Criminal Behavior [Paperback]

James A. Drexler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1999 | ISBN-10: 1928704085 | ISBN-13: 978-1928704089 | Edition: 1

Accused of brutally murdering his own client, lawyer Andy Givens struggles to survive in a strange world of confusion. Each passing day leads him deeper into an inescapable morass of crime and criminal behavior.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

James A. Drexler practices law and lives in Houston, Texas with his wife, Patricia, and their wire-fox terrorist, Charles Dickens. Criminal Behavior is his first novel.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

"Conduct which causes any social harm which is defined and made punishable by law." Black's Law Dictionary (Sixth Edition, 1990).

Chapter One

If I live to be a hundred, I'll never forget that day. Standing with my client, watching the jurors file into the courtroom of the 269th District Court of Harris County, Texas. Eight men. Four women. Three African-Americans. Two Hispanics. Three union members. One postal worker. One unemployed. Definitely the kind of jury that makes a plaintiff's lawyer lick his chops. Since I represented the plaintiff in front of this particular bunch, I was licking away like crazy. Even though I had that jerk next to me, I couldn't help but get excited about those folks. After all, they were about to make me famous and rich. That is, if William Thrasher didn't keep getting in the way.

I'd met him two years earlier, when he strolled into my office to announce he wanted to talk to me about a case. Something having to do with his garbage company being run out of business by an outfit called Waste Disposal Systems, a monster conglomerate from the mid-west that had recently added Texas refuse to its amazingly ravenous appetite. At the time, I wasn't really interested. I didn't know beans about trash hauling and just how lucrative it could be. But when I found out Thrasher was from River Oaks, the only son of a wealthy old-line Houston family, and that his dad was a long-time buddy of Steve Golden's -- the truth be told that was probably what prompted Thrasher to come to me in the first place -- my interest became suddenly more acute. As for Thrasher himself, he was chubby, short, and bald, and had the unfortunate luck to be saddled with a face that had to remind everyone who met him of Porky Pig. That would have given him an almost comical charm, but William Thrasher was no laughing matter. I don't think I ever saw him so much as crack a smile. Worse than his total lack of humor, Pig-Boy -- that's what I came to think of him as -- had the personality of an angry hornet.

I have to admit, I disliked William Thrasher from the very beginning, and for that reason alone should have declined his offer of employment. But the fact is, I got greedy.

Product Details

• Paperback: 334 pages
• Publisher: Fusion Press; 1 edition (August 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1928704085
• ISBN-13: 978-1928704089
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,987,236 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A good read - let's find it more easily, October 10, 1999

By 

Brian Morr (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Criminal Behavior (Paperback)

It's well-written and entertaining and kept me going back for more - all the more credible for a first novel.

The glimpses into the US (Texas?) legal system are interesting and could stand a little more detail. Also, I'd like a little more description of Houston: it's not the best-described city in literature so more information would be useful.

The characters are credible, maybe a little predictable and polite at times.

A major criticsm is not the book but the distribution - I understand that it's a "print on demand" publication, once ordered, it's printed. This is apparently the future of publishing: it may be great at keeping costs down for publishers but it's lousy for customers. It may work for established authors but I'd never have known about this book if not for a strong recommendation and the certain knowledge that it actually existed. After ordering, waiting nearly 5 weeks for delivery after ordering is not acceptable.

For James A. Drexler though, a good 4-stars! I'll look forward to his next work and by then someone may have figured out that they'd sell more, and more easily, by printing hard-copy and displaying in book stores or at airports!!