Against All Odds

by Richard A. Danzig

295 pages, Hardcover

Published May 1, 2026

About the author

Richard A. Danzig is an attorney, artist, entrepreneur and author. He practiced law in New York for over forty years and has represented many prominent clients. He is the founder in New York of the American Paralegal Institute, We The People, a legal document preparation company, and The Law Stores. Richard is a juried member of the Spanish Village Artist collective in San Diego, California and his artwork has been shown in galleries in the Northeast and California. Richard published his first novel “Facts Are Stubborn Things” in 2023 and his second novel “Punch Line” in 2024. His new book “The Collectors” will be published on October 1, 2025. You can find out more at Richard’s website: richardadanzigauthor.com and see his artwork at richardanzig.com

Reviews

[Fireplace.Bookworm]

I have a lot of thoughts about this book. Buckle up.

This book had so much potential, but it largely lacked in editing and execution. The plot line of helping the doctor who had been illegally detained by ICE was super interesting and honestly the reason I picked up the book. The summary of the book makes it sound like this is the majority of the story, but it’s not. Though it should be.

This book has three major plot lines: the ICE detainment, something with money laundering and China, and Melody and her father. The first and the last are interesting, the middle, I’m not even sure why it’s in the book. It was confusing and unnecessary. These plot lines were also disjointed. The pacing didn’t make sense. There wasn’t a clear organization between each of them. Problems would be presented and 4 pages later be resolved.

My biggest issue with this book was the writing and lack of editing. There were so many editing marks left in this final copy it truly distracts from the reading experience. There were also spelling mistakes, and for the love of all punctuation goes inside the quotation marks! Every! Single! Time! This was truly distracting as a pet peeve of mine.

My final note is on the description of Garden City, Kansas…there are not mountains in Garden City. No where near Garden City are there mountains. This was in the setting description and I’m sorry, I’ve been there. This detail shows the lack of editing and research.

I wish I could have liked this one, but I just couldn’t. Thank you @bookpublicityservices for this finished copy in exchange for my honest review.

[Chelsie]

Chance Cormac has a reputation, but he does his job well. He takes on a case of a high regarded doctor who has been taken into ICE custody for some article she wrote years ago. Putting everything on the line including his own reputation, we get pulled into the government world of who you know to get a deal and the control the government also has in doing what they want. Fighting for this woman's life, Chance is also trying to be a father figure to Melody as she loses her father to cancer. He has watched Melody grow up, as her mother was his first love and he will always have a special place for them both but this case and all he has to fight for is taking priority. Just how far will Chance go to save Dr. Abda's life and will Melody be able to figure out who she is without her father and what was her love of tennis? This novel very much resonates with what is happening today with people being detained all over the US. I enjoyed this legal thriller and Chance's character in fighting for what he believes in. I did not at all feel lost or like I was missing anything, reading this as a standalone novel. Thank you to the author and Book Publicity Service for the complementary novel. This review is of my own opinion and accord.

[Chloe P]

I really wanted to enjoy Against All Odds, as it had a lot of potential and there were plenty of interesting ideas throughout the story. I particularly enjoyed each of the individual plotlines, and I thought the book explored some interesting themes around mental health and morality. However, I did feel that there was perhaps too much crammed into the story, which sometimes affected the execution. Unlike most books that have one main plot, this one follows three different storylines, and while each was interesting in its own right, I found that having them separated and jumping between them became quite confusing at times. I sometimes found myself having to work out which plot and characters were being discussed, and although the characters themselves were distinct, there were quite a few of them, which added to that confusion. I also felt that some of the storylines became a little disconnected when brought together. That said, Against All Odds was a different type of book what I would normally read, and I appreciated the opportunity to step outside my usual reading style. Overall, I’d give it 3 stars - there was plenty of potential and some genuinely interesting elements, but I think a more focused plot and slightly simpler structure would have made the story stronger for me.

[Ellen Townley]

This is a legal thriller so I was happy to receive this book, I do love a courtroom scene and in this one the courtroom parts were my favourite .

There are other storylines running along side the legal aspects that make you feel a certain way towards different characters and give them more depth

I found out afterwards that this is book 4 in the series, but i could follow along just fine having not read the others beforehand , overall I did enjoy this one and if like me you like a legal thriller then I would give it a go :)