Product Description

A. Scott Fenney is a hotshot corporate lawyer at a big Dallas firm. At 33, in the prime of his life, he rakes in $750,000 a year, drives a Ferrari and comes home every night to a mansion in Dallas's most exclusive neighbourhood. He also comes home to one of Dallas's most beautiful women, with whom he has a much-loved daughter, Boo. For Fenney, life could not be better. But when a senator's son is killed in a hit-and-run, Fenney is asked by the state judge to put his air-conditioned lifestyle on hold to defend the accused: a black, heroin-addicted prostitute - a very different client to the people Fenney usually represents. And, more importantly, she is not going be paying Ford Stevens $350 an hour for the privilege of his services. Under fire from all sides, Fenney drafts in a public defender to take the case on. Yet as Scott prepares to hand over to Bobby, he feels increasingly guilty about the path he is taking, because Scott still believes in the principle of justice. The question is: does he believe in it strongly enough to jeopardise everything in his life he holds dear. And to what lengths is the dead man's power-hungry father prepared to go to test Fenney's resolve?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #34294 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-11
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

Review
'A good story, which Gimenez tells with passion and conviction' Sunday Telegraph ** ' I read it at one sitting ... Gimenez has created a complex and believable character who carries a story that still intrigues' The Observer ** 'Try it ... firmly in the John Grisham mould' Daily Mirror

Synopsis
A. Scott Fenney is a hotshot corporate lawyer at a big Dallas firm. At 33, in the prime of his life, he rakes in $750,000 a year, drives a Ferrari and comes home every night to a mansion in Dallas's most exclusive neighbourhood. He also comes home to one of Dallas's most beautiful women, with whom he has a much-loved daughter, Boo. For Fenney, life could not be better. But when a senator's son is killed in a hit-and-run, Fenney is asked by the state judge to put his air-conditioned lifestyle on hold to defend the accused: a black, heroin-addicted prostitute - a very different client to the people Fenney usually represents. And, more importantly, she is not going be paying Ford Stevens $350 an hour for the privilege of his services. Under fire from all sides, Fenney drafts in a public defender to take the case on. Yet as Scott prepares to hand over to Bobby, he feels increasingly guilty about the path he is taking, because Scott still believes in the principle of justice. The question is: does he believe in it strongly enough to jeopardise everything in his life he holds dear. And to what lengths is the dead man's power-hungry father prepared to go to test Fenney's resolve?

About the Author
Born and educated in Texas, Mark Gimenez attended law school at Notre Dame, Indiana and practised with a large Dallas law firm. He is married with two sons. * www.markgimenez.com

Customer Reviews

feel good lawyer novel
All the reviews printed on the book compared it to the work of John Grisham who's books I used to lap up until a couple of years ago. I can safely say it does not live up to that standard at all. Grisham sucks you in from the word go and although he does involve the personal lives of the characters in the story it is worked into the larger more gripping plot. Mark Gimenez makes the lives of his characters the central theme.
Until around page 230 I was doing a lot of skim reading just to get to the real crunch time legal stuff.... and thats where it got pretty darn good and I could see where the comparison came from.

It's a rather predictable book in many ways but the courtroom scenes and the absolutely priceless conversations between Boo (daughter of the big shot lawyer) and Pajamae (daughter of the heroin addict/ prostitute client).

I think Mr Gimenez had an axe to grind with big money making law firms and wanted to get folk to love lawyers again. The first bit made for interesting reading (though we've heard it before) and the latter just didnt happen (i'm a realist :D )!

A great first novel
This is a an excellent read-highly recommended. Like Grisham, Giminez clearly has a very poor opinion of lawyers and the American legal system.
Scott Fenney is a corporate lawyer who is in it to make money. He makes the mistake of giving an idealistic speech to a group of lawyers. While he does not mean what he says an experienced judge hears him and appoints him to defend a black heroin addicted prostitute who is accused of murdering the son of the Texan senator. The senator is likely to be the next president of America. The first third of the book paints Scott in a very poor light as he wheels and deals, makes money for himself and his firm. He tries to wriggle out of defending the prostitute by getting Bobby his best buddy from law school who is a struggling street lawyer to take his place. Gradually Bobby, Scott's daughter and the daughter of the accused win Scott round and he agrees to take the case.
All the might of corporate America is then brought to bear on Scott and he loses everything.
The book is full of cliches and might not be everyones cup of tea. Would a corporate lawyer take or indeed be qualified to defend someone accused of murder? Gimenez goes on a bit too much about the vagaries of lawyers. He does though get you to like Scott in the second half of the book and by the time the trial comes round you will be just willing him to get the better of the all powerful but corrupt establishment that is lined up against him.

One heck of a book, what a find is all I can say!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
What a find!, July 15, 2007

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book when I purchased it but to may amazement it managed to exceed all my expectations.

If I had to describe Mark Gimenez's writing style I'd say is a cross between Grisham and P.D James because it has all the impact of a court room thriller and all the suspense of a "whodunnit."

Scott Fennney is not a likable character when we first meet him, he's a hard headed young lawyer who has managed to pull himself up by his bootstraps from his poor origins to live in a rich area of Dallas, Texas with his lovely but coldly ambitious wife Rebecca and his equally lovely daughter but much nicer daughter Boo, named after a character in the book "To Kill a Mockingbird."

Once upon a time Scott did have scruples and morals but they have long disappeared and he now lives the big expensive life with a multi-million dollar house, drives a Ferrari and represents those who can pay his fat fees.

And then out of the blue he is asked by a judge who still believes the right of a fair trial for every defendant to represent a drug addicted mixed race prostitute called Shawanda who is accused of murdering the white son of a very powerful man, a Senator no less who might one day be the next president of the USA. Shawanda says she didn't kill the Senator's son but it was her gun that ended the life of the violent spoilt 30 year old and she had taken his car which was found not far from where she lived in the projects.

Scott has no choice but to take the case and like everyone else believes Shawanda to be guilty but something happens to Scott during the process of him going through the motions of seeming to represent this unfortunate young woman. Scott suddenly finds out he has a conscience and that even though he still believes that Shawanda is guilty he has every intention of fighting for her God given right to a fair trial, and from then on he finds out that he is not only fighting for Shawanda's life, he is also fighting for his own, and that of his daughter Boo and Shawanda's daughter Pajame who he rescued from the Projects and bought home to stay with him and Boo.

A riveting read from the first page to the last, I read it in one sitting and then read it again, a great story with a twist and sting in the tale that leads up to a climatic and suspenseful court scene in which Scott suddenly realizes the shocking truth, Shawanda is actually not guilty of the murder of the Senator's son and that another is guilty of the crime she is standing trial for...