Solomon's Freedom

by Dennis Meredith

Can they take his heart if he has a soul?
Solomon is an extraordinary chimpanzee, taught by primatologist Abigail Philips to understand and use language. But her research center is under a financial death sentence from her university. Desperate to save Solomon from what, for him, would be a dismal life in a retirement facility, Philips agrees to give legal control of Solomon to billionaire Walter Drake. He has agreed to house Solomon in comfort and enable her pioneering communication research to continue.
But the ailing billionaire has really bought himself a heart! He betrays Philips, planning to "harvest" Solomon's heart to biologically engineer it to replace his own failing heart. The procedure will not only doom Solomon. Its success will also sentence a thousand chimpanzees in sanctuaries to death on the operating table, and lead to industrial breeding of chimpanzees for organ harvesting.
Solomon's only hope is flamboyant LA trial lawyer R. William “Bobby” Colter, defender of whoever pays his considerable fee. Hired by eccentric dowager Sarah Huntington, he sets out to win the most difficult case of his obtaining legal protection for Solomon.
Can Colter succeed against all legal precedent and free Solomon, or will the chimpanzee die at the hands of surgeons, a harbinger for the end of a thousand of his brethren?
Author Dennis Meredith has crafted a gripping, thought-provoking story that resonates with emotion. It also sheds dramatic light on the profound ethical issues of legal rights for our closest living primate relatives.

Genres: Fiction

296 pages, Paperback

First published June 19, 2014

About the author

Dennis Meredith brings to his novels an expertise in science from his career as a science communicator at some of the country's leading research universities, including MIT, Caltech, Cornell, Duke and the University of Wisconsin. He has worked with science journalists at all the nation's major newspapers, magazines, and radio and TV networks and has written well over a thousand news releases and magazine articles on science and engineering over his career.

He has served on the executive board of the National Association of Science Writers and has written numerous articles and guidebooks on science writing and science communication. He has also served as a judge and manager for the NASW Science-in-Society Awards and the AAAS Science Writing Awards.

He was a creator and developer of EurekAlert!, working with The American Association for the Advancement of Science to establish this international research news service, which now links more than 4,500 journalists to news from 800 subscribing research institutions.

In 2007, he was elected as a AAAS Fellow "for exemplary leadership in university communications, and for important contributions to the theory and practice of research communication." In 2012 he was named the year's Honorary Member of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society.

He holds a B.S. degree in chemistry from the University of Texas (1968) and an M.S. in biochemistry and science writing from the University of Wisconsin (1970).

He is currently writing science articles, non-fiction books and science fiction novels. He also develops and conducts communication workshops for researchers seeking to enhance their communication skills, both professional and lay-level. He has developed workshops for researchers at universities, research foundations, and government agencies and laboratories.

Reviews

[Tony Parsons · Rating 4 out of 5]

California Technical University Smithfield Research Forest. Dr. Abigail “Abby” Philips (CTUSRF director, primatologist) informed Solomon “Solly” (Chimpanzee) he needed a shot.
LA, CA. Johnny “Eyes” Califano told the judge/jury he had shot Rufio Gonzalez, but it was in self-defense.

6 times the prosecutor stated.
R. “Bobby” William Colter (Eyes defense lawyer) had no comment.
Walter Drake (billionaire) was willing to donate a $10 million endowment fund to the center, in-return for Solomon’s rights.
The problem was Walter needed a heart transplant.
R. “Bobby” William Colter was now representing Sarah Huntington (eccentric dowager).
Bobby was asking Judge George Kermit Wainwright if Dr. Philips could be appointed legal guardian of Solomon (chimpanzee).

What was Willie Baker (aka Willie the Wild Animal Man, Willie-Boy, Wonder-Willie, Free Willie) up to?
Walter not in the best of health was now in the hospital.
What will happen to Solly?

Warning: This book contains graphic adult content, or expletive language which is only suitable for mature readers. It may be offensive to some readers.

I did not receive any type of compensation for reading & reviewing this book. While I receive free books from publishers & authors, I am under no obligation to write a positive review, only an honest one. All thoughts & opinions are entirely my own.

A very awesome book cover, great font & writing style. A very well written book. It was very easy for me to read/follow from start/finish & never a dull moment. There were no grammar/typo errors, nor any repetitive or out of line sequence sentences. Lots of exciting scenarios, with several twists/turns & a great set of unique characters to keep track of. This could also make another great movie, or better yet a mini TV series. If it wasn’t for the cussing I would have rated it higher. That said I will only give it 4/5 stars.

Thank you for the free Goodreads; Making Connections discussion group talk; Glyphus LLC.; instafreebie; Author; PDF book
Tony Parsons MSW (Washburn)

[Darlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a signed ARC copy of Solomons Freedom from the by Dennis Meredith in exchange for an honest review of this book- this is my honest opinion of his book. This book is so compelling and written so amazingly. It is so close to my heart, It has you seeing Solomon actually doing the sign language, the lab where they do the experiments on him. The scenes are so well described. The scientific parts of this book is so well defined that it makes one wonder if it actually happens now.
This being said let me take you on a ride with my friend Solomon and his freedom ride. The story starts out at as a young lady by the of Abigial Philips rushes up to an flamboyant trail lawyer by the name of R William"Bobby" Colter trying to hire for Solomon. She explains that they are going to kill him just to take his heart and that not right as he has a sole. See Solomon can has feelings and understands what is going on - he can communicate (talk).
The man that was and need the heart of Solomon is ailing Billionaire Walter Drake. He plans on harvesting the heart of Solomon.
This story is very moving an inspiring. I have not told you the out come on purpose as I want you to read this story. The way that Dennis Meredith has written is extremely excellent and you can tell he has done a lot of research. This book is os my opinion is so heart warming , moving & compelling !! You can feel the pain that Solomon is going thru and actually see him , and the scenes. This story is so believable it is remarkable. Therefore I give this book a rating of 30 out of 5 stars and recommend to all.It is available on at Amazon. SO GO GET YOUR COPY NOW!!!
But before you do . I asked the author a few questions and here are his answers.

How did you come up with the story of Solomon??
I began exploring research on chimp intelligence and saw the huge gap between what scientists knew about how advanced they are and the complete lack of that recognition in their legal standing. So, I began to think of a story that would dramatize that chasm. And I knew that, although it would be quite legal to use a chimp heart for a transplant, it was deeply immoral. So, that was the origin of the story.

The characters for solomon do they take after any one??
The character of Abigail Philips is modeled on dedicated chimp researchers like Jane Goodall and others who have found that the subjects of their research are in such great danger of extinction. In creating Bobby Colter, I wanted a character who had no interest at all in chimp rights, but finds himself taking up the cause when he learns the facts and gets to know chimps.

I had a chimp name sammy and I see alot of him in your chimp so did you use any characteristics of another chimp for solomon?
I based Solomon on some of the chimps I met when I hung out (pun intended) with the chimps at the Ohio State Animal Laboratory, where another dedicated researcher, Sally Boysen, was exploring their intelligence. The lab in the book was modeled after hers.

I should also point out that almost all the human characters in the book are named after her chimps. It is a sad irony that the chimp Bobby died after the book was written, while being transferred to a retirement facility.

From your bio I see you used to be a professor - so when did you know that you wanted to write?
When I was in high school I entered writing competitions, and I starting writing in earnest when I got to graduate school. I've been writing about science for some four decades, and during that time I also began writing novels.

Is there anything that you would like to tell your readers about this book or upcoming books??
Well, as you know, my next book, The Cerulean's Secret [www.ceruleanssecret.com] is also about animals, specifically genetically engineered ones. I'm excited about that novel because, besides being a cool sci fi adventure, it explores what genetic engineering might lead to in the next decades, in terms of treatment of animals.

Is there anything you would like to tell us about yourself??
I am a total science geek who loves to tell stories that get people excited about real science!

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Does an animal have rights? That's the dilemma in "Solomon's Freedom". I enjoyed reading this book and rooted for Solomon throughout the entire story. If you like animals, you will like this book. A very easy and enlightening read.

[David Ebel · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an imagination!

Dennis really wraps you in a tale with so many twists and turns that you never come to a place where you feel like you can figure out what will happen next!

[Jeff Soyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solomon’s Freedom, by Dennis Meredith, (Amazon link) is a grand slam. It’s a thriller with fabulous characters, witty dialogue, plenty of action, and most importantly, it raises questions about whether man’s closest neighbor in the animal kingdom should be granted any rights.

Bobby Colter is a criminal defense lawyer who can usually be found defending some of the slimier denizens of the criminal world. He’s good at what he does. Sarah Huntington is the wealthy woman who hires Colter to save a chimpanzee’s life. The ape has been purchased by a media scion in ill health who plans to use the chimp’s heart to help his own. I’m grossly simplifying this in the quest for brevity of this review.

It would be completely unfair to the author to characterize Solomon’s Freedom as “courtroom drama” or an “animal rights” plea. It is both, yet neither. It is first and foremost an action-packed thriller that I accidentally started at midnight and had to read completely through to the ending, somewhere around 4:30 AM. It is entertaining and wonderfully written.

Along the way, all of the arguments in favor of, as well as against giving a chimpanzee any special rights is included in the dialogue. Meredith’s skill as an author is that he doesn’t let that get in the way of his story. Now this is important: If this were a non-fiction book, I — as a reviewer and you as a reader — could debate the arguments about animal rights. Solomon’s Freedom is a work of fiction and I don’t debate those sorts of things in a work of fiction any more than I would the theory behind a science-fiction author’s use of “warp drives” to propel a star ship around the cosmos.

There IS some scientific theory in the book. Some of it is real and some is not. That you would be hard-pressed to tell where one ends and the other begins is a tribute to the author. In my review of his previous sci-fi novel, Wormholes: A Novel, I said that Dennis Meredith, “…reminds me a lot of the work of Michael Crichton in that the science in the story is close enough to existing theory to make the reader a believer that this could all happen. It’s also kept enough in check as to not slow down the story.” The same is true with Solomon’s Freedom.

Here’s something else that I love about this book: Plot complications galore! They just keep piling up; one after another. Bobby Colter seems to have everything going against him. That’s great writing and it is exactly what makes for a terrific thriller.

Lastly, the characters. They are quirky and wonderful. You get to know them fully through the author’s skillful prose and almost all of them (even the bad guys!) are likable. By the way, so is Solomon.

Solomon’s Freedom is a grand slam thriller and is the best book I’ve read in quite a while. Enjoy!

[Urthwild Darkness Beckons · Rating 4 out of 5]

By some strange coincidence the very week I began to read this book a real court in the USA was looking at the same issue, albeit different reasons for a real chimpanzee. In the end Judge Karen Peters sitting in New York ruled that a chimpanzee, the Mononymously named, (as one might expect), Tommy could not have Legal Personhood. In the end, she ruled that it would be inappropriate to afford the chimpanzee the same legal rights as a person.

The case had been brought by the Nonhuman Rights Project, an organisation based in Florida USA.

Solomon’s Freedom

Solomon is the real star of this story, a highly intelligent ape, from birth he has been taught to use a computer to communicate using symbols to represent human terms and language, firstly by Dr Abigail Philips’s father and then by Abigail Philips herself. The book opens with Solomon on the endangered list, his life in imminent danger and hotshot criminal lawyer Bobby Colter is hired to protect and preserve that life. Colter is used to defending high profile controversial clients, but has he bitten off more than he can chew and will his questionable tactics and shady contacts win out or drag him down and take the oblivious Solomon with him?

Certainly the basics of this book have a real life contemporary parallel, like the courtroom battle mentioned above. Drop in heart matrices, ailing billionaires, corruption, scandal, attempted murder, one angry mother, one angry scientist, and one angry, fearful ape wrenched out of his comfort zone, into the mix and you have yourself an actual not so freaky fictional page turner.

Well, yes, there were certainly, a few overly mellow dramatic scenes and even a couple that would have been worthy of the old US soap opera Sunset Beach 1997-1999. But Solomon’s character and that of his wily lawyer Bobby Colter and their various interactions, with each other and others are at the very heart of this story. Neither Colter nor Solomon is perfect, or instantly loveable, they both have some major flaws and Dennis Meredith has worked hard to give them that authentic edge.

You do not have to be either an animal lover, an ape admirer or a fan of controversial courtroom dramas to get deeply immersed into this book.

Thoroughly engaging and sharply observed, with some odd moments of high farce, but nonetheless still a compelling drama.

This was another surprise for me, not my most visited genre recently but very enjoyable nonetheless.



Received for an honest review.

Urthwild

[Veronica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first time I have tried one of Dennis Meredith's novels and I have to say he has a new fan. I was enthralled with this novel right from the beginning. The main premise of the novel is simple. Do chimpanzees have the same legal rights as humans do considering that 99.9% of human and chimpanzee DNA is the same?
Dennis Meredith explores this thought provoking question in the form of Solomon, a very bright chimpanzee who has learned from a very young age to communicate by the use of computer images that symbolize language. The question arises when Solomon's owner mistakenly allows him to be sold to a millionaire who wants to harvest Solomon's heart for his own use. What follows is a fast paced and well thought out story that examines the ethical issue of whether our closest living relative deserves the same respect and dignity that humans have.
I found the novel brought to life this very important issue and I became so involved in the story that I had tears in my eyes after staying up to read it to the finish. Highly recommended. I received this novel for free in exchange for an honest review from Netgalley.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved Solomon since the first chapter. The careful description of the character and how much the humans around him evolve to understand and protect him was captivating. I am very drawn towards legal dramas and that is why I requested this book for review. The legal part wasn't the strongest point of this drama, so if you are looking for a Grisham's style, this might not be for you. But if you want a compelling fiction story that keeps the heart on animal care and respect, then buy this book and you will enjoy it.
Abigail's father started to teach language to Solomon and she continued the labor. Solomon's communication skills are beyond what you will expect and I actually was eager to learn more about the way chimpanzee's can learn to communicate.
The lawyer William “Bobby” Colter takes you into a love/hate the character situation. The style of ride that not even the last sentence of the book was able to stop.
The billionaire Walter Drake is a revolting character yet so desperate and sad that you can decide whether to disconnect him or to understand that transplants are not a luxe and to stick to the human side.
Enjoy the story!

[C. Stuchl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solomon's Freedom
by Dennis Meredith

I really, really, liked this book. It is an action/thriller that is hard to put down. It has wonderful characters, well developed dialogue and lots of action.
Bobby Colter is a criminal defense lawyer. He usually defends the low life bad guys and he is good at it. Sarah Hunting hires him to save her chimpansee's life.

A very rich man has bought her chimp promising her that he will be well taken care of. Instead he wants the chimp's heart for his own heart transplant.

This chimp is amazing. Abigail's father started teaching language to Solomon and she continued the lessons. He can understand and communicate with people. To know him is to love and protect him.

The heart of this story is on animal care and rights. Solomon's story is fiction but it could be real in this day and age. Is it right to raise an intellegent creature, that is only a fraction away from being human, for parts?

I liked the interplay of words between the lawyers in court. This is one all around great read.

The cover says it all.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was fortunate enough to receive a copy of Solomon’s Freedom as part of a Goodreads First Reads giveaway. This is a hard book to put down; I tore through it over the course of a weekend. I found it to be an easy read that held my attention. The characters are believable and the storyline is compelling. It touches on an issue that is frequently in the news and on minds these days – whether the earth and all the other creatures that inhabit it are ours to do with as we please.

As I read Solomon’s Freedom, I found myself drawing mental comparisons with the treatment of dolphins and whales in marine parks and with my complicated feelings about zoos and circuses. I was reminded of the old adage “we have not inherited the earth from our ancestors; we have only borrowed it from our children.” This book leaves you contemplating the question of what our responsibility is to the other creatures we share our world with. I believe this is a timely and important story and it’s also an exciting and fun book to read.

[Kenn Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway.

Very enjoyable story with great characters. The main lawyer, Bobby Colter, is full of himself and wondering how he got involved in defending a chimpanzee, Solomon. Through the story he learns more about his client as well as himself.

Dr. Abigail Philips grew up with Solomon and helped to teach him to speak and think. She learns that Solomon is going to be killed so rich billionaire, Walter Drake, can use his heart as his is failing.

Funded by Walter's mother, Bobby Colter tries the case to save Solomon. The estrangement between mother and son is a bit hard to understand, but it makes sense as the story continues.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars...I really liked the "should the great apes be granted the same basic rights as a human" theme and enjoyed the interactions in the book with Solomon. The Colter character kept making me picture Saul Goodman from "Breaking Bad", which I am sure was not intended by the author. I hope this book gets a wide audience, so that someday the apes and all animals will be given the respect they deserve.

[Elaine Plourde · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really, really enjoyed this book. The relationship between the main characters were great. I wasn't too interested in Drake, I just liked the impact the story itself was trying to get across. I definitely recommend this book to animal lovers. I can't wait for my daughter to read it. I know she'll have a great review too. Thankyou for writing such a great story, I look forward to reading more of your books

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bobby Colter must save a chimp named Solomon from having his heart harvested to be transplanted into a sick man. He tries to show the judge that Solomon is intelligent and deserves to be treated fairly. Very well written with excellent characters. I received a copy through Good Reads First Reads.

[Kendra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full review to come shortly

[V · Rating 5 out of 5]

Got this from good reads first reads. I though it was a true story and maybe it was based on a true story if not I really think it could be at some point in the future

[Steph Elias · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this book. Great story, well written.