My thanks go out to Mike Papantonio and a friend, Jeff Weeks. Jeff hosts Conversations With Jeff on WSRE, the PBS station where Mr Wonderful works, so I am able to learn of what’s happening in the world a little earlier than others…sometimes. Sometimes I visit the set to meet an author or sometimes a little something comes my way without me doing anything, like Law and Addiction. Thanks again guys!

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MY REVIEW

Mike Papantonion has done an excellent job in showing how greed and corruption can be carried to such an extreme that bodies are falling by the thousands and towns are dying because of it. Truly horrifying!

Let;s look at it through an attorney’s eye…though it is fiction, I feel Mike Papantonio shares a lot of himself in Law and Addiction.

I am not going to get on a pedestal and rant, but I do not think the media has done a good enough job of covering this epidemic that the United States is facing today. I had heard of it, but kinda shrugged it off, thinking….it would never affect me. Thank goodness it hasn’t, directly, but as I read Law and Addiction so many things were brought to light that I couldn’t just shrug it off any longer. I feel everyone would benefit from reading this and be aware…companies and the government are not always there to help you. It is up to YOU to stay educated and aware of the things going on around you.

Now…to the fiction…we have to have a character, a good guy that has no idea what he is getting into when he tries to make the culprits responsible for his brother’s overdose pay. I love how Jake showed no fear, no hesitation, believing all things are possible. He doesn’t know what he’s in for and that’s a good thing, because he might have stopped before he ever started if he knew what was up ahead.

Mike Papantonio does a good job of showing the process…the legalities…the paper mountains…the brick walls…and the determination and patience necessary to take on Goliath, the ‘American drug cartel’ and ride the Oxy Express (I-75). There is a side story that comes about and more criminals are waiting for their moment to rear their greedy, ugly heads and take advantage of those less fortunate.

Everything really amped up from Chapter 33 on. Blurry, tear filled eyes were happening and I was surprised at that…ya know, this is a legal thriller, not the romantic suspense that I devour. But, it is not dry and boring. It is not all bad and sad, even though Jake is put through hell and I didn’t know if he would make it or not. The characters grow as individuals and as a group, making a family, of sorts. It is not all gloom and doom, we do have some smiles and laughs, love and romance, along the way. All the things necessary for a well rounded life in the thriller world. Law and Addiction read like a true story…even the far fetched parts were plausible.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Law and Addiction by Mike Papantonio.

GOODREADS BLURB

One week before Jake Rutledge is scheduled to graduate from law school, he receives the devastating news of the death of his fraternal twin, Blake. What makes this death even more terrible for Jake is that his brother died of a drug overdose. Until hearing of his death, Jake had no idea his brother was even using drugs.

When Jake returns home to Oakley, West Virginia, he takes a hard look at the circumstances of his brother’s death. In the five years Jake has been away for his schooling, his hometown has drastically changed. Because of the opioid epidemic, and the blight it has brought, many now call Oakley Zombieland. Jake can see how his town’s demise parallels his brother’s.

Undeterred, the newly minted lawyer takes on the entrenched powers by filing two lawsuits. Jake quickly learns what happens when you upset a hornet’s nest. The young attorney might be wet behind the ears, but is sure there is no lawyer that could help him more than Nick Deke Deketomis and his law firm of Bergman/Deketomis. Deke is a legendary lawyer. When he was Jake’s age he was making his name fighting Big Tobacco. Against all odds, Jake gets Nick and his firm to sign on to his case before it’s too late.

ABOUT MIKE PAPANTONIO

Mike Papantonio is a senior partner of Levin Papantonio, one of the largest plaintiffs’ law firms in America, that has handled thousands of cases throughout the nation involving pharmaceutical drug litigation, Florida tobacco litigation, litigation for asbestos-related health damage, securities fraud actions, and other mass tort cases. “Pap” has received dozens of multimillion dollar verdicts on behalf of victims of corporate corruption.

Papantonio is one of the youngest attorneys to have been inducted into the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame. In 2012 Papantonio became President of the National Trial Lawyers Association, one of the largest trial lawyer organizations in America. For his trial work on behalf of consumers, Papantonio has received some of the most prestigious awards reserved by the Public Justice Foundation, The American Association for Justice, and the National Trial Lawyers Association.

Papantonio is an author of four motivational books for lawyers. He is also co-author of Air America: The Playbook, a New York Times Political Best Seller.

Papantonio is the host of the nationally syndicated radio show “Ring of Fire” along with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Sam Seder. Papantonio has conducted hundreds of recorded interviews with guests, including Dan Rather, Helen Thomas, Howard Zinn, Arianna Huffington, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Bernie Sanders, David Crosby, Merle Haggard, Morgan Spurlock, John Edwards, Bill Moyers, Rickie Lee Jones, Alanis Morissette, Pete Seeger, Jackson Browne, Chuck D from Public Enemy, Henry Rollins, Ted Sorensen, and Elizabeth Kucinich. His role on “Ring of Fire” is featured in the movie, “Jesus Camp,” which was nominated for the 2007 Academy Award for Documentary Feature.

Papantonio is also a political commentator who frequently appears on MSNBC, Free Speech TV, RT America Network, and Fox News.

Papantonio is married and has one daughter. He is an avid scuba diver and often dives on the Emerald Coast.

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