it got better about ten years ago when the oil boys started fracking and horizontal drilling. Counting proven reserves still in the ground, word is they’re worth eighty billion, well, maybe just a little less now that we have an oil glut.”
“Edward still around?”
One of the servers in the kitchen had seen the two men and brought two bottles of water on a silver tray.
“Thanks…Sorry, I forgot your name.”
“Sarah Jane, Walt. My pleasure. Let me know if you need anything else.”
Walt took a sip from his bottle as Sarah Jane returned to the house. “Yeah. His legal residence is still in Fort Worth, and I understand he and his wife vote in this precinct, only they really live in New York City. He always kept an apartment there. When the oil money started gushing, he upgraded to a twenty room penthouse that I hear overlooks Central Park. He’s big in the arts scene up there, opera, ballet, you name it. He’s also building the Hale Museum of Fine Art here in Fort Worth.”
Jack nodded his head. “Okay, I know who you’re talking about. My girlfriend is thrilled about another museum in Fort Worth. She’s into that kind of thing. When I moved here, she took me to every damn one of them. The western art in the Amon Carter museum was really all that interested me. So, the Hales play with the big boys, and the governor’s coming. From what I read, Governor Lardner travels all over the world. Never seems to have a problem. What’s the big deal here?”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Larry D. Thompson was first a trial lawyer. He tried more than 300 cases throughout Texas, winning in excess of 95% of them. When his youngest son graduated from college, he decided to write his first novel. Since his mother was an English teacher and his brother, Thomas Thompson, had been a best-selling author, it seemed the natural thing to do.
Larry writes about what he knows best . . . lawyers, courtrooms and trials. The legal thriller is his genre. Dark Money is his fifth story and the second in the Jack Bryant series.
Larry and his wife, Vicki, call Houston home and spend their summers on a mountain top in Vail, Colorado. He has two daughters, two sons and four grandchildren.
Larry D. Thompson is giving away a $25 Amazon Gift Card!
Terms & Conditions: • By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old. • One winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter to receive one $25 Amazon Gift Card • This giveaway begins March 1 and ends May 27. • Winners will be contacted via email on May 28. • Winners have 48 hours to reply. Good luck everyone!
Emily is a disgraced paralegal and former rodeo queen who tucks tail and moves back to her hometown in West Texas when her Dallas husband leaves her for a woman who turns out to be a man. She works for Jack, a secretive criminal attorney and sexy mix of cowboy and Indian, and is trying to adopt Emily, a six-year old little girl from Mexico. Emily flounders a bit through her divorce, miscarriage, local gossip, adoption woes, and romantic ups and downs, but she has the love and support of the world’s best friends: CPS Investigator Wallace, strip club bartender Nadine, her former boss Katie who left the practice of law to move to the islands, sexy fish-out-of-water Ava, and tough-as-nails Michele. And when the chips are down, Emily is resourceful, a little bit spiritual, and a whole lot reckless, as she kicks ass and takes names.
INTERVIEW WITH EMILY PHELPS BERNAL
Emily, how did you first meet Pamela?
I met Pamela when she was writing about my best friend, Katie, in Saving Grace, the first book in the What Doesn’t Kill You series.
What do you like to do when you are not being actively read somewhere?
My idea of heaven is riding Jack’s horse Jarhead on a gorgeous spring day in the mountains of New Mexico.
What impression do you make on people when they first meet you? How about after they've known you for a while?
I hate to admit it, but I think people think I’m a dumb blonde. But after they know me, I think they get me and see that I’m capable. I think I actually surprise them, but mostly because they don’t imagine me as someone who can rope, ride, and shoot. What's the worst thing that's happened in your life?
When my daddy left us. That was the worst. My divorce was bad, and my miscarriage was horrible. But wondering if my daddy was even alive, if I’d ever see him again? Losing my hero? That was the worst. It really taught me to rely on myself, though. I knew that nothing was necessarily forever.
Tell us about your best friend.
Well, my best friend ever is Katie, who used to be my boss. I soaked a lot of her tipsy tears into my shoulder, let me tell you. She’s got it together now, but she lives so far away on St. Marcos in the Virgin Islands. My local best friend is Wallace, and oh-my-God he’s hilarious. He’s got this giant heart for kids—he works as an Investigator for Child Protective Services—and an obsession for neatness. But bless his heart, he’s a single gay man in Amarillo, so he’s as much of an outcast as I am as the divorcee whose husband left her for a woman who turned out to be a man.
What are you most afraid of?
That I’ll end up alone, without Betsy or Jack.
What do you like best about Jack?
I love Jack’s eyes and his enormous heart.
Least?I like least that he is cryptic and secretive. I wish I could get him to just open up to me.
If your story were a movie, who would play you?
Kate Hudson would be my top choice, but Reese Witherspoon could pull it off, too.
Describe the town where you live.
Amarillo: flat, windy, smells like cow poop, and a church on every block.
Describe an average day in your life.
Since I’ve been working for Jack, there’s been nothing but chaos. I’ve been drugged, kidnapped, shot at, stalked, and had to escape with Betsy on horseback from a human trafficker’s ranch and save two foster kids from a bad cop in an abandoned mine. I’m not sure there are even average days anymore.
What makes you stand out from any other characters in your genre?
I think readers will find that out in Hell to Pay, though I cringe to admit that my special skill is snake handling. Don’t ask, because I refuse to say another word about it.
Will you encourage your author to write a sequel?
I hope she writes about my dear new friend Laura. She was a champion jockey, and she and her husband are adopting a teenage girl. But she wants to start an equi-therapy camp for kids on Jack’s ranch. She’s asked me to help her, and I think it’s the greatest idea ever.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Writer of overly long e-mails, romantic mystery series, and (possibly)
hilarious nonfiction. Resides deep in the heart of Nowheresville, Texas and
way up in the frozen north of Snowheresville, Wyoming. Passionate about
great writing and smart authorpreneurship as well as long hikes with her
hunky husband and pack of rescue dogs, her Keurig, and traveling in the
Bookmobile.
