Played! - Softcover

Kahn, Michael

3.49

37 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1464208360 ISBN 13: 9781464208362

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press, 2017

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"Fans of quick reads like James Patterson's popular 'BookShots' series will be well served by this thriller's fast pace." ―Library Journal

Every law firm has its backroom bench of brilliant workaholic nerds ferocious in their commitment to the law and to their clients. Such a player is Milton Bernstein of Abbott & Windsor. He's highly valued by the partners for his skills, but untested in the courtroom.

Milton's younger brother, Hal, is his polar opposite-strikingly handsome, a high-school baseball legend in St. Louis who was on his way to the major leagues until he destroyed his prospects in a motorcycle accident. Hal had been, and still is, the adored Bernstein brother-worshipped by his mother, his aunts, and the rest of his family, plus all the high school and college cheerleaders. Milton has learned to live with his lower star-power while Hal unabashedly admires Milton's career and happy marriage.

Neither brilliant nor driven, Hal has to face up to earning a living. For now he's killing time as a lifeguard at an exclusive country club. His days at the pool are mostly filled with women, kids, and fantasies about the hot babe called Cherry.

But the lives of both brothers are about to change. Cherry, the bombshell third wife of St. Louis' most shark-like litigator, Leonard Pitt, unexpectedly turns Hal's advances around. They become lovers. Coincidentally, Milton becomes the attack dog behind litigation to nail Pitt for running an insurance scam on his injured clients.

Tangling with the Pitts is a game-changer for both brothers. Everyone is a tool of someone else. The players' roster widens to include a judge who's nursed a 30-year grudge against Pitt, the judge's astute clerk, and a crooked cop. Then Milton suddenly finds himself fielding Hal's arrest for kidnapping and murder.

Played! is fast-moving, fun and, at its core, a story of brotherly love and loyalty. And baseball.

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About the Author:

Michael Kahn is a trial lawyer by day and an author at night. He wrote his first novel, Grave Designs, on a challenge from his wife Margi, who got tired of listening to the same answer whenever she asked him about a book he was reading. "Not bad," he would say, "but I could write a better book than that." "Then write one," she finally said, "or please shut up." So he shut up-no easy task for an attorney-and then he wrote one.

Kahn is the award-winning author of: seven Rachel Gold novels; an eighth novel, The Mourning Sexton, under the pen name Michael Baron; and several short stories.

In addition to his day job as a lawyer, he is an adjunct professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, where he teaches a class on censorship and free expression. Married to his high school sweetheart, he is the father of five and the grandfather of, so far, four.

Review:

Kahn is the author of the popular Rachel Gold series, and this stand-alone (for now) has the same sharp dialogue, wit, and clever plotting her fans have come to expect.

(Wes Lukowsky Booklist)

Played! has a light and bouncy air, perfect for poolside reading. Local readers will enjoys the dollops of local color, from lunch at O'Connell's to a climax that takes place in the River des Peres tunnel complex on Macklind Avenue.

(St. Louis Post Dispatch)

...a clever engrossing legal thriller punctuated by sharp humor and many unexpected developments.

(Scott Turow on Michael Kahn's The Flinch Factor)

... the spectacle of these ornaments of the Missouri bar attacking, undermining, and double-crossing each other provides brisk, sprightly entertainment, and the hapless defendant's baseball background comes into play just when it's most needed.

(Kirkus Reviews)

In "Played," the author again demonstrates his skills at turning out engrossing page-turners that keep the reader guessing until the end....With "Played," Kahn again demonstrates his chops as a first-rate mystery writer. The novel is thought provoking, informative and entertaining.

(Robert A. Cohn St. Louis Jewish Light)

The outcome is never in much doubt in this pleasant tale built on the love between two brothers.

(Publishers Weekly)

Fans of quick reads like James Patterson's popular "BookShots" series will be well served by this thriller's fast pace.

(Library Journal)

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