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Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
Feb 2018, 368 pages
Paperback:
Nov 2018, 544 pages
Book Reviewed by:
Donna Chavez
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An innocent client. A wife in jeopardy. A locked room mystery. Who will take The Plea?
Billionaire David Child swears he didn't murder his girlfriend, Clara. But the evidence overwhelmingly shows that David killed her: the security video showed no one else entering their apartment, the murder weapon was in his car, and he was covered in gunshot residue he can't explain.
The FBI believes David's arrest and obvious guiltc ould help them take down a huge money laundering scheme - if they can get him to testify.
Con-artist-turned-lawyer Eddie Flynn is given the job: persuade David to plead guilty and give the agents the evidence they need. If Eddie can't get David to take a plea bargain, the FBI has incriminating files on Eddie's wife – and will send her to jail. But David insists that he didn't murder anyone.
As the FBI pressures Eddie to secure the guilty plea, Eddie becomes increasingly convinced that David is telling the truth. With adversaries threatening, Eddie has to find a way to prove David's innocence and find out if there's any way he might have been framed. But the stakes are high: Eddie's wife is in danger. And not just from the FBI…
CHAPTER ONE
SUNDAY, MARCH 15TH
48 hours until the shot
My key slid into the lock.
I froze.
Something wasn't right.
The mahogany front door to the four-story sandstone building that housed five offices, including my one-man law practice, looked like any other at this end of West Forty-sixth Street. The area was a mix of bars, noodle houses, high-class restaurants, accountants' practices, and private medical consulting rooms, with each set of offices becoming classier the closer you got to Broadway. The paneled front door to my building had been painted blue about a month ago. The reverse side of the door boasted a hand-cut, steel-back plate—a little surprise for anyone who thought they could kick through one of the panels and open the door from the inside.
It was that kind of neighborhood.
When it comes to locks, I don't have much experience. I don't carry picks; never had a use for them, even in my former life as a con man. Unlike a lot of grifters, I didn't ...
[T]he plot twists keep pages flying as Eddie attempts to unravel a case where anyone and everyone – with the exception of Christine – either is or can be guilty of murder. The courtroom scenes are terrific as Eddie carefully constructs his questions of prosecution witnesses, coming head to head with an ambitious and ruthless District Attorney. So who is pointing a loaded gun at Eddie? And why? Getting to the answers is the most fun I've had since reading any of Grisham's best...continued
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(Reviewed by Donna Chavez).
Ian Rankin
Rip-roaring legal thriller…Twisty, bloody, and convincing. John Connolly
The Plea is one of the most purely entertaining books you'll read this year. It's a blast.
A high stakes money laundering scheme is at the core of Steve Cavanagh's legal thriller The Plea. Eight billion dollars in illicit cash is flowing through the accounts of a Manhattan law firm that enjoys a solid gold reputation. The United States federal government is hot on the case, but nailing the parties involved at just the right time is crucial to their case.
Although $8 billion (USD) may seem like a lot of money, in the grand scheme of economic crime it is dwarfed by the estimated $1-2 trillion in laundered money that is transacted worldwide each year, representing between 2% to 5% of the global GDP. But what exactly is money laundering and why is it illegal?
According to Investopia: "Money laundering is the process of ...
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