PRAISE FOR "BUM DEAL"
"Fascinating, fully developed characters and smart, well-paced dialogue keep the pages turning. Levine manipulates the expectations of the reader as skillfully as Jake manipulates the expectations of the jury" --Publishers Weekly (starred review) "BUM DEAL is the real deal. Jake Lassiter at his smart-talking, fast-thinking best. A funny, compelling and canny courtroom thriller." --Scott Turow, #1 New York Times bestselling author "Any book with Jake Lassiter is a drop-everything, read-it-now for me--and this one has Solomon & Lord too. Bum Deal is fantastic." --Lee Child, #1 bestselling author of the Jack Reacher series "The ending is perfect: a nudge in the ribs that doesn't sell out the novel's sinister edge. This is a triumph of mood and tone as well as plotting."--Booklist "A terrific setup, razor-sharp repartee, and enough plot reversal to make your head swim like an afternoon daiquiri, Bum Deal is vintage Paul Levine: entertaining and exceedingly smart." --Andrew Gross, #1 New York Times bestselling author "Jake Lassiter is up against his greatest challenge--an incurable, brain-wasting disease that threatens to rob him of his brilliant, legal mind when he needs it the most. It's an astonishing, bittersweet, and daring gamble, but those are the qualities that have always set Levine and Lassiter apart from the pack." --Lee Goldberg, #1 New York Times bestselling author "Jake Lassiter for the prosecution? What will Paul Levine think of next? How about a brilliant doctor who just happens to be a murderous psychopath? How about Solomon & Lord for the defense? How about the jackhammer headaches that may have scrambled his brain once too often? It's all there as Levine connects the funny bone to the heart in the pulse-pounding 'Bum Deal.'" --John Schulian, PEN/ESPN Lifetime Achievement Award winner "There are enough twists and turns in the final third of the book to entrance even the most jaded reader...'Bum Deal' is full to the brim with the humor, courtroom brilliance and subtle pathos that have made Levine's other novels winners." --Bookreporter
PRAISE FOR THE JAKE LASSITER SERIES
"Take one part John Grisham, two parts Carl Hiaasen, throw in a dash of John D. MacDonald, and voilà, you've got Jake Lassiter." --Tulsa World
"Jake Lassiter is great fun." --New York Times Book Review
"Lively entertainment. Lassiter is attractive, funny, savvy, and brave." -- Chicago Tribune
"Mystery writing at its very, very best." -- USA Today
"Jake Lassiter is the lawyer we all want on our side, and on the page." -- Lee Child
"Paul Levine is one of Florida's great writers, and 'Lassiter' is his greatest creation. It's funny, smart, and compelling." -- Dave Barry
"The legal excellence of a Grisham thriller with the highwire antics of Carl Hiaasen." -- David Morrell
★ 04/30/2018
Edgar-finalist Levine’s superior 13th entry in his Jake Lassiter series (after 2015’s Bum Luck) finds 50-year-old Jake, a former football player turned lawyer, suffering from the early symptoms of CTE, a neurodegenerative disease found in people who have had multiple head injuries. Coming to terms with his own mortality doesn’t stop Jake from agreeing to help the Florida DA gather evidence against Clark Calvert, an orthopedic surgeon suspected of murdering his missing wife. When the case goes to trial, Lassiter’s adversaries turn out to be his good friends Victoria Lord, who was once Clark’s girlfriend, and Steve Solomon (the stars of Solomon vs. Lord and three other mysteries). It’s fun to watch Jake build his case in the courtroom, even as Victoria knocks down his carefully constructed arguments. Fascinating, fully developed characters and smart, well-paced dialogue keep the pages turning. Levine manipulates the expectations of the reader as skillfully as Jake manipulates the expectations of the jury. (June)