Welcome to Litsy!

One week before JAKE RUTLEDGE is scheduled to graduate from law school, he receives the devastating news of the death of his fraternal twin BLAKE. What makes this death even more terrible for Jake is that his brother died of a drug overdose. Until hearing of his death, Jake had no idea his brother was even using drugs. When Jake returns home to Oakley, West Virginia, he takes a hard look at the circumstances of his brother's death. In the five years Jake has been away at his schooling, his hometown has drastically changed. Because of the opioid epidemic, and the blight it has brought, many now call Oakley "Zombieland." Jake can see how his town's demise parallels his brother's. Undeterred, the newly minted lawyer takes on the entrenched powers by filing two lawsuits. Jake quickly learns what happens when you upset a hornets nest. Realizing that he's in over his head, Jake is able to enlist West Virginia lawyer PAUL VOGEL to help him. Jake defeats the opposition's high powered lawyers and their Motion to Dismiss, but knows he'll need the resources of a lawyer and firm that "won't blink." The young lawyer might be wet behind the ears, but is sure there is no lawyer that could help him more than NICK "DEKE" DEKETOMIS and his law firm of Bergman/Deketomis. Deke is a legendary lawyer; when he was Jake's age he was making his name fighting Big Tobacco. Against all odds, Jake gets Nick and his firm to sign on to his case before it's too late. Mike Papantonio, a member of the Trail Lawyers Hall of Fame, knows the ins and outs of the courtroom better than anyone. Law and Addiction is a big book, inhabited by the kinds of characters Papantonio has come to know well. In a setting of despair, it is a book of hope, with the little guy along with truth and justice prevailing.