Out of Balance is a book about a small town lawyer, whose fight for justice in a failed justice system has taken its toll, pushing him to early retirement. But when asked to jump back in, he does so and in the process, because of his persistence and that of his partners, he finds himself while exposing the forces behind the escalation of domestic violence in his community. Matt’s partners in the investigation are girlfriend, Jennifer Nichols, who shows the readers how it felt to be in and how she escaped the domestic violence trap, and investigative reporter Linda Lawson, who shows the readers how a meticulous investigation yields leads into the dark places in soul of the community. 

It is a story of triumph. Though fiction, the source material comes from four decades of my personal experience practicing law in California communities. This is real stuff, although the names and some of the details have been changed to assure that it is received as fiction.

 The protagonist is Matt Lucas, a lawyer who has devoted his professional life to obtain justice for women                               and children in a rural community, and who  is in the process of retiring and relocating to Santa Fe, New Mexico, when he is called upon to assist Linda Lawson, an award winning San Diego reporter, in a seemingly routine investigation of an incident of domestic violence that has taken place in fictional Maidu County in the Mother Lode Country of Northern California. Their investigative assignment quickly transforms into a suspenseful mystery that plunges the reader into the worlds of domestic violence, child abuse, corruption, murder, and judicial cover-up. As the investigation begins to yield answers, they are trapped in a deadly game in which they have become the hunted.   Holding tight to their mission, they follow a twisting path that leads to the secrets behind the killings and a deeper understanding of themselves. Readers will be stunned by the surprise conclusion.