Criminal defense attorney Darcy Cole is facing one of the biggest cases
of his distinguished career, but at the same time he must deal with his
own midlife crisis. He has just won an acquittal for his
client--beautiful, self-centered Lynne Tobias--from the charge of
murdering her husband, a prominent Chicago attorney. But now Cole and
Tobias are facing federal charges of conspiracy to defraud an insurance
company in connection with the death of her husband.
This new charge has been brought by the U.S. Attorney for the Northern
District of Illinois, Owen Dempsey, who is running for governor. He
knows that prosecuting Tobias will provide him with massive, and free,
election-year publicity. A notorious self-promoter, Dempsey has a
reputation as a ruthless politician with an infallible knack for getting
the right kind of headlines.
Cole, however, is exhausted, worn out. A brilliant criminal defense
attorney, he has made his career the central focus of his life. While he
appears to be a successful man, he has had no personal life since his
wife divorced him years earlier. He feels old and lost and weary. During
his sleepless nights, he sits alone in his penthouse apartment
overlooking Lake Michigan, trying to imagine what sort of lives the
people on the expressway below live, remembering the mistakes he's made,
and wondering if he has anything to show for his life.
By day, however, Cole is energetic and intimidating. He out maneuvers
his opponents and plots brilliant strategies to defend his client from
the government's charges, anticipating the dirty tactics of Dempsey's
office and devising a few of his own.
Complicating matters is Anthony Benvenuti, Jr., who has put out two
contracts for Cole's death. The youngest son of Tony "the Babe"
Benvenuti, a prominent figure in the Chicago underworld, Tony Jr. is
bitter about his conviction for drug-related offenses and blames Cole,
his attorney. Although the father has decreed that nobody is to accept
the contracts, two freelances are missing and presumed to be hunting for
Cole.
Filled with brilliant legal maneuverings and surprise after surprise,
The Advocate spins a complicated, frightening, often humorous path
through a spectacular federal trial, ruthless organized crime activity,
a verdict that is totally unexpected, and a conclusion that will leave
even the most avid mystery readers wondering why they didn't see it
coming.
