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Audiobook12 hours
The Color of Law: A Novel
Written by Mark Gimenez
Narrated by Stephen Hoye
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
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About this audiobook
A poor-boy college football hero turned successful partner at a prominent Dallas firm-who long ago checked his conscience at the door-catches a case that forces him to choose between his enviable lifestyle and doing the right thing in this masterful debut legal thriller.
Clark McCall, ne'er-do-well son of Texas millionaire senator and presidential hopeful Mack McCall, puts a major crimp in his father's election plans when he winds up murdered-apparently by Shawanda Jones, a heroin-addicted hooker-after a tawdry night of booze, drugs, and rough sex.
Scott Fenney, who's worked his way to being a partner at an elite Dallas law firm, is assigned to provide Shawanda's pro bono defense after the federal judge on the case hears him deliver an inspiring, altruistic-and completely insincere-speech to the local bar association. Scott plans to farm the case out to an old law school buddy, do-good-attorney Bobby Herrin. But his plans go awry when Shawanda puts her foot down in court and refuses to be passed off to the lawyer she considers the lesser attorney.
As the case unfolds, pressure is exerted on Scott to deter him from being too aggressive in his defense of Shawanda. That pressure becomes palpable as Scott is slowly stripped of the things he's come to care for most. Will he do the right thing-at a terrible cost-or the easy thing and keep his hard-earned fabulous life?
With echoes of early John Grisham, THE COLOR OF LAW is a provocative page-turner that marks the stunning debut of a major new talent.
From the Hardcover edition.
Clark McCall, ne'er-do-well son of Texas millionaire senator and presidential hopeful Mack McCall, puts a major crimp in his father's election plans when he winds up murdered-apparently by Shawanda Jones, a heroin-addicted hooker-after a tawdry night of booze, drugs, and rough sex.
Scott Fenney, who's worked his way to being a partner at an elite Dallas law firm, is assigned to provide Shawanda's pro bono defense after the federal judge on the case hears him deliver an inspiring, altruistic-and completely insincere-speech to the local bar association. Scott plans to farm the case out to an old law school buddy, do-good-attorney Bobby Herrin. But his plans go awry when Shawanda puts her foot down in court and refuses to be passed off to the lawyer she considers the lesser attorney.
As the case unfolds, pressure is exerted on Scott to deter him from being too aggressive in his defense of Shawanda. That pressure becomes palpable as Scott is slowly stripped of the things he's come to care for most. Will he do the right thing-at a terrible cost-or the easy thing and keep his hard-earned fabulous life?
With echoes of early John Grisham, THE COLOR OF LAW is a provocative page-turner that marks the stunning debut of a major new talent.
From the Hardcover edition.
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Author
Mark Gimenez
Mark Gimenez grew up in Galveston County, Texas. Once a partner at a major Dallas firm, Gimenez gave it up in order to start his own practice and to write. He lives outside Fort Worth with his wife and two sons.
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Reviews for The Color of Law
Rating: 3.8695624347826088 out of 5 stars
4/5
115 ratings9 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Reminiscent of Grisham for me. I see others say it reminded them of Perry Mason, but I've only read a couple Perry Mason books. I guess the ending where the PI comes up with the evidence reminds me a bit of the most recent Perry Mason book I read. There are also many references to Harper Lee's "To Kill A Mockingbird".WARNING: POTENTIAL SPOILERS (READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION):***A. Scott Fenney is a lawyer living the high life. He's got a house in an exclusive neighborhood, 2 expensive cars (one for him and one for his wife), a partnership in the law firm where he works, can go to the dining club or the fitness center or the country club at a whim. He's married (though they don't seem happily married), has a daughter whom he loves. He wants to be the next bar association president--but something he says in that pitch causes a Federal judge to appoint him as counsel to Shawanda Jones, an African-American woman accused of killing the son of a senator.(Note: For some reason, his daughter calls him "A. Scott" instead of dad, daddy, papa, etc.--and it's never explained why. She seems closer to her father than her mother, yet she doesn't call her mother by her first name.)Rebecca, the wife, seems more enamored of what Scott's money brings her than she does of her husband or daughter. Her big ambition is to be head of the Cattleman's Ball. She doesn't appear to have ever wanted a child and is content to leave her daughter in the hands of their illegal Mexican maid, Consuela. Unfortunately, Scott's boss, Dan, has designs on being the President's lawyer and Scott's involvement in the trial could jeopardize that. Yet, they can't afford to antagonize the judge who appointed Scott in the first place. The first hope is that Shawanda will make a plea deal, but Shawanda doesn't cooperate with that. Dan comes up with farming out the grunt work to another lawyer so that Scott can continue to bill his clients--what they'd pay the other lawyer would be only a small part of what Scott brings in. Enter Scott's college friend, Bobby.Unfortunately, Shawanda is impressed by Scott's rich-looking suit over Bobby's off the rack clothes and refuses to let Scott bow out of her trial. Bobby does most of the work, however--at least until the end of the book.Shawanda has a daughter--Scott ends up taking her to his home to get her out of the unsafe neighborhood in which she lives. This upsets his wife's "perfect life" view. Scott has to make a choice: do what's right or do what you need to keep your comfortable life. He's made promises to his daughter--I guess he thought he was too above everything to have "it" happen to him? The promises weren't always ones he could know he would keep (like not losing his job and having to move out of their house). But the other side had choices too. They chose to try to intimidate Scott--first by having his illegal maid taken by INS, next by revoking his memberships, then by getting banks to call in his loans, then by getting his biggest client and his boss to fire him. At first that fires up the former-sports-competitor in Scott, but eventually, he comes to see that he needs to represent Shawanda because it is the right thing to do, not because he wants to get back at someone else.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Quite Good!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Better than Grisham
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Pretty good,snappy narrative sections, but also bit clichéd. I will read his other books.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This was a book "recommended" to me by the Kindle store, because I like legal thrillers. What a find!! I really enjoyed the story, the writing, the main character....really enjoyed it!! As others have said, this is like early John Grisham-ish type story, although I actually prefer it to many of Grisham's later works. This character appears in one later book, but Gimenez generally writes one protagonist at a time. He's more popular in England and South Africa, and I'm not sure why. I've now read all his novels and can't wait for more. Highly recommend to those who love legal thrillers.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is this author's first novel and I just love his books. A bit like an early John Grisham - this book is another unputdownable book and a page-turner. A legal thriller but so readable.Back Cover Blurb:A. Scott Fenney is a Dallas corporate lawyer in the prime of his life. Raking in $750,000 a year, with a beautiful house, a beautiful wife and an adored daughter. Life could not be better. But when a rich senator's son dies in mysterious circumstances, Fenney is asked by the federal judge to put his air-conditioned lifestyle on hold to defend the accused: a black, heroin-addicted prostitute.Scott believes in justice - but is his belief strong enough to withstand the loss of everything he holds dear - his salary, his lifestyle, his wife, his child?
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lives in Bedford, comes to FW, very nice man - uses CDT
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This is a first novel by a lawyer cynically setting up the franchise on a character he expects to run and run. It is novel-writing by numbers, with more than the expectation that film rights will follow. Does that sound bad?Actually I enjoyed it a lot. As a lawyer Gimenez feels compelled to explain more about the law than is strictly necessary for the reader (and I expect that was much more of that before the editors go to work). The central characters are types rather than rounded human beings. The plot is full of holes. Who cares? It's an excuse for Gimenez to write a satire about Texas politics, greed, rapaciousness, racism, hypocrisy and lots else besides. It's essentially a Western set in Dallas. The man in the black hat becomes, reluctantly, the man in the white hat, teams up with his old buddy, and rides into the sunset until the next installment.If the subsequent novels are simply cranked out on a production line, like a number of other crime novellists I could mention, Gimenez will sink from view. But if there's enough satire and spice to tease the reader, he could last the course.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent debut novel! Flows easily and holds reader's interest to end