Reasonable Facsimile [Hardcover]

Chris Shella (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2011

Can Jasper Davis pull himself from his life of loose women, liquor, and general debauchery in enough time to win a murder case and possibly save his own hide ? Jasper Davis is a criminal trial lawyer in Baltimore who has slowly but surely become like the drug dealers and lowlifes he represents. He spend more times with hookers than clients and more time drinking Jack Daniels than studying the lawbooks.Simply put. he is a shade of his former self. In Reasonable Facsimile, Jasper is in the middle of a first degree murder trial when he becomes the suspect in the murder of a DEA agent who was set to testify against his client. Jasper is so far gone on women and liquor he sees his trial skills deteriorate right before his eyes. Jasper is confronted by the situation is he gonna continue to be a reasonable facsimile of a human being or is he gonna become the man he once was.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Chris Shella is Urban Fiction's answer to John Grisham" --Greg Abrahm, Long Island Lawyer

About the Author

Chris Shella is a major felony trial lawyer who has worked in New York, Maryland, DC, and North Carolina. He has tried more than 100 major felony jury trials and handled more than 50 murder cases. He is a graduate of Morehouse College and The University of Texas School of Law. He now resides in Durham NC with his wife and son.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: Digisoda Publishin6 (December 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0983360022
• ISBN-13: 978-0983360025
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,907,713 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Author Chris Shella is a graduate of Morehouse College and the University of Texas Law School and started his legal career in Long Island, New York at the Nassau County District Attorney's Office. He is admitted to the practice of law in New York, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and North Carolina. Shella is also admitted to the federal court in the Eastern District of North Carolina, the Middle District of North Carolina, U.S. District of Columbia, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals, the Eastern District of New York, and the Southern District of New York.He is also admitted to the Bar Of The United States Supreme Court. He and his cases have been covered on Court TV, CNN, and in the New York Times, and other media outlets across the globe. He has represented everyone from lawyers to major drug traffickers to a serial killer in Baltimore. His two most famous case are the Vegan Baby Case and his defense of the Duke Lacrosse Case accuser for the alleged murder of her boyfriend.
Chris now resides in Durham, North Carolina with his wife and son.

Chris still actively represents clients up and down the East Coast. His law practice website is www.hiredgunlawyer.com

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Reasonable Facsimile: A Tale of Woe and Redemption January 18, 2012

By William N. Holland

Format:Paperback

Chris Shella's A Reasonable Facsimile is a tale of woe and redemption. Jasper Davis, a.k.a. J.D.--or Jack Daniels nicknamed in honor of his favored libation-- is a dynamic skilled defense attorney with lots of baggage battling demons alcohol and sex seemingly familiar with all low life Baltimore. J.D. is as dirty as the clients he represents.While court is in recess other lawyers bone up on their cases while Jack Daniels is boning up on lap dances. One wonders how he even manages to function given the excesses of his hedonistic lifestyle, but it serves to fill the void in his life, missing his wife and son. Infidelity causes his wife a college professor to kicked him to the curb. There he flounders in the gutter for 7 years. Psychologically he longs to return to the days before daily habits overtook his desire to be a father and husband.

J.D. takes on a major violent first-degree murder case and finds himself challenged by the judge, the prosecutor and his witnesses, his addictions, and a sinking reputation all of which get the best of him. But a turning point comes when federal agents suspect he conspired with his client to kill the key witness, a government informant. J.D. has a come to Jesus conversion realizing its life or death and the only way to save his self is to get back home with his wife and child. To complicate it all Carmen an attorney from his past appears and wants to take on the task of salvaging his life.

A Reasonable Facsimile is at times humorous and shocking. The characters seem real and familiar. Chris Shella makes effective use of the stream of consciousness technique taking the reader on a tour witnessing through Jasper's eyes the drunken binges and hangovers, the strip joints, and courtroom drama rich with the minutia of lawyering and legal procedures.

A Reasonable Facsimile is a great read despite some editorial weakness. I was disappointed expecting a legal thriller as one reviewer mistakenly touted. That sub-genre usually features an attorney or judge as the hero, caught up in a gripping courtroom drama with numerous plot twists. A legal thriller it is not, but rather a story of the redemptive self transforming suffering into a positive emotional state moving from pain and peril to redemption. Despicable Jasper Davis is transformed from the ignoble to the noble and admirable. With structural flaws Reasonable Facsimile is not a page turner. Nevertheless it is a fulfilling read. I hope to read more of Attorney Shella's work and with the right developmental editing he could easily knock a legal thriller out of the park.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A good book October 17, 2012

By ELM

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I liked the fact that the book incorporated a lot of courtroom time in the story. It seems to me that too many novels involving the legal system spend to little time in the courtroom. In addition I like the fact that it approaches the familar theme of a lawyer dealing with his personal issues from the eyes of a different type of lawyer, i.e. a minority.