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Dr. Lyla Abda is a gifted doctor whose life in the United States is abruptly halted when she is detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement as a threat to Homeland Security. Chance Cormac is a noted attorney who handles civil rights and immigration cases, and he is asked to come down to Louisiana to help Abda. A brouhaha soon ensues after an attempt to allow Abda to preserve her cultural heritage and dignity is prevented by the judge, and Chance winds up in jail after throwing a punch at an ICE agent. The abrogation of Abda's rights leaves Chance disheartened by the laws he has sworn to uphold, and even when Abda gets a second chance with a change of venue, the government refuses to play fair and has her deported to another country. Chance will need to use unorthodox methods to help his client, further risking the wrath of the U.S. Government.
Meanwhile, in New York, Chance's pal Justice Holmes is an investigator working for attorney Frank Fogarty. Frank's latest clients are two former finance executives who are facing racketeering charges for running a gambling site where the results were rigged to the house's advantage. The two young men are nearly oblivious to their plight and tend to talk in movie quotes rather than engage in substantive dialogue. As Justice researches the young men's less-than-legitimate endeavors, he learns they are not being fully forthright with their legal counsel. In addition, the criminal justice system may not be the only threat they are facing. A connection with a criminal syndicate threatens not only the amateur gambling moguls but Justice and Frank as well.
Chance's former love, Sally, and her daughter Melody are experiencing their own hardships as Sally's husband, James, has been waging a losing battle against cancer. Melody, a high-school-aged tennis phenom, is having trouble coping with her father's illness in addition to struggling with whether she wants tennis to be her future. Her disenchantment with tennis, a sexual assault at a dance, and the disappearance of Chance from her life leave Melody nearing the deep end.
Each section of the book packs a punch and unfolds in surprising, satisfying ways. The riveting drama comes in Chance's unconventional attempts to free Abda and Melody's emotional turmoil as the burdens of a teenager are exponentially heightened with trauma. The action and suspense come from Justice and Frank's predicament with their latest clients and their efforts to extricate the men from their legal woes. The two men's frustration is palpable as they are forced to put out more than a few fires because of their clients' greed and naivete.
Stories about the law and lawyers lose some of their spark when mired in procedural minutiae, but narratives featuring a maverick litigator willing to buck the system never stop being entertaining. Thankfully, this book falls in the latter category. Chance Cormac's latest story finds the protagonist at a crossroads in both his professional and personal life. His love for the law has been challenged. He feels estranged from his own country, and he has lost two of the closest people in his life. An air of melancholy envelops Chance at the beginning of this book as he feels further removed from the world. Yet his latest case allows him to regain his fighting spirit as he challenges an unfair system. Overall, this is a multifaceted book that is engaging and uplifting, and it will make readers clamor for the sequel.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review