My Review
Kevin Moore was once a highly regarded Virginia attorney. He was happily married to his best friend. He had everything he dreamed of. Then he got stupid. He allowed Cocaine into his life. Now, paroled, disbarred and separated from his wife, he manages a Subway knockoff sandwich shop called Substitution. The shop is in a small Virginia town where most folks don’t know him or his history. The owner of the shop, a previous client, has the staff turn the ovens on twice daily (with cooked rolls inside) to emit the smell of freshly baked bread. From respectable attorney to a paroled sandwich artist, Kevin believes he has hit rock bottom.
That is until an odd looking stranger walks into the sandwich shop with a proposal for Kevin. His name is Caleb Opportunity (right) and he is there to offer Kevin a percentage of an insurance scam. Mr. Opportunity claims that it’s an easy $5 million as long as Kevin doesn’t mind a malpractice suit regarding a former client. Insurance will pay off the lawsuit and everyone is a winner. But Kevin wants his career back and is willing to work hard and stay clean. He refuses the deal.
From that point on Kevin’s world goes into a tailspin. He’s forced to go into the city to a different Parole Officer for a drug test. No one seems to know why. This PO finds Crack and a gun in Kevin’s car and drugs in his urine. Kevin is charged with violating parole, among other things. The charges are bogus so Kevin reaches out for help but none of his old friends believe his story. He knows that Caleb Opportunity is at the root of this but he can’t prove it. Caleb, turns out, was wearing a disguise. The video recording system at the sandwich shop mysteriously went down during Caleb’s visit so there is no evidence that the conversation ever happened. His coworker, a technological genius, saw the man but didn’t hear the conversation. When Kevin thinks it can’t get any worse, he has a stroke.
During his recovery, Kevin does the only thing he can. He plots and plans a way out of this mess that will also stick it to Mr. Opportunity and his shifty backers. The plan is brilliant and even though the reader knows there will be revenge; it’s doesn’t come together until the end.
The story is fast paced, humorous and perfectly believable. The prose is a narrative from the main character and well written.
Martin Clark is a retired Virginia Circuit court judge and knows how to weave a great legal thriller. I look forward to reading his next novel.
