Score: 94/100 (9.4 out of 10)
This is far and away one of the strongest fiction books in this cycle. This is particularly true in terms of characters, especially the villain and supporting cast. It also never ceases to be interesting. If the previous contest cycle taught us anything, it's that great characters supersedes world-building, plot, or even eloquent writing. People drive stories, and that's one of the greatest things about this book: the people. With that said, there's a lot to not like about the main protagonist. He is quite egotistical and, to put it blunt, a womanizer with a one-track mind and erectile dysfunction. He's also dead. That's not a spoiler, you pretty much gather that by the first 10 pages or so. Let's just get this out of the way because it really doesn't seem to matter other than giving the character some backstory: Jack MacLeod was born with a genius-level intellect that garnered the attention of scientists who ended up paying his parents to run experiments on him. However, he eventually grows up not really using his great intellectual gifts, becoming somewhat of an example of wasted potential. Yes, he becomes a teacher, but the kind of teaching he does doesn't take so much thinking, just doing. Jack is too distracted seemingly chasing everything with a pair of legs and long hair. The man is a walking phallus with a phallus that apparently doesn't work. Just how hot is this old man anyway? Is he George Clooney? Does he talk like Sean Connery? What is it about Jack that makes every woman (and even gay men) fawn over him? Is it really, really, really his hot personality or his “famous brain?” The reason we challenge this notion is because we rarely ever read about Jack doing anything truly brilliant. His intelligence really isn't impressive, at least as presented. Yes, he tries and gets close to remembering the words to a book, but he ultimately fails. That's right, his one true test of intelligence is a flop. But to be fair, his brain tumor and poor health do play a part in that. There are so many tragedies in this book, but arguably the one that causes Jack's life to snowball is the prolonged and torturous disintegration of his marriage to Frances. That was 1000% Jack's fault. Was Frances an angel all of the time? No. But she was absolutely justified in everything she did. Frances tried so hard to be a good wife to Jack even when he was a constant disappointment in just about every way, shape, and form. She was even sensitive and understanding in working around his ED. Jack is a horrible, terrible husband as well as a horrible, terrible father. Does he hit his wife and/or kids? No. But what he does to them is arguably much worse. He knowingly and willingly sets them up for a lifetime full of lovelessness, instability, distrust, and emotional detachment. Why? Because it's what Jack taught them to expect from a relationship. Jack feeling bad about it later barely softens the blow. We can almost guarantee that his grandchildren grow up neglected and likely pursuing drugs and/or crime because of the poor example Jack set for his kids. He has quite literally ruined multiple generations of people. The other terrible thing about Jack is just how predatory he is. Jack is a pig. The man takes advantage of Frances's far-inferior intelligence knowing that it gives him an advantage in a relationship with her. He views Sarah's vulnerable, abused state and previous daddy issues as some sort of a sick opportunity to pursue an affair. If he can put his flaccid member in someone, he'll lust for them. It doesn't matter who it is. He gets some positive attention from a gay man, and says he wishes he were 10 years younger and gay. Dude, can you... chill? On that note, he is able to guilt his poor gay coworker into a conspiracy plot that could get them both fired and destroy their careers, and he is later able to guilt that same poor gay coworker into giving up his whole livelihood to take care of him in his fading state. Jack either directly or indirectly ruins several lives, the least of which are those of his kids, Frances, and Don's. But somehow, someway, we still have a soft spot for him and even root for him at times? Why? Because THE VILLAIN. The villain, Wally Mussel, is one of the most despicable, evil, disgusting human beings that could ever dare call themselves a human being. If Jack is terrible, Mussel is darn-near Satan incarnate. Mussel takes Jack's sick thoughts and acts on them. He habitually and unabashedly exploits and abuses everyone around him, particularly his female workers. It doesn't matter if he hates you or doesn't like you, he'll just blackmail you, torment you, and ruin your life just because he can. It's a game to him. You know, at least Jack loves animals. Wally Mussel doesn't even seem to love his shadow. The fact that we side with someone as immoral and frustrating as Jack to overcome the nefarious Wally Mussel is a testament to the author's skill at creating characters. There are several four/five-star characters in this novel including Sarah, an attractive new coworker who attempts to convince Jack that she requires protection from Mussel, Don, a kind and charismatic homosexual coworker with a heart of gold, and Eliza, a bookworm who seems to be Jack's soulmate. To say that Don is an example of a true and loyal friend would be an understatement. To say that Sarah didn't make our blood boil would be an understatement. To say that the pairing of Eliza and Jack is a first-ballot nominee for “Best Couple” would be an understatement. Check out this book!
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Score: 92/100 (9.2 out of 10)
How touching! This children's book was compiled by McCullough from a story he made as a child decades ago. It features some nice art by Maryanne Smith, a powerful message for every single human being on Earth, and a touching allegorical story for the ages and for all ages. It seems to have been created for a preschool or pre-K audience, but we believe it might actually fit more with a 1st or 2nd grade audience as it discusses heavy topics like grief, loss, and even a bit of existentialism loaded in there with a great deal of symbolism and didacticism. In other words, in can be a lot to take in for a young audience. However, with some discussion, a skilled teacher can guide their young students toward making some sense of it. Children are not dumb, just inexperienced. And many children experience some degree of sadness or missing someone such as when they are forced to part with a parent or older sibling at the beginning of a school day. Some of them may have already experienced the death of someone like a parent, a grandparent, or even a stillborn or premature brother or sister. It's not entirely a foreign concept to a young audience, it's just a lot to swallow and digest at once. Another thing that holds back this book slightly is that while Folie, the tree, is illustrated in a way that would make Bob Ross proud, many of the accompanying illustrations are not of that same spectacular quality. They are often missing color and appear more like line art. The book is also quite wordy for a preschool/pre-K book, verging on straight prose for the most part, albeit with a more brief sentence and paragraph structure. The book stars a lovable tree named Folie (probably short for “foliage”) who lives in California with her many creature friends, namely caterpillars, birds, and a puddle named Puddle. Puddle is the most significant of these and serves as the major supporting character throughout the story. Folie and Puddle share a mutual, symbiotic relationship. Puddle comes to represent an important person in the reader's life, whether that be a friend, a parent, or grandparent. Like in real life, you can't always be with the people you love. Sometimes you or they need to leave, if even temporarily. It can be very difficult to see your son or daughter off to college, or to lose a friend or family member to a terminal illness—an event which profoundly inspired the author to create this amazing book (as he had lost his mother to cancer and his cousin earlier in life). The Puddle evaporates, leaving the tree to ponder if she'll ever see her loved one again, but the Puddle reappears in another form, a cloud, to continue to be a part of Folie's life. This book is powerful and beautiful in its own way. Gosh, we sure have had a lot of powerful and beautiful books lately, many of which deal with loss and coping with lost. Thematically, this isn't unique, but it is very unique in its presentation. It has a special sort of appeal for children and adults alike. Check it out! Score: 96/100 (9.6 out of 10)
This is a phenomenal novel in so many ways! At first glance, you'd think this would be some kind of chick-lit book with perhaps some kind of spiritual angle, but this book is far more than that. It far exceeded any of our expectations! The main character, Judith, is sent by her grandmother, the eponymous Grace Lee, on a road trip through the country—a road trip that she'd dreamed of taking herself had she not become so ill with leukemia. Through this guided bus tour, which could've come across as mundane or even boring in the hands of a less skilled writer, we actually experience a tremendous, or even life-changing adventure along with the character, meeting interesting new people and learning new things. And, oh, the people she meets! Judith, a somewhat highfalutin woman with some anxiety about people, encounters an aspiring musician, a historian, a Vietnam veteran, and a little girl suffering from a terminal illness among other interesting people (these are just some that stood out to us). It is difficult to say which of these encounters is most interesting, but we would dare say it is Judith's encounter with “Jukebox Johnny” the aspiring musician. This encounter is interesting because it begins very poorly. We are quick to judge the character of Johnny as a rude and lewd cowboy with no scruples. However, he is much more than that as the reader eventually learns. Also incredible about this book is that we experience American history along with Judith. Through this history, we—along with the character—gain a new sense of appreciation for the country, the military, the native peoples, and even humanity as a whole. Case in point: Judith's stop at the memorial of the Oklahoma City Bombing is not just a sobering reminder to us of the deaths of Americans to a profound tragedy, but also of loss itself. This goes hand-in-hand and accompanies the solemn tone of the novel, which focuses on loss, coping, and grieving. All throughout this unorthodox hero's journey, Judith is learning new things about herself and growing as a character. There are also some great quotes that come from this book. For example, the Vietnam veteran, Albert, tells Judith, “Scars remind us that we're fallible... But it's the scars we can't see that remind us how strong we are. They're the hardest to heal. And we don't have to fight in a war to have those.” The songs/poems in this book are also incredibly beautiful and fit the tone and feel of the book. We're giving “Finding Grace” our highest rating yet (9.6/10) because it's one of the best fiction books we've read in a while. Yes, it drags a little bit, especially at the end, but all in all it does exactly what it needed to do. Check it out on Amazon! Score: 94/100 (9.4 out of 10)
Wow! This is a beautifully illustrated book with some great things to say to readers of all ages! These great messages include not judging others before you know them, not belittling people because of something that makes them different (like a name or the language they speak), and being sensitive to people of different racial, national, ethnic, and possibly even religious backgrounds. The story follows who we presume to be an American child as he encounters a Black, foreign classmate with a name that sounds feminine and strange to an American ear (Michel) despite the child being a boy. Michel also speaks with an accent and uses words or phrases that the main character doesn't understand like “qui” and “merci.” This causes the main character to ponder and eventually ask his ultra-hot-mom why Michel looks, sounds, and acts so different from himself and the other kids at school. This puts a slight strain on his friendship to Michel who is upset by being viewed and treated differently. It turns out that Michel's parents were from France and Italy, and that “Michel” is actually Michael but spelled differently. The main character is forced to confront and put aside his ignorance, and learns that Michel is not so different from him after all! It's a beautiful and powerful message for children and adults alike to learn—the fact that just because another person looks and speaks differently doesn't mean they can't still like and enjoy the same things or be our friends. We see throughout the story that Michel is a very interesting, fleshed-out, and three-dimensional character. He's not just in this story for the sake of being a victim, he is active, and his personality is as diverse as his heritage and ancestry. Michel loves to do things that other kids like to do: playing baseball, swimming, and going on little adventures to find bugs and wildlife. The main character's ignorance is looked at in a sympathetic or even humorous way, such as when he imagines that the Leaning Tower of Pisa is a literal tower made out of pizza! This book is beautiful in terms of its illustrations and significant in its message. It can be a lot to take in for kids, and that just comes with the territory. One of us is a former preschool teacher of six years (14 years as an educator), and from their point of view this could be a very difficult story for kids of the target age-group to follow and remain interested in. An attempt at a rhyming scheme is made in some pages, but that rhyming scheme is dropped in other pages and becomes prose, something that can become less interesting to young kids. However, it is possible for a skilled or passionate storyteller to make this story invigorating and exciting during read-alouds. It's also a joy just to flip through and look at. This is definitely a top-quality children's book on a very important subject! Check it out! Score: 93/100 (9.3 out of 10)
COLD and CALCULATED. Zero fluff. No nonsense. This may not be the business book you want to read, but it's the business book you need to read! This book is absent of a lot of the bells and whistles, glitz and glamour of other business books in that it is almost entirely absent of a gimmick. We had just read “The Team Game” by Bellaria Jimenez and John F. Bucsek which was predicated on the premise of business planning being comparable to team sports. It was fun, engaging, and entertaining to read, and we still got a lot out of it. “Negotiate Like a CEO”—while also engaging and insightful—is far more dry and a lot more direct. Author Stein has been representing business people including top executives as a lawyer for over 25 years! He has a wealth of experience and wisdom to share with all of us, most of all how to watch our backs and make sure that we aren't taken for a loop by American business law. He makes us aware of the predatory and unscrupulous practices that business people can and sometimes will use against us or to our disadvantage. The message we got—for better or for worse—is Austin 3:16 says “Don't trust anybody!” This includes the co-worker or business partner who stood up and spoke at your wedding. Seriously! This book provides examples of time when executives and other business people were stabbed in the back and even fired with the aid of someone they trusted. Yes, someone was voted off the board of directors of a corporation by someone who stood up and spoke at their wedding! And we can't entirely disagree with these sentiments, not just because Stein is about as legitimate a source of this information as you'll ever find, but from our own personal experience. Co-workers and business partners can and will betray you. They can and will get you reprimanded. They can and will get you suspended or even fired. They can cost you your job, and they can cost you a lot of money while causing you a lot of headaches in the future if you are unwilling or unable to adequately defend or prepare yourself. Be prepared. Plan. Premeditate. Build your defenses and have layers of defenses and contingency plans. It's an expansion and expression of Murphy's Law: Expect that whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and be proactive about preparing for the worse. Make sure that what starts as a little problem doesn't snowball into a full-on legal battle for your career, your finances, or even your freedom. Get the legal representation you need even if you don't feel you need it yet. Get everything in writing, and never willingly sign away your rights as an employee. Despite being about as dense as an MBA business law textbook, “Negotiate Like a CEO” flies by. Before you know it, you'll be a hundred pages in and still hungry for more information. We can definitely recommend it to entrepreneurs and those involved in or interested in business. Get it on Amazon! Score: 95/100 (9.5 out of 10)
It doesn't get much better than this! “Garret Bear Learning from Failure” by K. Tang is nearly the perfect children's book. That's no understatement. What more could you ask for in a children's book? The rhymes are fun and the writing isn't too wordy. The art is bright and nice, however not overwhelming to the senses. The core characters—namely Garrett, his dad, and Teacher Turtle—are lovable and interesting. The tone is uplifting. The moral of the story is terrific, clear, and well-presented. The struggle at the heart of the story is relatable even for adults. So where do we begin? Let's begin with the struggle and the moral of the story: learning from failure. This can include the discouragement that one feels from not being good at something initially or not succeeding the first time we try something. We can all relate to that. The first time one of us tried to swim was a traumatic experience that involved screaming, crying, kicking, and feeling like the person was about to drown. The first time one of us tried to ride a bike involved scrapes, bruises, and some four-letter words from a supervising parent. Thankfully, Garrett Bear's experience with failure is not nearly as violent or vulgar, but it is traumatic for the poor bear. We can tell that he feels defeated. The artist and the author do a good job at portraying how he feels by the words in the writing, the expression on the character's face, and the character's body-language or posture. When he is down, not only is he down psychologically, but he is also down physically. That leads us into our discussion of the art: it is not awe-inspiring or jaw-dropping, but the art is beautiful in its own way. We can tell that it was done by hand, and that only adds to the feeling of genuineness that pervades this book. The characters are also incredibly cute and fun to see. Kids will love being able to identify which animals are which. The other nice thing about this book is the writing. The rhyme scheme is simple and tight. It is easy for kids to follow and understand along with the message. We also loved that the key takeaways from each page are bolded and highlighted so that way they stand out. There is at least one error in formatting involving the line “Itis[SIC] not an end point.” However, we are not so petty. We also understand that software often “fights” you when trying to do something as simple as spacing. It happens. Overall, this is certainly one of the best children's books we've come across! Check it out! Score: 95/100 (9.5 out of 10)
This book is a certified WINNER! What's even better is that it provides a solid, easy-to-understand blueprint for you to become a winner too! “The Team Game” by Bellaria Jimenez and John F. Bucsek is an outline for business, planning, teamwork, and leadership based on principles and concepts from the world of sports. That right, not only do you get to learn how to make money and to be successful in business, but you get to do it through the exciting lens of team sports! For every NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, or FIFA fan out there, this is such a treat! The book takes advice and uses examples from coaching legends like Herbert Paul Brooks Jr. of the 1980 “Miracle” USA hockey team, Packers legend Vince Lombardi, multi-time Super Bowl champion Bill Belichick, and infamously fiery basketball coach Bobby Knight. Who wouldn't want to learn from these exemplar specimens? Even if learning wasn't the point of this book (which it is), they're just interesting and enjoyable people to read about. This book teaches you how to develop a team or business philosophy, putting together your leadership or “coaching” staff based on specialization, building your roster of employees who work well together (as opposed to working only as individuals), putting together your plan or “playbook,” executing that plan or playbook, and learning from mistakes and successes like “film study.” “The Team Game” is a very fun, interesting, and easy to digest book. It is definitely one of the best self-help and business books we've seen! Before we go, we wanted to say that there's a part of this book that involves fish heads and a cunning yet somewhat unscrupulous salesman. It's hilarious and we don't want to spoil the whole story for you. Bravo to these business partners and authors on creating such an amazing blueprint for success that we can all follow! Check it out here! Score: 88/100 (8.8 out of 10)
There was a church we knew of that used to have this catch-phrase: “Not what you'd expect, but maybe what you were looking for...” That's perhaps never been more applicable to a book than this one. This is a book about grief with a somewhat spiritual angle, but it's not some Judeo-Christian spiritual self-help book, nor is it heavy or soppy. This book is actually surprisingly... detached and lighthearted. That's not necessarily a bad thing at all, in fact it can be a breath of fresh air and a welcomed surprise. Look, we just got through a book about a man who lived through and lost his entire family to the Holocaust, saw Amon Goeth torture and murder people, then lost his wife to an illness. We also went through a book about a mother's courageous and arduous 10-sum year journey taking care of a miracle daughter with Trisomy 18 who would literally asphyxiate or overheat if left unattended for any amount of time, forcing her mother to give up just about everything just to keep her alive as long as possible. Forgive us if we're a bit burned out from the grieving. We've literally been crying for like 2-3 consecutive books. At least with “Black, White, and Gray All Over” by Frederick Douglas Reynolds, there was a lot of humor and lighthearted moments in between people just being racist and terrible to one another. This book is tonally much different. It's totally different. We were almost going to nickname this book “Shenanigans of a Widow” because it's surprisingly cheerful and even goofy at times. Tammy seems like a wonderful and fun woman. That definitely comes through the pages with her writing. She doesn't seem to take anything including herself too seriously. But the great tragedy still hangs in the air for what it is: a great tragedy. And we experience it along with Tammy. Something that's a bit unique about this book on grieving is that the author is not overtly religious like other authors on the subject. She did have Christianity somewhat forced on her as a kid by her family (especially her brother). She does mention Jesus and the Judeo-Christian angels among the names she evokes from time to time, but this is far from a Christian or religious book. It's not an occult book either. And it's no ghost story, or at least isn't told like one. It's also not really a self-help book, at least that's not how we read it. It just... is. It records an interesting true story with the intention of telling that story. You the reader can make of that as you will. We are taken through different chapters of Tammy's life, especially her relationship with her now-deceased partner, Michael, and the car crash that took his life and left her alive but in a hospital bed in Mexico. We reflect on their relationship all the way down to their e-mails to one another. You can tell that these moments of reflection are sobering and emotional for the author even though the tone of some of the e-mails and memories are cheerful or silly. Michael was clearly the love of her life and the two of them shared a beautiful relationship. Tammy is not shy about sharing when things were not ideal, but she also reminds us like Dr. Alyson Nerenberg did last season that there's “No Perfect Love.” It turns out that many coincidences put Tammy and Michael in the car that fateful day and ultimately led to Michael's passing and Tammy's survival. It's those coincidences that partly make us wonder if there's something more than meets the eye—if there is a power like God, fate, and/or destiny involved. There are some moments of this book that made us feel such ambivalent yet powerful feelings such as when TSA felt the need to investigate the urn containing Michael's ashes only to have Tammy desperately and ferociously show them the papers to preserve his dignity. What seems like a moment that could be a humorous or silly misunderstanding is simultaneously tragic and heartbreaking. Perhaps the biggest aspect of this book is Tammy's ability to communicate with Michael after he has passed away as Tammy becomes a medium for his words. Now, some of what Michael communicates can come across as difficult to believe, especially in its idealism (such as treating everyone with kindness and loving everyone), but we can give Tammy the benefit of the doubt. One of us, after all, had once had a rather powerful sixth sense in their youth, and tapped into it from time to time. So, it's not entirely unbelievable. We'd say that there's definitely a spiritual aspect to the universe that science is yet to be able to explain, and this book and Tammy's experiences stand as another example of that. It is definitely worth checking out! Score: 89/100 (8.9 out of 10) “The Wand” by Marieke Lexmond is imaginative and fun. It is filled with mystery, wonder, drama between friends and family, and—above all—magic. Despite what should be pretty high stakes, the plot never seems to become overly dire or serious. It maintains a lighthearted fantasy theme throughout. It seems to be written in the fun and witty spirit of something like Winx Club but with the patient, plodding tempo of Charmed. With all that said, the book can also be a bit confusing and cluttered. We've read this book about three times, and we can still only guess at the plot. Our best guess as to what is happening is that a long time ago when the earth was green, there were more kinds of animals than you've ever seen, kicking and splashing while the rain was pouring. Oh, them silly unicorns. There were green alligators and long-neck geese. Some humpty-back camels and some chimpanzees. And there were also fairies. And at least one of them was a $&@#. She was probably a Divergent and would've joined Dauntless in another life (so that she could do such productive things as judo-roll out of trains), but people aren't allowed to be unique or different at all. The universe doesn't seem to like that. Unless you count the Irish Potato Famine of 1845-1852... But the universe hates variation like 59% of the time. Then there were witches and male witches who should be called warlocks or mages but are called witches anyway, and some of them had mad Tarot skills, and some of them probably loved tai chi and yoga too. Anyway, the powers-that-be—probably a cliquish bunch of highfalutin high school cheerleader fairy witches— decided that not all magical power could be concentrated in one place anymore, so they decided to “like, so totally” split it up throughout the realm in the form of magical objects like a dagger and a wand. Some malevolent being who may or may not be idolized by the protagonists—a coven of witches including Maeve, Tara, Seamus, Bridget, and Lucy (some of whom are coincidentally twins)—wants to seize Rumplestilskin's Dagger so that she can control the Dark One along with the Wand of Wisdom. Why? So that she can have.. all the wisdom... and stuff. And also, one of the main characters, Maeve, is a Siren, and she has her own existential crisis to deal with, an issue she probably copes with in her spare time by looping Evanescence over and over (cause Amy Lee is bae). Seriously though, Maeve is one of the top three best things about this book. She is legitimately a cool character. Despite her great power and enhanced abilities due to being a Siren, she remains psychologically vulnerable and drawn to protect people like her much-less-cool twin sister, Bridget, her my-heart-will-always-love-you boyfriend, Owen, but more importantly her cute dog, Bouncer. Do you remember that video that went viral of the guy whose dog was being assaulted by the kangaroo, so he walked up to the kangaroo, put up his dukes, and took a swing at it? That's literally how this book begins, and the hilarity and level of entertainment is astronomical. It's in the astral plane! Maeve takes on an alligator to save Bouncer, and the plot can wait, Mab's master plan to become the mistress of all evil can wait, the fate of the universe and all we know can wait, because all that matters is Bouncer. If Bouncer dies, we rage quit. There is no world without Verona walls or Bouncer. And that Romeo & Juliet reference isn't entirely out of left field because it supplies us with some background knowledge on the main villain, Queen Mab, a legendary fairy from Celtic folklore. According to Mercutio in Romeo & Juliet, Queen Mab is a wicked hag who loves to prey on people with dreams and visions of love and lust, eventually leading to their destruction. Mab plays a similar role in “The Wand” (at least in terms of being a master manipulator) which accounts for the other great thing about this book: having a clear main villain who is actually doing villainous stuff.
Can we just stop to say that the names of these characters are unintentionally hilarious. We don't know if the author was aware of it when she was writing, but some of these names evoke other images in the collective pop consciousness. For example, Lockwood makes us think of Flint Lockwood, the failed scientist from “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.” Seamus makes us think of Sheamus, the wrestler from the WWE. O'seachnasaigh sounds like the name of the principal from the now-infamous Substitute Teacher sketch (“take your @$$ to O-shag-hennesey's office!”). Neumann makes us think either of Jerry's nemesis from Seinfeld (“hellooooo, Newman...”) or the salsa brand that supposedly donates all its profits to charity. We were cracking up almost every other time we read a name from this book because all we could do was associate the names with these other things. Ultimately, we have a book with at least one “Best Character” and one “Best Villain” candidate. Those are two big pluses. Also, the writing is solid. It's fun and funny in both intentional and unintentional ways. We can definitely recommend you at least check it out! Score: 90/100 (9.0 out of 10)
Who would've thought that being a lawyer and spending all those years in law school might do your bottom dollar more harm than good? “Diminished Capacity” follows a sorta-broke and somewhat desperate Arizona lawyer named Larry Ross as he picks up two huge cases with the promise of turning his life, finances, and career around. Millions are potentially at stake! But in both cases, Larry is caught between the promise of money and “winning” or doing the right thing. In Larry's first case, an unscrupulous automobile company called Galaxy is accused of knowingly distributing vehicles with defective parts. This led to a tragic accident that claimed the lives of both of a family's (the Newman's) two young children. However, despite the case being worth millions, even if simply settled, the family of the deceased are instead seeking publicity against the company and an apology rather than just money. This puts Larry in a compromising position as his livelihood hinges on winning this case and taking a cut from it. In the second case, and the focus of the book, Larry represents Tom, a man accused of murdering his business partner, Art. Interestingly, Tom comes across as generally a good guy who may have had a bad day while more and more information comes out on what a scumbag Art was—even involving sexual abuse and exploitation of workers. But does that excuse potential murder? Was Tom acting in self-defense, craving revenge, or simply frustrated with his partner's antics? Also a huge part of this case is Tom's mental state and “temporary insanity” or the eponymous “diminished capacity” which may have caused him to forget the event. “Diminished Capacity” never ceases to be interesting. It's a courtroom drama akin to the works of John Grisham. There are always more sides to each story, and there are always surprises to uncover. It will challenge your moral compass as it does Larry's. Get it on Amazon! |
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