Published by Sphere, 13 February 2014.
ISBN: 978-0-7515-4381-09
It’s a truth universally acknowledged, at least by booksellers,
publishers and possibly readers, that people love series. So when an author
begins to acquire a following, it’s a fair bet that a a few books down the
line, a series will appear.
So
it is with Mark Gimenez, who had deservedly begun to corner the market in
Texas-based mysteries with a lawyer as protagonist. His latest book is the
first of what promises to be a long-running series featuring John ‘Book’
Bookman, a tenured professor (lecturer to British readers) of constitutional
law at the University
of Texas’s prestigious
law school.
‘Book’
has been likened to Indiana Jones, and has his own reasons for never missing an
opportunity to kick important political ass. He also likes to take on lost
causes, and consequently is showered with letters from desperate people.
In Con
Law, the letter is from a former student, now a lawyer. Book and his
reluctant intern Nadine hop aboard his Harley Davidson and head for oil
country, where fracking is the new route to Billionaire’s Row. But in the wrong
hands (or in any hands at all, depending on how environment-conscious you are)
fracking is a recipe for disaster, and the lawyer, who represents the company
which runs the entire industry in that part of Texas, has made a devastating discovery.
Devastating
for the industry – and for him. When Book and Nadine arrive, they find the
lawyer is dead.
Was
it an accident, as local law enforcement claims and most people in the town,
including the man’s family and friends, have chosen to believe? Or was it
murder? No prizes for guessing which Book thinks it is.
With
the help of a colourful cast of characters including an old-fashioned
newspaperman, a glamorous environmentalist and the local sheriff, he proceeds
to take on Billy Bob Barnett, the most powerful oilman in the west. Of Texas, that is. As the
action winds up to breakneck pace, there are car-bike chases, a shotgun fired though
a hotel window, fights in bars... (did I mention Book is a taekwondo grand
master?).
It’s
not giving away too much to say that Nadine ends up in hospital but discovers
that she can’t hide away from real life for ever. And just when you thought it
was all over for Book, there’s a neat twist which sends everything careening
off in a different direction from the one you thought you were following.
John
Grisham, eat your heart out. This could be the kind of legal thriller series
that will actually make young people want to study law. And those letters keep landing on Book’s
desk...
------
Reviewer Lynne Patrick
Mark Gimenez grew
up in Galveston County, Texas. He attended Southwest
Texas State
University in San Marcos, Texas,
and earned a B.A. in Political Science with honors. He then attended Notre Dame Law
School in Indiana and earned a J.D. degree magna cum
laude. He practiced law with a large Dallas
law firm and became a partner. After ten years, he left to practice solo and to
write. Mark lives in texas.
http://www.markgimenez.com/
Lynne Patrick has been a writer ever since she could pick up a pen,
and has enjoyed success with short stories, reviews and feature journalism, but
never, alas, with a novel. She crossed to the dark side to become a publisher
for a few years, and is proud to have launched several careers which are now
burgeoning. She lives on the edge of rural Derbyshire in a house groaning with
books, about half of them crime fiction.
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