A True Verdict
by Robert Rotstein
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Pub Date Jan 14 2025 | Archive Date Jan 28 2025
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Description
From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Robert Rotstein, A True Verdict is an edge-of-your-seat legal thriller filled with secrets.
MediMiracle Corporation manufactures Sophrosyne, a miracle cure for opiate addiction. Ellison Ricard, a research analyst for the company, claims to have uncovered data that proves Black users of Sophrosyne experience fatal side effects far more often than people of other races. When Ricard confronts MediMiracle’s charismatic founder and CEO, Peyton Burke, a violent confrontation ensues. The wheelchair-bound Ricard—a Black man who had been severely injured years earlier—is fired that very day.
Ricard turns to aging lawyer M. Bailey Klaus, to sue Burke and MediMiracle for civil rights violations, alleging that Ricard was fired because he blew the whistle on the coverup and because he was Black. Klaus faces off against his former protégé, Cicely Pagano, each arguing for drastically different versions of Ricard. Is he a brilliant, sincere, credible person who is rightfully standing up against a deadly product? Or is he a delusional, embittered, and avaricious liar who is taking advantage of his former employer?
Ricard’s fate rests with an eight-person jury who can’t agree on anything. Working together to reach a consensus means navigating a tempest of the most divisive issues: politics, sexism, drug abuse, capitalism, healthcare, and racism. Can eight people with different backgrounds, ages, classes, and political views avoid coming to blows, much less render a true verdict?
Told through court transcripts and jury deliberations, A True Verdict is a suspenseful ride to a shocking verdict …
A Note From the Publisher
Advance Praise
“Has what most legal thrillers lack—total authenticity, which is spellbinding.” James Patterson
“Rotstein’s insight into the insidious nature of jury trials blew me away.”
Robert Dugoni, #1 Amazon, Wall Street Journal, and internationally bestselling author of My Sister’s Grave
Marketing Plan
- USA Today bestselling author
- National and regional reviews and features
- Social media campaign
- Thriller-fiction buzz mailing
- Digital advertising campaign
- Bookseller and library trade show marketing
- USA Today bestselling author
- National and regional reviews and features
- Social media campaign
- Thriller-fiction buzz mailing
- Digital advertising campaign
- Bookseller and library trade show marketing
Available Editions
EDITION | Paperback |
ISBN | 9798874748418 |
PRICE | $16.99 (USD) |
PAGES | 260 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
In the gripping narrative, Ellison Ricard, a diligent research analyst, stumbles upon alarming data indicating that Sophrosyne, a touted miracle cure for opiate addiction, poses lethal risks to Black individuals. His ethical confrontation with the CEO leads to his unjust termination, prompting Ricard to embark on a legal battle for civil rights infringement. While the story's execution is commendable, it lacks the quintessential elements that resonate with the Young Adult genre, which somewhat diminished my personal enjoyment.
Let me put it simply: I loved Robert Rotstein's courtroom thriller, A True Verdict. MediMiracle Corp is a pharmaceutical company headed by a charismatic CEO. It sells only one product -- a blockbuster drug that offers a cure for opiate addiction. But a former employee has sued the company for hiding evidence that the drug's side effect disproportionately affects Black users. The book takes us through the lead up to the trial of MediMiracle, the trial itself, the subsequent jury deliberations and the final verdict. But it is not a simple narrative. Rather, interspersed with excerpts from the trial transcript, the story is told from multiple vantage points - those of the jurors, the judge, the judge's clerk and the lead attorneys for the defendant and the plaintiff.
I'm giving nothing away by noting that the author has skillfully described the dynamics of the jury process and how jurors with dramatically different perspectives and backgrounds struggle with each other and with their own biases. The trial is filled with bombshell revelations made plausible through Rotstein's skillful writing and the insights the jurors draw from the record lead to a satisfying surprise ending. Highly recommend this suspenseful read!
Readers who liked this book also liked:
Jodi Picoult; Jennifer Finney Boylan
General Fiction (Adult), Literary Fiction, Women's Fiction