by Diane Capri
Ten years after the unlikely anthropology professor Indiana Jones defeated the Nazis with a lot of help from God (and considerable suspension of disbelief), rookie tax lawyer cum action hero Mitch McDeere spectacularly defeated modern-day Mafia and government manipulators, using only his wits and his Harvard law degree.
Certainly lawyers had been inspirational literary heroes, triumphant in mythic David and Goliath battles before The Firm was published in 1991. But this was no courtroom drama and McDeere was not our father’s Perry Mason or even Scott Turow’s worthy but flawed Presumed Innocent (1987) prosecutor, Rusty Sabich. Rather, The Firm dramatizes a minimum of lawyering and instead emphasizes McDeere’s race to save himself before his government or his employer terminate his life.
The Firm captures the despair of gray-flannel-suited lawyers who felt shackled by golden handcuffs to their lavish lifestyles. Its emblematic cover depicted an attorney clutching a briefcase while being manipulated by the strings of a puppeteer. The book energized the legal thriller, which heretofore every working lawyer knew was an oxymoron on steroids. Grisham’s ability to make the genre exciting and suspenseful by featuring larger-than-life lawyer heroes propelled The Firm and Grisham to the top of the charts where he has remained for almost two decades.
At the end of the 1980s, a decade of conspicuous consumption and excessive spending, workaholism reigned in all sectors of the economy. Lawyers were commanding salaries beyond their wildest dreams. Megafirms launched, the number of lawyers skyrocketed, and the competition to hire the best and the brightest intensified. What was once a genteel, collegiate, underpaid profession became a cold, profit-driven business supported by billable time.
Against this backdrop, The Firm opens with the hazing ritual all law students must endure: the first law job interview. The uninitiated reader might assume job interviews lack even quiet drama, let alone thrills. Yet, a typical law student feels more nausea during the process than panicked passengers escaping the half-submerged Titanic. Following years of hefty debt accumulation and daily Socratic inquisitions during which students consume thousand-page casebooks digested and regurgitated into a three-hour essay exam upon which the entire grade for the course and subsequent employment depend, exhausted students compete for work. Making the best choice is yet another angst-producing hurdle. The tension of the interview process lasts most of the fall and into the spring of the final year.
More determined, better credentialed, desperately motivated by personal struggles, and closer to the brink of financial ruin is Grisham’s Mitch McDeere. Third in his class at Harvard, Mitch receives offers from prestigious firms in New York and Chicago. But when he’s seduced by an elite Memphis law firm’s extravagant offer, he proves his mettle by interrogating the hiring partner. He’s assured that no lawyer has ever voluntarily resigned from the firm.
Wanting to believe the firm is that good, Mitch decides he has no choice; he must take the lavish offer. After all, like all law students on the brink of licensure, he is confident that he can handle whatever comes his way. But his bravado soon evaporates—the coming challenges far exceed his practical risk analysis. Early on, every reader knows the job is not what it seems, but like Mitch, they’re already hooked.
Before The Firm, lawyer readers had already made the same bargain Mitch did. They knew that despite the astronomical salary, new BMW, low-interest home mortgage, repaid student loans, and beyond-the-call support in passing the dreaded bar exam, the job would be hell on earth. And so it is with Mitch.
What follows is a brief period of calm before he realizes that the limitless job he’s accepted with the Mafia-controlled firm can have only one possible outcome. Like his colleagues, he is literally tethered to the firm. He will work until death.
Grisham crafts his story expertly. Readers fear that Goliath will win and that Mitch will either conform to the firm’s policies or die. But despite the forces opposing him, Mitch McDeere is not your average David, as we’ve suspected from the outset. The Mafia and the FBI are no match for him.
Lawyers can be heroes, too, Grisham reminds us, not just in The Firm, but in each of his many books about the legal profession that followed. In Grisham’s world, attorneys are a force to be reckoned with. They lead lives not of quiet desperation, but of noisy, active, responsible accomplishment in the face of powerful opposition. The practice of law, at least on the page, has never been the same since Grisham’s debut.
Diane Capri was an associate and a partner in a large Detroit law firm where she and her colleagues were living Mitch McDeere’s Faustian bargain themselves when Presumed Innocent ignited and later The Firm inflamed her passion to write lawyer-hero stories of her own. One of the country’s top attorneys for more than twenty years, Diane is the author of several novels featuring lawyer heroes a bit more realistic than Mitch McDeere.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Thank you for reading my books. You’re the reason I write! If you liked my books, you can help keep my work going by “liking” the books everywhere the option is offered, and by posting your honest reviews of the book to help other readers decide whether it’s worth their reading time. I hope you will. You can find a complete list of my books with links to the book pages for reviews and other information here: Diane Capri Amazon Author Page
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If you want to read the stories Behind the Book you can find them on my website. http://www.DianeCapri.com
Readers know my books are heavily researched, edited, proofed and professionally formatted. If you find errors, please let us know and we’ll fix them if we can. We’re committed to presenting the best possible reading experience and we appreciate your help. http://www.DianeCapri.com/contact/
While you’re there, send me your questions. http://www.DianeCapri.com/contact/ I love to hear from you and I answer whenever I can.
That said, the criminal activities herein depicted are pure fiction, as are the characters. Any events or real places mentioned are used fictitiously. As we all know, truth is stranger than fiction.
Thanks again for reading!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Diane Capri is a lawyer and multi-published author.
She’s a snowbird who divides her time between Florida and Michigan. An active member of Mystery Writers of America, Author’s Guild, International Thriller Writers, and Sisters in Crime, she loves to hear from readers and is hard at work on her next novel.
Please connect with her online:
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Twitter: @DianeCapri
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Licensed to Thrill is a work of collected non-fiction and fiction. Except where specifically noted, names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Licensed to Thrill © Copyright 2012 Diane Capri, LLC
All Rights Reserved
eISBN: 978-0-9882346-2-8
Fatal Enemy © Copyright 2012 Diane Capri, LLC
All Rights Reserved
eISBN: 978-0-9882346-0-4
Fatal Distraction © Copyright 2012 Diane Capri, LLC
All Rights Reserved
eISBN: 978-0-9837298-3-9
Don’t Know Jack © Copyright 2012 Diane Capri, LLC
All Rights Reserved
eISBN: 978-0-9837298-0-8
Due Justice (formerly titled Carly’s Conspiracy) is a work of fiction, revised from the previously released novel by M. Diane Vogt, Silicone Solution.
©Copyright 2011 Diane Capri
All Rights Reserved
eISBN: 978-0-9837298-9-1
Twisted Justice (formerly titled George’s Game)
© Copyright 2011 Diane Capri, LLC
All Rights Reserved
eISBN: 978-0-9837298-2-2
Secret Justice (formerly titled Harper’s Hell) is a work of fiction, revised from the previously released novel by M. Diane Vogt, Gasparilla Gold.
©Copyright 2011 Diane Capri
All Rights Reserved
eISBN: 978-0-9837298-5-3
Wasted Justice (formerly titled Kate’s Killing) is a work of fiction, revised from the previously released novel by M. Diane Vogt, Six Bills.
©Copyright 2011 Diane Capri
All Rights Reserved
eISBN: 978-0-9837298-8-4
Raw Justice (formerly titled Annabelle’s Attack)
©Copyright 2011 Diane Capri
All Rights Reserved
eISBN: 978-0-9837298-1-5
License Notes:
This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Publisher’s Note:
The publisher and author do not have any control over and do not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without express written permission from the publisher. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
Published by: AugustBooks
www.AugustBooks.com
Visit the author website:
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eISBN: 978-0-9882346-2-8
Original cover design by: jeroentenberge.com
Table of Contents
Praise for Diane Capri
Also by Diane Capri
DUE JUSTICE
Dedication
Cast of Characters
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER 33
CHAPTER 34
CHAPTER 35
CHAPTER 36
CHAPTER 37
EPILOGUE
TWISTED JUSTICE
Dedication
Cast of Primary Characters
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Epilogue
SECRET JUSTICE
Dedication
Cast of Characters
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER 33
CHAPTER 34
CHAPTER 35
CHAPTER 36
EPILOGUE
LICENSED TO THRILL
Letter from Diane Capri
The Diane Capri Story
FATAL ENEMY
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
FATAL DISTRACTION
Cast of Primary Characters
Prologue
CHAPTER 1
DON'T KNOW JACK
Cast of Primary Characters
CHAPTER 1