#1499. Early Grave by Paul Levine

Seven of the 12 Jake Lassiter series have been reviewed at Men Reading Books, so you know we are fans of Paul Levine. Early Grave is the 12^th book In case you don’t know, Lassiter’s first career was as an NFL linebacker, and he was on the undefeated team in Miami in 1972. In his second career, he became a very successful attorney, but he led a hard life and had left his active practice to pursue a less stressful role as the head of the ethics group for Florida’s State Bar where he handed out fair justice to attorneys who had scammed their own clients, although his means of doing so was unconventional. By this time in his life, he was beginning to suffer from symptoms of CTE (chronic traumatic encephalitis) and his relationship with Melissa Gold, a neuropathologist, was in trouble. She happened to be an expert in CTE and was involved in ongoing research on the subject. Jake and Melissa were in therapy to save their relationship, and he was trying to grow out of his long-term and admittedly juvenile type of unsuccessful relationships.

 

Meanwhile, Jake’s godson suffered a horrific high school football injury in which Jake detected incompetence and over competitiveness of the successful coach, one who was sacrificing the safety of his players for victories. Tank Pittman was a former Dolphin teammate and the father of Rod who took a severe hit on the field at a time when he should not have been in the game. It was a life and death situation for Rod. Jake had forged the signature of Rod’s mother on the permission slip just so Rod could play, and after the injury, he felt appropriately guilty. Jake then decided to take on the legal challenge against the coach and Florida High School football. It was not Jake’s intent to abolish high school football, but it was his intent to interrupt it until the game could be made safe. But, he had never been involved in anything like the civil litigation that he wanted to pursue, and he sure looked to be in over his head.

 

Jake had to battle a corrupt judge and the Consortium, a secret organization that funded lawyers to fight against such lawsuits as Jake was bringing on Rod’s behalf. Rod’s parents were very unhappy that Jake did not accept the settlement that had been offered to him. In addition to CTE, Jake was also battling atrial fibrillation which was not well-controlled, and his medical conditions impacted the end of the trial and the end of this story. The courtroom drama was fantastic even if some of it was a bit unrealistic and might make my attorney friends somewhat uncomfortable – but it was still excellent drama. The title of the book might give you a clue to this story’s conclusion. I only hope that this is not the end of the Lassiter series – it’s too much fun for me to let go.

 

West Coast Don