ALMOST MORTAL by Christopher Leibig — a high octane legal thriller

The physical and metaphysical collide in this award-winning legal thriller that promises to leave the reader hungering for more.

Part saint, part sinner, Deputy Public Defender Sam Young has an uncanny ability to work the legal system to his best advantage. With a super-human ability to ride the thought waves of others, Sam plays his hand like a mesmerist, planting ideas like seeds in people’s minds, “massaging” their thoughts to suit his needs. But underneath his self-serving agenda is an almost naïve desire to do good – a desire that compels him to take on private cases outside of his overloaded court schedule, not to mention outside of the law.

Sam’s mastery of the gray areas of the law hits a wall when drop-dead gorgeous Camille Paradisi, a nun from Sam’s former Parish, dumps the proverbial Catch-22 problem in his lap. The Rosslyn Ripper, a serial killer stalking their streets, is confessing. The catch? He’s using the protection of the confessional to unburden his soul.

With the clock against him Sam must find a way to break through the protective barrier Camille has built around her priest and access the information needed to reveal the killer. The only clue she’s willing to relinquish is a time-worn journal left at the church. Whether its contents reflect the grandiose ramblings of a delusional mind or of the killer himself remains to be seen. But one thing is certain. The DNA recovered from its pages present improbable if not impossible results, propelling Sam into world where the physical and metaphysical collide.

Attorney Sam Young is clearly a protagonist for the new millennium. Cynical, self-destructive and heroic to a fault, Sam Young is a modern-day standard bearer for the underserved segment of society. But no one in this extraordinary cast of characters is who they appear to be: leaving Sam to juggle conflicting agendas, hidden truths and a reality so mind-bending that it defies everything he believes.

With equal doses of insight and imagination, author Christopher Leibig draws on his experience as a defense attorney to provide a keen sensory awareness of the hectic and often desperate inner workings of an ego-driven legal system.

Blending the high-octane thrust of a contemporary legal thriller with the magical realism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, “Almost Mortal” cleaves a new, inventive niche in the legal thriller genre. This fast-paced legal thriller will leave the reader hungering for more. A terrific read!