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Monday 16 June 2014

‘Con Law’ by Mark Gimenez



Published by Sphere,
13 February 2014.
ISBN: 978-0-7515-4381-09
  
It’s a truth universally acknowledged, at least by booksellers, publishers and possibly readers, that people love series. So when an author begins to acquire a following, it’s a fair bet that a a few books down the line, a series will appear.

So it is with Mark Gimenez, who had deservedly begun to corner the market in Texas-based mysteries with a lawyer as protagonist. His latest book is the first of what promises to be a long-running series featuring John ‘Book’ Bookman, a tenured professor (lecturer to British readers) of constitutional law at the University of Texas’s prestigious law school.

‘Book’ has been likened to Indiana Jones, and has his own reasons for never missing an opportunity to kick important political ass. He also likes to take on lost causes, and consequently is showered with letters from desperate people.

In Con Law, the letter is from a former student, now a lawyer. Book and his reluctant intern Nadine hop aboard his Harley Davidson and head for oil country, where fracking is the new route to Billionaire’s Row. But in the wrong hands (or in any hands at all, depending on how environment-conscious you are) fracking is a recipe for disaster, and the lawyer, who represents the company which runs the entire industry in that part of Texas, has made a devastating discovery.
Devastating for the industry – and for him. When Book and Nadine arrive, they find the lawyer is dead.

Was it an accident, as local law enforcement claims and most people in the town, including the man’s family and friends, have chosen to believe? Or was it murder? No prizes for guessing which Book thinks it is.

With the help of a colourful cast of characters including an old-fashioned newspaperman, a glamorous environmentalist and the local sheriff, he proceeds to take on Billy Bob Barnett, the most powerful oilman in the west. Of Texas, that is. As the action winds up to breakneck pace, there are car-bike chases, a shotgun fired though a hotel window, fights in bars... (did I mention Book is a taekwondo grand master?).

It’s not giving away too much to say that Nadine ends up in hospital but discovers that she can’t hide away from real life for ever. And just when you thought it was all over for Book, there’s a neat twist which sends everything careening off in a different direction from the one you thought you were following.

John Grisham, eat your heart out. This could be the kind of legal thriller series that will actually make young people want to study law.  And those letters keep landing on Book’s desk...
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Reviewer Lynne Patrick

Mark Gimenez  grew up in Galveston County, Texas. He attended Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas, and earned a B.A. in Political Science with honors. He then attended Notre Dame Law School in Indiana and earned a J.D. degree magna cum laude. He practiced law with a large Dallas law firm and became a partner. After ten years, he left to practice solo and to write. Mark lives in texas.
http://www.markgimenez.com/



      Lynne Patrick has been a writer ever since she could pick up a pen, and has enjoyed success with short stories, reviews and feature journalism, but never, alas, with a novel. She crossed to the dark side to become a publisher for a few years, and is proud to have launched several careers which are now burgeoning. She lives on the edge of rural Derbyshire in a house groaning with books, about half of them crime fiction.






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