DiDonovan

Odell's Fall is a story set against the background of racism in modern day Alabama, involving love, jealousy and deceit, culminating in a murder in a rich lawyer's apartment. But who did it?

Odell Moore leads his diverse team of hardworking lawyers in midtown Manhattan, based on trust. His moves come carefully calculated. He is the master of legally preying on adversaries; but in the game of romance, politics, and dangerous associations, who is the cat and who is the mouse?  In order to have Dee, the woman of his dreams, Odell, a successful African American, must break the ethical and social rules still governing southern life in order to have her.  He has risen from a troubled past to become a leader.  Can he and his new bride make a life in a big city with the past still haunting his choices?

This question, asked early on in the story, becomes one of its central pivot points as Odell faces challenges and changes that redirect the course of his career and life.

Readers anticipating a staid mystery, courtroom drama, or legal office political discussion will quickly discover that the tone, setting, and most of all, the ethical conundrums presented in Odell's Fall make it a little bit of all the above, but none of these, exclusively.

Dee's father, a racist Alabama senator, who opposes the marriage, joins forces with Odells's protege, Jackson Sherman, to unsettle this marriage  and change its course, and the entwining of political ambitions, wealth, devious plotting and murder create a complex, absorbing read that relies on no familiar genre atmosphere, but challenges its readers with delightful twists and thought-provoking confrontations.

As Odell's Fall unfolds, Odell is revealed to be a strategist, perfectionist, and clever man whose remorse changes everything in his life. 

Revelations are presented in chapters which capture almost moment-by-moment changes as Odell traverses an uncertain course into disaster, faces an internal rational response system which hits the wall over Dee's fate, and questions his own role in what really happened. Between his lack of memory, an unbelievable story and premise, and losing battles of credibility among his colleagues and mother-in-law, Odell faces not just a personal and professional downfall, but one of the biggest puzzles of his life.

From political deals to corporate takeovers, to detective investigations, clues about motivations and entwined lives, and the history of Odell's reactions to adversity, Odell's Fall does more than play cat-and-mouse games with the protagonist's psyche: it translates these matches into challenges for readers pulled into the complex interactions and motives of everyone around Odell.

Odell's Fall covers romance, partnerships, lives lost and won, the legacy of Odell's heritage and its influences, and the mystery surrounding his actions with a deft attention to detail.

Under another hand, these multifaceted subplots might have proved confusing; but Norman Bacal excels in seamlessly entwining different perspectives, motivations, and personal, political and legal affairs. His ability to capture the personal and professional conundrums of a man with a secret to hide not only from the world, but from himself, makes for a riveting production from beginning to end: a story that will leave readers thinking long after the final revelations come to light.