Final Paradox

Osgoode Trilogy #2

by Mary E. Martin

Harry Jenkins, an honest lawyer, seeks truth and love in a world darkened by fraud and deceit. Years back, Elixicorp, a company developing a drug to forestall memory loss, defrauded millions from Toronto's elite. But since then, no one has been able to find the money. This long buried treasure has poisoned the lives of all who seek it.

His elderly client, Norma Dinnick, teeters between lucidity and madness in her dark world of paradoxical claims. When she instructs Harry to sue the other claimants for the Elixicorp shares, one of the litigants is fatally shot in open court at Osgoode Hall. The murder weapon is an ornate, silver pistol, which is both a means of betrayal and a gift of love. Peter Saunderson, an old acquaintance of Harry's from law school, surfaces to frame his own wife and lover with the courtroom murder and to implicate Harry in the scheme.

Harry and his father have been estranged for years. Stanley is found unconscious at the foot of his cellar steps, a gun in his hand. Waking from his coma, he asks Harry's forgiveness for a long-buried wrong. This ugly .38 calibre gun becomes the means whereby love and forgiveness is found.

Beset with questions, Harry turns to the beautiful Natasha who guides him to the answers and an understanding of the final paradox.

ebook

First published November 10, 2006

About the author

I’m a born and bred Torontonian! Almost every culture and language is here. The city affects my writing both as a setting and ways of looking at a world with such immense variety.
Toronto is the setting for my first novel, Conduct in Question, in The Osgoode Trilogy, inspired by my many years of law practice here. Harry Jenkins, the protagonist of the trilogy, seeks love, compassion, forgiveness and a sense of meaning in life, as he outsmarts a serial killer and exposes massive frauds. Fortunately, my practice was far more sedate and my activities were the raising of three children.
After The Osgoode Trilogy, I needed a new hero. Alexander Wainwright, Britain’s finest landscape painter, was born. Do you like to ask yourself the “Big” Questions—the kind which have no answers or too many answers? What’s this universe like? Random? Secret forces at play? What are we supposed to be doing here? You get the idea. I like to throw such questions at Alex to see what he says.
I’ve just published the third novel in The Trilogy of Remembrance. Here’s the question—Can a truly great artist have real love aside from his muse? At first, I thought that might be too esoteric a question. But how many workaholics can’t find or keep love?
When I’m not writing? In 2012, my two gorgeous grandchildren were born. Being a grandparent is the best!
Reading is a huge part of my life, not just fiction but non-fiction in the areas of art, psychology, philosophy, all kinds of literature. Photography is really fun. And, of course, travel is at the top of the list.

Reviews

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent read, in no way a light read - by far!

Harry Jenkins believes his client, Norma Dinnick, an eight-seven-year-old widow, is balancing on a very thin line between reality and insanity. Norma calls Harry with the intention of rewriting her will, and is convinced that Archie Brinks, the executor of her estate, is trying to poison her by substituting her arthritis medication. He wants her money and the share that her deceased husband had hidden years before. She’s determined to change her will, naming her goddaughter, Bronwyn (a friend’s daughter), sole beneficiary and Harry as her executor. She firmly believes that George Pappas, Peter Saunderson (Bronwyn’s gay husband), Archie Brinks and others are after the Elixicorp share she believes is rightfully hers.

But the share isn’t - nor does it belong to any of them, for years ago, fraud and deceit were commited against high-class Torontonians, having them believe that Elixicorp was developing medication to prevent memory loss. Millions were invested, and without that share, the money is out of reach for all. Before his death, Arthur had hidden the money. After being threatened by Robert Hawke and George Pappas, he commited suicide rather than face a horrific, torturous death by their hands, and left specific instructions for Norma.

But Norma’s mind is no longer what it used to be, as she ’sees’ and ‘talks’ with her husband and David, her lover, and believes there are bad tenants residing above her when, in fact, the apartment above her own is completely empty. And now Harry’s stuck in the middle, while more and more, the men who are supposed to be finding the hidden share are turning up murdered.

Meanwhile, Harry’s love-life is at a crawl. Divorced from his wife, Harry has fallen in love with Natasha. One minute, she is warm and inviting, and the next, she’s cool and withdrawan. And Harry doesn’t understand why.

Again, another great mystery. Ms. Martin knows how to create a complex plot(s). While I did find that there were too many characters and sometimes hard to keep track of them, each one plays a particular role, and all working for George Pappas, all after the same thing; the missing Elixicorp share. So complex a story, let this be a word of caution: while an excellent tale, this novel is by no means a light read. This is not a book you can pick up and finish in a few short hours, even if it is only a 268-page Trade Paperback. It needs and deserves your complete attention. Way to go, Ms. Martin! Can’t wait to start A Trial of One, Book #3!

[Jenn Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

Final Paradox is the second book in the Osgoode Trilogy. It is about a lawyer named Harry Jenkins who not only is defending his client’s state of mind, but tries to protect Norma Dinnick when it comes to some shares in her estate. It seems everyone is after those mysterious shares, especially a man named George Pappas. The reader has no choice but to be drawn into the story because it features the lives of three distinct characters.

Norma Dinnick wavers from reality to wonderland when she seems to converse with characters from her past in the upstairs apartment of her building. She also deals with men who are involved in her late husband’s affairs and attempts to keep them away from her estate. Norma’s lawyer, Harry Jenkins, is pulled into her affairs and doesn’t realize what he gets himself into besides just trying to straighten out her will. He is involved in problems of his own when his father gets himself into trouble and he must go and help him or risk losing him. He is conflicted with holding onto the pain of the past or forgiving his father after his mother died. Peter, who is involved in Norma’s goddaughter, Bronwyn, has a secret life of his own that is quite bizarre.

Final Paradox seems to be centered on Norma’s shares and the reader is left wondering if she really had them at all. The author did not display Norma as a very wealthy woman so it seems odd that so many people were interested in the contents of her will. Hopefully, in the last installment, this mystery will be solved and we will find out if the main character really has them or if she has been stringing everyone along in her delusional state of mind.

I found Harry’s father to be quite odd in his behavior toward his son. One minute he’s upset that he doesn’t have a relationship with his son and the next minute, sometimes in the same conversation, the father acts nonchalant about their relationship. It’s like a see-saw emotional wave when it comes to Harry and his father. I am not sure if the author wanted to show the emotional imbalance of his father’s mind but it didn’t seem consistent to the character’s behavior and the situation at hand. However, Final Paradox is a good read. Harry’s character stands out from the crowd because he is a strong and caring person who is dedicated to doing the right thing. He carries the story through to the end.