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- Two Times Platinum Reviewed By Norm Goldman of Bookpleasures.com
Two Times Platinum Reviewed By Norm Goldman of Bookpleasures.com
- By Norm Goldman
- Published February 16, 2019
- GENERAL FICTION REVIEWS
Norm Goldman
Reviewer & Author Interviewer, Norm Goldman. Norm is the Publisher & Editor of Bookpleasures.com.
He has been reviewing books for the past twenty years after retiring from the legal profession.
To read more about Norm Follow Here
Author: Lloyd Zane Remick
Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers LLC
ISBN: 978-194735-389-3
Lloyd
Zane Remick's debut novel, Two Times Platinum is set in the
author's native Philadelphia and manages to combine together his vast
knowledge as a law professor and experience as an entertainment attorney with thriller elements to exciting effect.
The story
features attorney Dex Randle who is quite successful practicing
entertainment law, however, as Remick states on the very last page of
the novel and what Randle will no doubt confirm, “THE PRACTICE OF
LAW IS FRAUGHT WITH PERIL.”
The chilling plot unfolds when
Dex is approached by a beautiful singer, Val Clifton, who is about to
sign a management contract and requests his assistance. After a
series of questions, Dex agrees to review the contract, suggest some
changes, and do some due diligence concerning the guy who will be her
manager. Deep down Dex has a feeling that Val was trouble and not as
innocent as she appeared.
After Val leaves his office, Dex
receives a phone call from Sammy the Lethal indicating that a Mr.
Carpozzi has requested that he pick up the documents immediately.
Dex's third-year law assistant informs him that according to an
article in the Philadelphia Daily News, Carpozzi just purchased Can't
Take It with You Records(CTIWY) and he will be the president and CEO.
The article also indicated that Carpozzi has ties to some criminal
enterprises and specific organized crime figures.
Within a
few hours, Carpozzi and Sammy show up at Dex's office and tell him in
no uncertain terms that Dex will be representing Val and that Sammy
will be her manager. Dex also receives from Carpozzi an envelope
containing fifty-one hundred dollar bills.
While at home, Dex
ponders the management contract he wants to convey and rationalizes
if he is to do an excellent job for Val, as she is after all his
client, the heck with Carpozzi. As for the money he received and
where it came from, he tries not to think about it.
The
signing of the contract by Sammy and Val transpires without a hitch
and Dex begins to convince himself that involving himself with a
known criminal is no big deal and everything will turn out just fine.
Although Dex often described his law practice as being very unusual,
none of his many years of experience would prepare him to what was to
come.
Remick's yarn draws many of its energies from fully
exploiting the darker corners of the world of entertainment as well as sports and how
treacherous individuals can prey on athletes and entertainers
resulting in devastating consequences.
Val does become a hit
singer but at what cost? There are payouts to her promoters and
program directors to buy her way into the station playlists, illegal
interstate gambling, extortion, fixing an NFL game as well as a
boxing match, filing false tax returns, attempted murder and illegal
drug trafficking. And to make matters even more interesting, Remick
throws into the plot a love triangle involving Val, her producer
Trolly, who was a close friend of Dex, and Carpozzi, who doesn't
take too kindly to sharing Val.
In the end, Two Times
Platinum emerges not only as a compelling thriller but as an
informative overview of a world that very few readers know. Also,
Remick's writing, which is spare and compact, vividly sketches hope,
greed, and ultimate tragedy illustrating how some lives can slip into
chaos brought about by becoming involved with an unsavory character
who uses fear and intimidation to get what he wants. I hope to see
more from Lloyd Zane Remick. Is there a sequel in the works or
perhaps even a movie?
Follow Here To Read Norm's Interview With Lloyd Zane Remick