This is a fulfilling (you can't help getting behind the MC and his case) and interesting book, but the details often didn't seem realistic. I will definitely check out more from this author, and I do recommend this book for someone wanting a good guy/little guy wins type of read.

By:  Victor Methos

ISBN: 9781503952768

Publisher:  Thomas & Mercer

Publication Date:  1/26/2016

Format:  Paperback 

My Rating:  4 Stars 

 

A special thank you to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Victor Methos returns following Neon Lawyer, with AN INVISIBLE CLIENT, A high-powered personal injury attorney Noah Byron—a fight against a pharmaceutical giant, breaking his number one rule by making it personal—Noah is determined to fight for justice, for a twelve-year-old boy, putting his career and everything he has worked for, on the line.

"Justice will not come until those who are not injured are as outraged as those who are." --Solon, 560BC

A David versus Goliath ---Food manufacturers have a formula to determine where we should live or die. Every bite of food we eat is like rolling a pair of dice. And the pharmaceutical giants. Do they protect or harm?

Unfortunately, under the law, a consumer's value equaled the amount of money that person could have earned in a lifetime, had he or she lived. If the calculation of damages in all the wrongful death lawsuits was greater that the cost of a recall, the manufacturer would recall the product. If the settlements would cost the company less than the recall, then they just ignored the defect.

Noah Byron, a name he chose, after leaving his abusive alcoholic father behind, now a high powered attorney--the head of a growing firm of personal injury lawyers. In an office of twenty-three attorneys and a robust support staff-- Noah Byron started the firm, Bryon, Val, and Keller and in ten years they had become one of the top plaintiff’s personal injury firms in the state of Utah. They had to pick winning cases and the second cardinal sin—do not get emotionally attached.

Under the law, a person was valued at exactly how much money that person could earn. Anyone who hadn’t gone into an Ivy League school, pulled in at least six figures, or had a family business waiting for them was what PI lawyers called“an invisible client” —one who lived and breathed but didn’t officially exist. They did not do invisible clients. The solo practitioners could fight over them.

His ex-wife calls to inform him she is remarrying and asks for a favor. Her cousin Rebecca’s son is sick. Joel Whiting (Herba-Cough Max) victim. From the whole Pharma Killer thing, some psychopath had laced children’s cough medicine with cyanide. Three kids in Salt Lake County had gotten extremely ill, but none had died. Again, Noah’s first thought…the guy would have no money. It would not be worth it.

The boy, Joel was only twelve years old, and the mother was full of anger --she needed someone to talk to. His ex-wife counted on him and believed in him, even though his life was over with her…the kids, grandkids, birthdays and graduations were now a part of her next life with her new husband.

When meeting with Rebecca regarding the situation, she thinks there is something fishy about Pharma-K, and they are covering it up. She thinks this was company negligence, and a cover-up, not some psycho lacing the medicine.

He needed proof. Her boy had been one of the unfortunate ones to suffer because of some sick maniac and she needed to blame someone. She wants him to sue. Sue them so they could never hurt another child. The cops would have to be involved, employees, and investigative journalists? Her son was dying and in renal failure and on the transplant list. The cyanide was not enough to kill him but it did a lot of damage and they would not give him a transplant, even after calling the governor.

She was asking him to take on a case that they would likely lose. He tries to tell her the firm cannot help. She begs him to just talk to them to see what they say. She pulled the family guilt card. He was her last resort and he agreed to talk to them.

His partner thought the case might be a good idea. Maybe a settlement if they were spooked. The most unique part of their company was what they termed their Pharma Future program, a division of the R&D department that hired the top minds graduating from pharmacy schools and chemistry programs around the world, and dumped money on them to come up with new drugs.

He meets the boy and learns his father died in Iraq. A dying boy, who’s as American as apple pie. What jury couldn’t resist him? Even if liability wasn’t clear, if he could get Joel into the courtroom and put him in front of a jury to talk about the pain he’d gone through, to tell the jury about the needles they had to stick into him four times a week and the nightmares…the jury might go for it and give him whatever he asked for.

His kidneys were damaged beyond repair and his liver was damaged as well. Also damage to the heart and lungs that may not even manifest right away. The doctors are unsure of the time he has left. Stage V renal failure – the clock was ticking, and they had to worry about heart failure. He had to settle the case. Noah wanted to fight. He wanted to go to trial. His partners want to take him off the case. If they settled no one would be punished for what happened.

From confusion, vomiting, sleepiness, fatigue, inability to expend energy, migraines, blood in the stool or vomit. Each person had received the same reply, “please return the unused portion to us, and a full refund will be issued.” That way it could not be tested. A system set up to protect those giants.

A little boy pulls on his heart’s strings. His new relationship with Olivia—her haunted past, and his.. "The people are the power, not the money." Olivia begged him to help. He had worked his whole life to be in a place to help people like Rebecca and Joel. Illegal, corruption, cover-ups-- a gamble and he is willing to do whatever it takes.

Monsters: Noah soon learns his father may have been a monster; however, at least he was honest. He is finding there are worse monsters in the world, hiding in broad daylight. Those who put on smiles, shake your hand, and call you their friend. They care nothing about goodness, people or the future. The monsters are not under beds, they are out in the open pretending to be there to help.

Everyone warns him to detach and focus on the money. He is determined to win this case. They worked on contingency, and may not see the money back for eighteen months or more. He sees the Pharma-K guys as scumbags. They hurt children and do not care. People who were supposed to be watching out for consumers were actually the consumer’s biggest threat.

The closer Noah becomes to Joel, the more personal the case becomes. Noah gets creative, and will stop at nothing to bring justice. He does not want this to happen again, he wants plants closed, a foundation, plus he wants to help the other sick kids, better evaluation of products, punitive damages, and to investigate consumer-protection laws. He wants Federal Court --JUSTICE.

Plus in the midst of the drama, Olivia, the new lawyer, and his new partner in crime and a possible new love interest, makes things more interesting.

Having enjoyed Neon Lawyer, Victor Methos delivers another dynamic legal thriller with a flawed main protagonist engulfed in a case-- and knows his way around a courtroom with enough personal and professional mix to make for a compelling read. As a former whistleblower, a huge fan of the underdog-- love bringing the big bad boys down!

Legal thriller fans of Adam Mitzner, Scott Pratt, and John Grisham's Gray Mountain will enjoy, as well as Erin Brockovich.

 

 

What started out as an interesting premise and decently paced story ended up ho-hum. The story changed gears about three-quarters of the way through, and I lost interest in the new direction. I did go ahead and finish, and now I've come to find out it's the first in a trilogy. I don't care enough about the remaining characters to read the rest. Not every story needs to be a trilogy.

By: Victor Methos
ISBN: 9781477825976
Publisher: Amazon Publishing/Thomas & Mercer
Publication Date: 11/18/2014
Format: Other Format
My Rating: 5 Stars

 

A special thank you to Amazon Publishing, Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

 

Victor Methos’ THE NEON LAWYER, based on a true story, is an emotional and compelling crime legal suspense thriller mixed with humor, of a new young lawyer, placed in an extraordinary position; defending a woman who murdered her young innocent daughter’s evil killer and pedophile.

 

Set in Salt Lake City, Utah, Brigham Theodore, age twenty-six has a great heart and has worked hard for this day—soon to be the first member of the Bar to also be a janitor. A transplant from Tulane, after Hurricane Katrina, his law school class had been cancelled. Rather than transferring, he took some time off then came back and finished later. He wanted to practice somewhere rural, as in big cities, he knows they have a lawyer for every six or seven persons.

 

The market was so saturated that it was hard to find a job, they did not pay much, or a firm would expect you to live at work and now allow for a life outside of work. He wanted none of this, as why he picked SLC, a place as far from New Orleans as he could get.

However, now that he is a licensed lawyer, he cannot find a job; one interview and reject after another. With little money, no car, no Harvard grad or top name school status, nor is he from a prestigious family, and furthermore, he has just enough money for rent and barely enough for food or clothes. However, he does have one suit and a bicycle.

 

Desperate, he thinks he may have to go back to the school for his janitor job. However, he finds a hole in the wall seedy firm LAW OFFICES OF TTB (Tommy Two Balls, a good story here), with a neon sign that reads Attorneys at Law, a not so traditional owner and staff where the bail bonds agency next door is their best friend. Tommy takes chance on him and hires with; no salary or benefits; however a percentage of the cases he brings in.

 

Being brand new at this, his new boss gives him a speeding ticket. He researches, does well, and the next case he is handed is a capital murder case—quite a change. (as they are part of the public defender program). How can he hold the life of a woman he does not know in his hands, when he has no experience in criminal law, especially when she may be the first women to be executed in Utah with the death penalty?

 

Brigham's new client is Amanda Pierce, she is broken, has lost her job, poor, and is disabled, due to serving in the war. Her only daughter, Tabitha was kidnapped at six years old, sexually abused and brutally murdered with her body parts found in a garbage bag ready to be disposed of in a dumpster.

 

Amanda shot and killed Tyler, coming out of the courtroom with five witnesses. She was unable to save her daughter. Now it is up to Brigham to save Amanda’s life as he goes up against a corrupt system who is not there to help the poor.

 

I loved Brigham’s character! He is a smart, hard-working, funny, with ethics, morals, and a warm heart and has not become cynical or jaded yet. In addition, with his past and his mother being the victim of a brutal crime, offers compassion on his part, as a lawyer in order to sympathize with his client. Loved Molly, the colleague who came from a larger firm and their relationship, and Tommy, his witty boss with a colored past. They all take Brigham under their wing, and as he prepares for the trial, with tension and suspense as he takes control against the bad guys for a satisfying read.

 

The setting was so realistic, I would envision Matthew McConaughey playing Theodore in the courtroom scene up against Vince. (would make for a great movie). I devour good legal novels, crime, and courtroom battles, as an avid fan of Grisham and Connelly.

 

This was my first book by Methos, and was highly impressed --his style, with well-developed characters, for a compelling page-turner, which I found difficult to put down. There is much to like here, from the front cover which pulled me in (well done), and an inside view into the life of a struggling attorney fighting against a corrupt system, as well as the injustice of our legal system. Best of all the human interaction and dynamics. 

 

Would enjoy a series with Theodore and Molly as they make a good team, and possibly more about his mother, and some surprises with Tommy's past; could see at least 4-5 more books here with a variety of different cases (legal is my favorite).

 

Readers would also enjoy Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson (non-fiction). Highly recommend THE NEON LAWYER and look forward to reading more from Methos. His vast experience as a prosecutor specializing in violent crime as well as his current role as a criminal defense attorney in the Midwest, is apparent with excellent writing and research reflective throughout the pages.

 

Love the quote at the front of the book:  “At his best, man is the noblest of animals. Separated from law and justice, he is the worst.” – Aristotle

I can't post a rating for this book because I both loved and hated it at the same time. I felt that there was a lot that could have made it so much more better than it was but there were quite a few flaws that prevented me from being able to delve in and immerse myself in the world that the author did so well to create. You can tell that they put a lot of thought in it but the over all execution of dialog or the repetition from multiple views of the same scene or conversation wasn't needed but its cool that they thought to add the extra detail. The author could have added it a different way without interrupting so often just to back track to something they already touched on three or four times already.