Legal thriller gets real
By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE
Published March 26, 2006
GREEN 61
By Cody Fowler Davis
Little Moose Press, $23.95, 215 pp
Reviewed by WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE
Tampa lawyer Cody Fowler Davis, who specializes in business litigation, followed the proverbial advice given to first-time novelists: He wrote what he knew. The result, Green 61, is a delightful, readable adventure.
The novel tells the story of Anderson Parker, an idealistic young lawyer suffering under the harsh treatment of a boss who wants to win litigation at any cost, even if it means coaxing witnesses to lie or withholding crucial information from the court.
Anderson quits the firm in a fit when the boss, Justin Cartwright, makes it clear that he has come to doubt Parker's devotion to winning, telling him: "And winning means not paying out a god---ed dime."
Parker's got a problem with that philosophy, especially when it comes to a case involving a robbery at a bank's ATM. Cartwright doesn't want to reveal to lawyers suing the bank a similar crime that took place a mere 12 feet from that robbery. To Parker, that is an unforgiveable ethical breach.
Parker opens his own firm, leaving behind the good money he had been earning, and soon finds himself representing parents who lost their two children in a boating accident. The attorney representing the boating company whose pilot caused the deadly accident is, yes, Justin Cartwright.
The rest of the book involves a mano-a-mano between the two protagonists, one good, the other deliciously evil.
Green 61 is set mostly in the Tampa Bay area; the accident takes place on Useppa Island, a posh retreat in the Fort Myers area where Cartwright and the author both maintain a home.
Unlike John Grisham, who throws the reader headlong into complex legal scenarios, complete with violence and intricate plot twists that leave your head spinning, Davis keeps a quieter pace, sticking to a realistic recitation of a lawsuit's progress through the courts and the small, often petty battles lawyers fight. Distilling the strategy and complexity of a courtroom fight, he brings a level of realism often lost in legal thrillers that favor the bizarre plot twist over believability.
What we see is the focused precision of a lawyer used to making arguments that don't stray too far from home. He keeps the story simple and to the point. Perhaps too simple at times. I would have liked to see his narrative wander a bit more. Davis could have spent more time, for example, developing Parker and Cartwright's characters.
Another problem is that outside the courtroom, Davis' believability sometimes suffers. For instance, it strains credibility when Cartwright discovers a young girl who witnessed the fatal accident. It doesn't ring true that the lawyer would find the one witness he needs at the one moment he needs her. And the lawyer who is a co-counsel to Parker doesn't work well as a comic sidekick.
Still, Davis creates an understandable and compelling story told with an assurance not often seen in a first-time novelist.
He is already at work on a sequel. Davis would do well to stick to the same formula: Remember your roots. Let's just hope next time around, he'll let his hair down a bit more.
- William R. Levesque is a Times staff writer.