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?
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?
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Reviews
One of the most promising American lawyer-writers I've read recently. It's a Grisham-like novel about a slick, successful, ambitious Dallas corporate lawyer whose life changes when he has to defend a black prostitute accused of murder.
At least once a year a new legal thriller hits the shelves, hyped to the stars, with promises that the author will be 'the next John Grisham.' Usually, the fanfare is wasted, the hype is a lie and the promises fall flat because the book isn't very good. Not so with Mark Gimenez' compelling debut, The Color of Law.
The Color of Law is more than just a highly readable legal thriller. It's also a blistering attack on both the legal profession and super-rich Texans in Dallas.
A compulsive read that owes its heart, soul and passion to Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird. Warning: you can lose an entire lazy Sunday to this one.
Gimenez does a fine job with the plot; lots of twists and the courtroom scenes are great.
