Author: Norman Bacal

Publisher: Barlow Books

ISBN: 978-1-988025-43-8

Norman Bacal's debut provocative work of fiction, Odell's Fall is a hybrid of ambition and psychological trauma patterned after Shakespeare's Othello.

The story features a successful corporate lawyer, Odell Moore who is a partner in the prestigious international law firm, Torrance, Gottlieb, Overton (TGO). His colleagues think very highly of his negotiating skills and have nicknamed him“The General.”

As the yarn unfolds, Odell is celebrating with his associates his success in putting together a transaction known as the “Bounty” that is going to create hundreds of jobs in Mobile, Alabama. We learn that immediately after the deal had been consummated, Odell had rushed to Las Vegas with his future wife to be married without telling her folks. Odell had met and fallen in love with Dee Brabant at a fundraising event held in her parent's home. Odell had been at the party to lobby Dee's father, Senator Brabant to convince him to back his client's plan to invest in an Alabama infrastructure project. He needed the Senator's support at the Senate Appropriations Committee to make the deal work.

Odell knew, however, if the Senator found about his interest in his daughter, the deal would be “toast.” He would never accept his daughter having an affair with the descendant of a slave, particularly that the Senator's family were involved with the Klan.

At the office celebration, we meet Jackson Sherman, who considers Odell, his mentor and who desperately has his eyes set on becoming a partner at TGO. Sherman is quite ambitious, perhaps too relentless to succeed, even though he has all the tools and requirements to become an equity partner. He describes himself as “a hard-core deal junkie.” It was Jackson's family's connection to the Senator that helped set up Odell's relationship with him.

When Dee returns home to her folks to tell them the news that she had eloped with Odell, “all hell breaks loose.” Her father “blows a casket” and is not prepared to accept the marriage of his only child to an African-American. He tells Dee that Odell is “a bewitchin' man, interested in you only until he gets what he wants.” He promises to do everything in his power to undo the marriage, which perhaps is a clue to readers as what will unfold.

Tension mounts as the story shifts back to Sherman, who is disappointed that Odell did not choose him to run an important file but instead gave him a secondary role. Michael Cassidy, who is a former football teammate of Odell and is from the TGO's Los Angeles office, was given the chief position. Sherman realizes that his path to equity partnership is threatened by Cassidy as the firm only appoints one equity partner when there is an opening. This leads him to uncharted waters with devastating ramifications which not only involves himself but also the hidden demons and secrets of Odell.

What I found fascinating about Bacal's plot is that he creates a world where the reader is held hostage. It is a plot fueled by incertitude where you never know where Bacal is going as he slowly weaves a devious scheme and a painful frightening revelation. He spins a tale in a fluid narrative style with well-paced, well-blocked flurries of exciting action laced with disturbing undertones of mystery and doom where every detail has been put into play for a reason.

Follow Here To Read Norm's Interview With Norman Bacal Author of Odell's Fall