Damanged
by Lisa Scottline
One boy. One lawyer. One chance for justice. Set in Philadelphia, it’s two weeks before Mary DiNunzio’s wedding, and she hardly has time to breathe. She needs to approve the wedding menu, go for a fitting on her gown, and meet her mother-in-law for an appointment at the latter’s spa where the stylists want to do major renovations to Mary and her mother. She’s getting truly frantic, and then along comes a case like no other she’s ever had.
Edward O’Brien is her new client, a widower in his seventies who is the guardian of his ten-year-old grandson Patrick. Edward tells Mary that his grandson has dyslexia, has been bullied in school for years, and that there has been no remedial program for him in his school despite the federal law that mandates an appropriate education for every special needs student. It also appears that despite the legal requirement that Patrick be tested every three years to chart his reading progress, no evaluation has ever been done after the first one five years earlier where he was reading on a very low level.
What brought Edward to Mary’s office is that he has just been served with a lawsuit, claiming that Patrick attacked his teacher with scissors. The truth is, Edward tells Mary, that it’s the teacher who slapped Patrick and humiliated him in front of the entire class. The school’s lawyer is none other than Nick Machiavelli, someone Mary knows from her old neighborhood. Nick claims that he is descended from Niccolo Machiavelli, the historian and politician known for his cunning and unscrupulous behavior and Mary is pretty sure she believes him. It would certainly explain a lot. She has always wanted to face “The Dark Prince of South Philly,” as Nick is known, and this is her chance.
And then there’s Anthony, Mary’s fiancé. A college adjunct professor, he’s been in California since Mary accepted the O’Brien case, and he and Mary barely have had time to talk in his absence. Upon his return, there’s another problem to be added to the mix that surrounds Mary.
Mary is now a partner in Rosato and DiNunzio, Philadelphia attorneys.
With Lisa Scottoline's trademark emotional depth and fast-paced action, Damaged will have you riveted to the last page as you root for the beloved characters and their fight for justice.