Solomon vs. Lord
By Paul Levine
Courtroom drama
Bantam Books
$5.99
537 pages
Oct. 2005
Florida
Steve Solomon is a fast-thinking sarcastic lawyer who juggles his "honest criminal cases and tries to remain guardian to his autistic nephew, Bobby. Steve's friends literally hunt him down to represent them, while Jack Zinkavich, a Division of Family Services rep and Dr. Kranchick are looking to nail his rear to the wall and pull Bobby away from him.
Victoria Lord is a Princeton undergrad, Yale Law student working for the district attorney. She dresses "just the right way and says all the right things to keep her reputation professional. She also is pushing aside her real feelings regarding her fiancé.
After Steve and Victoria fire off their remarks during trial, the judge hits them with a contempt of court ruling which lands them behind bars. The unthinkable happens when Victoria loses her job and has to find an alternative way of supporting herself. The solution lies in a high profile case accusing Charles Barksdale's young wife of strangling him while they were having sex. Thoughts turn to actions and Victoria's well-educated mind kicks into gear. She sets out to grab the wealthy widow and make her a client. But it seems that Slimy Steve already slithered into the lionesses' den and snatched up the case. Fate being a cruel player, lands her in a partner chair and now they're both working to save the widow from a prison sentence.
SOLOMON vs. LORD was the best book I've read in a long time. I laughed so much my family started looking at me strange. There's no doubt you'll fall in love with the characters' crazy antics and colorful personalities. They're so real they can walk off the page. Opposites attract is the fire behind their attitudes and what makes the book work so well. But, I cared more about Steve, Victoria and Steve's nephew, Bobby, then about Katrina and her possible long-term sentence. That was the only negative, after all this is a courtroom drama and the suspense and verdict is what usually matters the most. Doesn't matter to me, though, because it showed me that lawyers, believe it or not, are real people, with problems and desires, underneath their nice suits and projected strategies. I'm looking forward to reading The Deep Blue Alibi, Paul's second book in what I hope is a long series.
Five kibitzers out of five
Denise Fleischer
Gottawritenetwork.com
April 2, 2006
Copyright DF and GWN
