Tag: legal thriller

Mike Papantonio’s ‘The Middleman’: A Legal Thriller That Hits Close to Home

‘The Middleman’ is Mike Papantonio’s latest legal thriller. Photo: Barnes & Noble.

Legal thrillers blend courtroom drama, high-stakes legal battles, and moral dilemmas. They often feature sharp-witted attorneys, complex cases, and unexpected twists that keep readers on edge. I like that they provide a behind-the-scenes look at the legal system, showcasing both its strengths and flaws. With elements of crime, suspense, and ethical conflicts, legal thrillers challenge readers to question justice and truth. The first legal thriller I read was John Grisham’s “The Client” and I was instantly hooked on the genre. Authors like John Grisham and Scott Turow write stories that combine legal intricacies with human drama, making the genre both intellectually stimulating and emotionally gripping.

Mike Papantonio is another excellent author worth reading. I have read and reviewed several of his legal thrillers, the most recent one being “Inhuman Trafficking.” His newest one, “The Middleman,” will be out this week and promises another thrilling and suspenseful thriller involving Big Pharma.

Mike Papantonio is a senior partner of Levin Papantonio, one of the country’s largest plaintiffs’ law firms, and was one of the youngest inductees into the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame. He has aggressively taken on Big Pharma, tobacco, weapon manufacturers, human trafficking, and the automobile industry, among other strongholds of corporate greed, and uses his own cases as springboards for his novels. He was a lead lawyer in the national opioid litigation and the national PFAS litigation.

Papantonio is also a well-known media presence as host of America’s Lawyer, and founder and former co-host of the syndicated radio show Ring of Fire. His new legal thriller is “The Middleman” is an epic drama of whistleblowers, murder, thrills, and legal combat—torn from today’s headlines. It will be released on March 4, 2025. (Wunderkind PR, 2025)

“The Middleman” – Nicholas “Deke” Deketomis and his law firm take on America’s Big Pharma when Deke’s college pal, Matt Redmond, presents him with a case of criminal fraud involving EirePharma, a powerful Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM). PBMs serve as the “middlemen” between drug manufacturers and insurance companies. The Deketomis firm unravels the details about how governmental graft enables PBMs like EirePharma to create America’s catastrophic price gouging crisis.

EirePharma was recently taken over by the charismatic CEO, Connor Devlin, who has a Rasputin-like influence over the company’s president. Devlin utilizes racketeering practices—and perhaps murder—to raise the prices of insulin and other drugs for his own profit and to the detriment of consumers.

Amy, the president of EirePharma, decides— at great peril—to become her company’s whistleblower and provide evidence to Deke and his team. When key witnesses and even Redmond family members meet mysterious and violent deaths, Amy finds herself a pawn caught in the center of a frightening and deadly game of wills between a formidable mobster, who in the eyes of the public is a respected businessman, and a law firm that is determined to put an end to the Middleman’s crimes.

Book review: ‘Law and Vengeance’ by Mike Papantonio

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‘Law and Vengeance’ is Mike Papantonio’s most recent legal thriller.

Mike Papantonio is a writer, prominent trial attorney and co-host of Ring of Fire, a nationally syndicated weekly radio talk show, along with Robert F Kennedy, Jr and Sam Seder where he is known as ‘America’s lawyer.’ He has written several books including ‘In Search of Atticus Finch, A Motivational Book for Lawyers,’ ‘Resurrecting Aesop: Fables Lawyers Should Remember’ and the legal thriller ‘Law and Disorder.’ ‘Law and Vengeance’ is his most recent release about a highly successful trial lawyer who goes up against a weapons manufacturer.

The protagonist in ‘Law and Vengeance’ is Gina Romano, a trial attorney with the Bergman-Deketomis Law Firm. Last seen in ‘Law and Disorder,’ the firm defends the little guy from greedy corporations in cases few law firms would take. The latest case is against the manufacturer of Sight-Clops, a high-powered gun that malfunctioned outside of a controlled environment, causing innocent deaths along the way. One of the lead engineers of Sight-Clops complained about possible problems with the weapon and ended up getting fired. He is now the firm’s top witness against the company and must be protected from those out to silence him. When a traffic accident kills the lead attorney and leaves Gina in the hospital for weeks, she is convinced he was murdered and vows to make the guilty parties pay.

Mike Papantonio is back in force with another winning legal thriller. Some of the characters from the last book are back in what looks to be a series, but the story stands on its own. It starts strong right from the beginning in the Prologue where readers have a front row seat to two heart-breaking cases of the Sight-Clops malfunctioning and killing innocent bystanders. The author makes the legal jargon and courtroom drama easy to understand and the fast-paced action flows easily from page to page. Filled with relatable and well-developed characters, it is refreshing to see a strong female lead character who though flawed, does what is necessary to get the job done. It is a must-read and recommended for fans of smart legal thrillers, but it has elements of suspense and mystery with some politics mixed in to appeal to most readers. Hopefully there will another Bergman-Deketomis Law Firm novel in the near future.

*A copy of this book was given for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are solely the author’s.

Book review: ‘Law and Disorder’ by Mike Papantonio

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Mike Papantonio is a prominent trial attorney and co-host of Ring of Fire, a nationally syndicated weekly radio talk show, along with Robert F Kennedy, Jr and Sam Seder where he is known as ‘America’s lawyer.’ His new legal thriller ‘Law and Disorder’ was released in September of last year and tells the story of a highly successful Florida attorney who suddenly finds the system working against him.

In ‘Law and Disorder’ Nicholas “Deke” Deketomis is a successful attorney who despite coming from a humble background has built a successful practice where he defends the rights of the innocent in the form of multimillion dollar lawsuits. While in the middle of a highly publicized lawsuit against a powerful pharmaceutical company he makes the wrong kind of enemies including the local bible thumpers, a district attorney out to win at any cost and two corrupt brothers who own one of the country’s biggest oil corporations. To bring Deke down they plan to set him up on a murder charge and during the murder trial which becomes a media circus he must find a way to exonerate himself before his family becomes the next target.

‘Law and Disorder’ by Mike Papantonio is a fast paced legal thriller and an impressive addition to the genre. Readers get an in-depth look at the justice system from the inside out. The author makes the legal jargon and courtroom drama easy to understand and even though the characters are diverse they are relatable and well developed. Given the progressive themes of the story it is disappointing to have the housekeeper character be a Hispanic woman driving a burrito-stained jalopy and speaking in broken English. Aside from that it is an enjoyable read with enough plot twists to keep the story from becoming predictable. It is recommended for fans legal thrillers but it should be noted that the main character is a progressive liberal and that might turn off the more conservative readers.

*A copy of this book was given for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are solely the author’s.