A Convoluted Defense (The de'Conte Series, 2)
Nicholas Borelli, 2012
CreateSpace
220 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781478119722
Summary
The former United States Attorney had become the most prominent defense counsel in New York City. His law firm, The Union and Metropolitan, had carefully cultivated their superstar. He moved from United States Attorney to the other side to defend high profile corporate executives from federal prosecution at exorbitant hourly rates.
But the biggest case in world history was foisted upon him in a high velocity whirlwind of events. Nick de‘Conti is defending the President of the United States for the highest of high crimes: Treason!
Shuttling between New York and Washington D.C., the case, the politics, the culture clash, the impromptu love affair with the opposing federal prosecutor and the trial of the millennium provide a backdrop for a once in a lifetime test of conscience.
Author Bio
• Birth—1951
• Where—New York City, New York, USA
• Education—B.M.E., Pratt Institute; M.B.A., Fordham University
• Currently—Wilton, Connecticut
Nicholas Borelli, a New England based author, has and continues to write the de'Conti series.
The novels currently include Let No Man Be My Albatross, A Convoluted Defense, The Machiavelli Imperative, FATA! The Act of the Vengeance, At Last Reconciled and IRAN. Mr. Borelli is writing two more novels: Dahij and A Special Prosecution.
These works feature the protagonist Niccolo Cervantes de'Conti. Mr. Borelli has conceived and developed a central character based on his knowledge of and first-hand experience with the gritty New York inner city of his youth. Nick de'Conti is an ethnic mixture of Basque and Southern Italian. He has a penchant for independent thought and action, and a passion with which he approaches everything in his life. He is a prominent lawyer, an aristocrat. The arc of his life is developed from the depths of his childhood poverty in East Harlem in the cruel, inner city streets of New York City to his unimagined success—albeit troubled, conflicted and, at times, ethically bereft.
These novels are edgy, raw, graphic and thought-provoking.
Although de'Conti is a former New York City prosecutor and United States Attorney, his hard life as a child in the inner city of East Harlem sometimes causes him to mete out as much street justice as he does the legal kind. He abhors the abuse of women, his own college-age daughter having been murdered at the hands of male predators. He will revert to instincts he developed as an inner city kid, even though he lives in a Fifth-Avenue penthouse on a high floor across from New York's Central Park. (From the author.)
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Book Reviews
[E]ven more exciting as the story continues.... I could not put the book down.
Joy, Amazon Cstomer Review
[N]othing short of excellent. The many twists and turns of the plot grab you and don't let go.
Paul H., Amazon Customer Review
[G]reat read!... [A] beautiful, vivid, yet effortless writing style. The book reads like a movie....you’ll absolutely love this book!
JC, Amazon Customer Review
Discussion Questions
1. Were you shocked by the ending?
2. Was de’Conti’s relationship with Rebecca Pallard ethical? Did it affect his judgment?
3. What do you think of the president?
4. Was de’Conti’s behavior as an attorney vis a vis his client ethical? Did he do the right thing?
5. Would you have done what Nick de'Conti did, if you were in his position?
7. What did you think of de’Conti’s courtroom performance?
8. What do you think of the book’s cover?
9. Would this novel make for a good feature film?
10. Would you invest time to read the sequel: The Machiavelli Imperative? It begins the day after the president’s trial.
(Questions courtesy of the author.)