J P Bermingham

Ten Percent Can't Be Saved J P Bermingham

Publisher Marketing: Jack Philips, once promising professional soccer player, now burned out criminal defense attorney in Brooklyn. He is beset by clients who can't pay: drug dealers, drunks, and assorted petty crooks, and haunted by the realization that he is nothing more than a bit player in the so-called "criminal justice system." Somehow, he still hopes for that moment of glory denied. So, when a retired NYPD Internal Affairs detective retains him, at a better than average fee, to defend her nephew, things look up. The nephew is accused of the attempt rape and strangulation murder of a fashionable, blonde, female executive at the office where he worked as a security guard. The police have a confession, security video and damaging physical evidence. Jack's been here before. Three steps: make the kid see the light; cut a plea; and pocket a well-earned fee. Alas, all is not as it appears. As evidence of the victim's participation in a major criminal operation comes to light, revelations by the client's zany girlfriend that he may be innocent become more suspect and the corpses mount, Philips resorts to his obsessive pursuit of the "hard" evidence. Everyone, but Jack, can see that his digging is leading to danger for himself and his family. But he can't stop. Jack is in that ten percent.