Power of Attorney

Power of Attorney: James Patterson/Nancy Allen

The first scene introduces us to Amber Travis a young girl who has just lost her family in a tragic fire. Living on a farm with her distant cousins murdered in their bed two nights before as we meet her in a convenience store hoping to steal some snacks, drinks and food without getting caught. The bodies of her cousins were burnt to a crisp and the farmhouse set on fire and destroyed. She was sleeping in the shed and was lucky to survive. When she returns home to where she lived, the people living her welcome her with open arms. Amber is slow and does not understand the ways of people that are her age and for the first time she is learning about cell phones, television and much more. The setting is Baseville , and Leah Randall is also returning home. She is a young attorney who joined an insurance defense law firm and returned to help take care of her father’s law firm and his cases because he has been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s. The kindness of the people towards Amber seems genuine but there is a cold feeling in the air when you are around Kate and some of the other people including Quint who owns the restaurant that she loves. Added in somehow there was a fire set in her house and her hand is burned and she does not tell Leah when she comes to take her to deal with the wills and more that this might not be an accident. Leah would now become part of the community and Amber Travis would be her first client taking over her father’s practice but first she had to find his power of attorney, get it signed and then take away his car keys. The town of Bassville did not accept Leah all at once and there were people who had hidden lies and secrets that would come out later. When Amber is arrested for the murder of Dale and Glenna Maggard her guardians’ things get tense, Leah must decide how to proceed, and the town is against her. Amber has a certain amount of intelligence but barely understands the process involved in the trial and at times is afraid to speak out and up. Leah was determined to find the paper she was forced to sign that was a contrast making Amber Lynn Travis the slave of Dale Edward Maggard her master. In return for allowing him to make her his slave she inherits his property after his death and the contract was binding. Designed by Dale and Glenna and this was the start of the horrors that would follow her. The prosecutor Shelby Searcy begins the trial, and the witnesses are called and yet you get the impression that he is hiding something but what? Leah talks about the fire that killed the Maggards, the property and the prosecution things that Amber set it. Gasoline used to accelerate the fire. But, what about the second one the same mode used to accelerate the fire.

The town people that were involved were underhanded and not to be trusted although when Amber first came and before she was arrested they have her a place to live, food and took care of her even with a phone. But, she is backward in many respects, never allowed to go to school and at times told Leah that she was afraid to speak out because she was not allowed. Phil Benson was the Circuit Clerk,, Danny Minton with the police, as she asked about the Maggard fire and their deaths but when the truth comes out you won’t believe who else is involved. Kate Cole and her husband Hopp owned the apartment complex where Amber was allowed to stay and she was given food, clothes and more. Speaking to her for the fist time she explains that after her mother was gone the judge make her life with Dale and Glenna who did not really want her. But when Leah realizes why amber wears clothing that completely covers her up what she sees and learns shakes her to the core.

A witness that will shock you when he takes the stand as someone comes out and describes what happened to Amber and when the jury hears it will they set her free?

Impressions change and attitudes too, but first Amber has a medical physical with Tripp the town doctors who sates that there were burns consistent with electrocution, electric burns in private places and others consistent with strangulation and the use of a whip. Plus, she was made to sleep in a dog kennel when Dale said she misbehaved, and his wife did not defend her for he would get her next.

As her father declines more and his behaviors become odd and more erratic we begin to understand what Alzheimer’s does to someone that was once a powerful attorney.
A trial that is powerful, forceful and a lawyer names Leah Randall that came up against a whole town, a prosecutor that thinks he will win hands down, judge that will never be the same when he learns the truth and a verdict that shocks everyone. But, when the DVDs are played, and the court sees what Dale did to Amber will she ever be the same and will she need counseling and mental help? Just  what is shows will stun readers and the reasons for the torture and what and who profited and why will rock the legal community of this town as well as the reveal at the end. Characters right out our LA LAW and an attorney named Leah who is relentless, and her father’s secretary still helpful authors James Patterson and Nancy Allen raise the bar for courtroom scenes, teaching legal precedence and letting you know that it is important to have legal documents in place: WHO HAS YOUR POWER OF ATTORNEY?

Fran Lewis: Just reviews

Power of Attorney questions