I Am That Fool by Rick Cornell - Strangely Interesting Legal Debut!

"Hi, honey! Well, the jury came back: not guilty on all counts!"
"Good  for  you. Congratulations."
"Yeah, well, this is only the tenth time in the history of this county that this has happened. And the first time for a gangbanger. We gotta celebrate!"
"Celebrate by yourself. It's your victory; it isn't mine.
...Now the slow burn started to rage...And what do I get...A beer, hell! I'm going to The Proud Stallion! 
Under ordinary circumstances, Ryan would have given that idea another thought. The Proud Stallion was a strip club on the east edge of town. It was notoriously mobbed up...And, of course, Tania and he argued for days...
But at this point, Ryan didn't care. He thought of the opera, Carmen, and Escamillo, the bullfighter, Toreador, en garde! Kill the bull and then bang the gorgeous gypsy senorita! That's the way to go! I've vanquished the bull; not I get to taste the fruits of my victory! Give me women! At least two at a time! I deserve this, by God! I've had my dinner, and now it's dessert time! I'm going!

~~~

I Am That Fool

By Rick Cornell

Drinking and driving don't mix...add a sexual act and you may be heading for disaster!!! Ryan Browne was a brilliant lawyer. He knew the law and chose to ignore it...maybe...

Or did he?

Browne had just won another battle against the Prosecutor's Office.  That a gangbanger was going free was not the issue. That was the Prosecutor's problem. For him it was adding a win to his score.

But he tried to be congenial as he left, noting "Good Work, David..." All that did was start an argument ending with a sucker punch from Schlegel, the Prosecutor. The judge's bailiff had to break it up!

So maybe it wasn't surprising when, after his wife, refused to go out with him to celebrate, he wound up getting in trouble... Still...

Ryan thought of Jesse Parker and became
melancholy. Jesse would blow the case wide open.
,,,she was the best investigator in town. Town?
Best in the whole damn state...
And the thought that Jessie would never see this
case had Ryan feeling kind of blue...
~~~

They left the club...and headed
farther east, past the beginning of
the sleazy...motels known as
"hooker row," toward the locally
infamous one-night stand dive
known as the "Share-a-Hon".
Ryan felt Celeste unzip his fly
and drop her head down...That
was the last thing Ryan
 remembered of that night...
~~~

He was involved at the time of the crash...so much so that he had been bit...

His wife was so mad when it all came out that, having control of the family savings, she refused to post Bail... Cruel, right? At least I thought so...

Ryan was of course offered a lawyer since

   Abraham Lincoln

 Had It Right - “He who

 represents himself

has a fool for a client”

he couldn't afford it--

actually that seemed a little "iffy" to me legally since they had millions in the bank... Anyway, knowing of the condition of funding for the public defender office, Ryan chose to represent himself... But what he really needed was an investigator...

Fortunately, Ryan's son make an overture toward him, even though his wife was angry and trying to keep them apart... And, interesting while he was in jail, he made friends with a couple of guys that were able to help! And, Jesse Parker came to his rescue even though he couldn't pay her fees... What began to be discovered, however, was what was amazing... None of the actual events such as Ryan being bitten had been placed in the record. Nor was a toxicological test done even though Ryan had exhibited lack of control, etc. at the time of the wreck. But most important was what was discovered about the physical condition of the woman he'd been with and what happened thereafter...  

The actual story does not come too much as a surprise, given the book blurb. What makes it such a fantastic book is the actual events being carried out! Clearly this lawyer/writer knows the ins and outs of our court system, but also has the experience to have knowledge of what goes on in reality, to make this one story that is thrilling as well as unbelievably realistic!

Included as an afterword are some fun questions just to close out any final thoughts readers might have. If you enjoy legal drama like I do, check this one out!

The first place the newly-freed Ryan Browne went was to dinner with Beau, Bonita, and his grandkids. The second place he went the next morning was to Judge Linton's chambers...
Judge Linton eyed Browne suspiciously. She kept her courtroom demeanor up. "Can I help you, Mr. Browne?"
"Yeah, I want to see this so-called 'thinking chair'! I want to know where to buy one!
Her Honor immediately loosened up. "Over here, in the corner. See that? I got this from The Sharper Image. It's a padded rocking chair and what you do is put your ipod over here, then the music you want to play goes into the speakers, right here. And if you really want to concentrate, you can put the headphones on, like so."
"Cool! So, let me ask you if I may, when you were thinking of all of those decisions, what music were you listening to?"

The real Slim Shady just gets me going...

~~~

GABixlerReviews

About the Author

This is the first novel of Rick Cornell. He is a 61-year-old attorney who lives in Reno, Nevada, with his wife, Denise, and specializes in criminal appeals and writs. From his 34 years of experience, he has a vast knowledge of "crazy true stories," some high profile for Nevada. But this is fiction - or so he claims.