A winsome familial team reinforces this story of judicial proceedings.
In Avitabile’s debut legal tale, a Brooklyn lawyer takes on a paternity case that pits him against powerful attorneys who fight dirty.
When Mary Woodley needs help collecting child support, she turns to a former co-worker, Al Forte. He’s a real estate lawyer, not a litigator, but he likes Mary and can’t find someone else to represent her, so he takes her case. Some time back, after drinking with her then boss, attorney Gordon Gilbert, Mary woke up in bed with Gilbert and later learned she was pregnant. She bore a son, Roger, but hasn’t been able to reach Gilbert and wants financial support. Unfortunately, Gilbert and his lawyer, John Stillman, immediately attack the paternity suit, claiming Al is out for revenge. Gilbert, who’s a deputy mayor, was head of the now-dissolved law firm Gilbert & Associates, where Al worked before Gilbert fired him for his “liberal ways.” Al’s street-smart cousin, Mick, who has spent time in prison, offers his assistance. Al declines the help and subsequently lands in jail on a bogus charge of violating a judge’s order. It seems Gilbert and Stillman are not above unethical means to win cases. Mick, however, has his cousin’s back and employs his numerous connections, hoping to ensure that Al and Mary are the victors. Avitabile’s short, brisk novel aptly shows how a seemingly simple lawsuit can turn into a dogged legal battle. Gilbert, for example, fights Mary’s requested paternity test, while Stillman threatens her with a defamation suit despite her not going public with the allegations. The story makes good use of a duality between the cousins, who grew up together but took separate paths. Still, too many characters extol Mick’s capability and beneficial alliances; even Al’s wife, Theresa, berates her incarcerated husband for not accepting Mick’s help and is hardly concerned that he’s in jail. But Al and Mick are a savvy, delightful duo alongside stellar supporting characters such as Richie Abbatello, Mick’s criminal defense attorney, and Francesca, another cousin and the receptionist at Al’s office.
A winsome familial team reinforces this story of judicial proceedings.Pub Date: July 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-73230-630-1
Page Count: 198
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Feb. 21, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A weird, wild ride.
Celebrity scandal and a haunted lake drive the narrative in this bestselling author’s latest serving of subtly ironic suspense.
Sager’s debut, Final Girls (2017), was fun and beautifully crafted. His most recent novels—Home Before Dark (2020) and Survive the Night (2021) —have been fun and a bit rickety. His new novel fits that mold. Narrator Casey Fletcher grew up watching her mother dazzle audiences, and then she became an actor herself. While she never achieves the “America’s sweetheart” status her mother enjoyed, Casey makes a career out of bit parts in movies and on TV and meatier parts onstage. Then the death of her husband sends her into an alcoholic spiral that ends with her getting fired from a Broadway play. When paparazzi document her substance abuse, her mother exiles her to the family retreat in Vermont. Casey has a dry, droll perspective that persists until circumstances overwhelm her, and if you’re getting a Carrie Fisher vibe from Casey Fletcher, that is almost certainly not an accident. Once in Vermont, she passes the time drinking bourbon and watching the former supermodel and the tech mogul who live across the lake through a pair of binoculars. Casey befriends Katherine Royce after rescuing her when she almost drowns and soon concludes that all is not well in Katherine and Tom’s marriage. Then Katherine disappears….It would be unfair to say too much about what happens next, but creepy coincidences start piling up, and eventually, Casey has to face the possibility that maybe some of the eerie legends about Lake Greene might have some truth to them. Sager certainly delivers a lot of twists, and he ventures into what is, for him, new territory. Are there some things that don’t quite add up at the end? Maybe, but asking that question does nothing but spoil a highly entertaining read.
A weird, wild ride.Pub Date: June 21, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-18319-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022
Small-town claustrophobia and intimacies alike propel this twist-filled psychological thriller.
The loss of her police officer father and the discovery of an abandoned car in a local lake raise chilling questions regarding a young woman’s family history.
When Hazel Sharp returns to her hometown of Mirror Lake, North Carolina, for her father’s memorial, she and the other townspeople are confronted by a challenging double whammy: As they’re grieving the loss of beloved longtime police officer Detective Perry Holt, a disturbing sight appears in the lake, whose waterline is receding because of an ongoing drought—an old, unidentifiable car, which has likely been lurking there for years. Hazel temporarily leaves her Charlotte-based building-renovation business in the capable hands of her partners and reconnects with her brothers, Caden and Gage; her Uncle Roy; her old fling and neighbor, Nico; and her schoolfriend, Jamie, now a mother and married to Caden. Tiny, relentless suspicions rise to the metaphorical surface along with that waterlogged vehicle: There have been a slew of minor break-ins; two people go missing; and then, a second abandoned car is discovered. The novel digs deeper into Hazel’s family history—her father was a widow when he married Hazel’s mother, who later left the family, absconding with money and jewels—and Miranda, a consummate professional when it comes to exposing the small community tensions that naturally arise when people live in close proximity for generations, exposes revelation after twisty revelation: “Everything mattered disproportionately in a small town. Your success, but also your failure. Everyone knows might as well have been our town motto.”
Small-town claustrophobia and intimacies alike propel this twist-filled psychological thriller.Pub Date: April 9, 2024
ISBN: 9781668010440
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Marysue Rucci Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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