The Twelve Apostles

by William J. Coughlin

How far would you go to get the ultimate prize? Anyone who is anyone in the lofty world of corporate law knows that the vacant senior partner’s chair at the illustrious Manhattan firm of Nelson & Clark is the most fiercely coveted prize in the profession. Nelson & Clark is so awesome in its influence, so elite in its international prestige that its senior partners are known irreverently as “The Twelve Apostles”. Beautiful Christina Giles wants the vacant Apostle’s chair, and she has the legal prowess and political savvy the position demands. But first she must outwit a ruthless, Eurasian tycoon with a maniacal desire to possess her. He attempts to use her as a pawn in a dangerous corporate takeover which has the potential to destroy the greatest law firm in the world. And even if she can escape from his clutches, Christina must then defeat — and maybe destroy — her lover, brilliant fellow lawyer Dan Spencer, in a hard-core power struggle only one of them can survive… The Twelve Apostles is a gripping legal thriller that explores the corruption and betrayals that surround a rise to power. Praise for The Twelve “Fast-paced … the passions, personal and professional, of $500- an-hour corporation lawyers and the robber barons they serve.” — Publishers Weekly “Big money, big power, sex and suspense.”— Washington Post Book World William J. Coughlin has combined a career as a United States administrative judge in Detroit with that of a best-selling novelist. His previous, highly acclaimed and successful novels are His Father’s Daughter, Her Honor, In the Presence of Enemies and Shadow of a Doubt.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery

400 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

William Jeremiah Coughlin (1929-1992), former defense attorney and judge in Detroit for twenty years, was the author of sixteen novels. He lived in Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan with his wife, Ruth, an author and book critic.

Also wrote under the pseudonym of Sean A. Key.

Reviews

[Beverly Mccollum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this novel. An entertaining look at the intriguing world of high- powered lawyers and millionaire business executives. The hierarchy of a top New York law firm is very interesting. This legal work is populated with vivid characters adept at living in a rarefied world. Definitely recommend it.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

BOTTOM-LINE:
Great business dealings, lousy everything else
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PLOT OR PREMISE:
An elite law firm in NYC has 12 full partners, nicknamed the Apostles, and various members wheel and deal with big business clients as an opening comes available.
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WHAT I LIKED:
The story has a very strong "Wall Street" feel to it, but the back and forth between two companies with their punches and counter-punches are fast-paced and real. Most stories in the genre have one or two "business" tricks, but this is much more complicated and relies less on a single tool to advance the plot. The story mixes experienced apostles, with participating associates gunning for promotion, and even associates and junior partners slogging in the trenches.
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WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
The romance side of the story detracts from the business manouevers, as does the one-dimensional side of one of the business clients and their opposing counsel. In addtion, there is some seriously flawed treatment of a sexual assault that shouldn't be anywhere in the story, it's completely superfluous to the outcome.
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DISCLOSURE:
I received no compensation, not even a free copy, in exchange for this review. I am not personal friends with the author, nor do I follow him on social media.

[Norma BROUSSARD · Rating 5 out of 5]

Twelve apositles

I'm a huge John Gresham fan...read all his books...I could hardly put this book of the 12 Apostles down.
It reminded me of The Brethren... Coughlin kept diversity and intrigue in his story telling. WELL DONE!I looking forward to reading more of his books. Norma Broussard

[Millie]

One of the best books I've ever read exclamation mark

Absolutely stunning. I'm a voracious reader and I will say that I have never in my life woken up at 5 30 in the morning And instead of reading the news I got back to this book. Stunning Character Development. Kept me on the edge of my seat.

[CAROL · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked reading about the hierarchy of the firm. Too bad the newer attorneys have to go to extremes to gets promotion.

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys entering this world of law and and lawyers from a safe distance

[Kamlesh Gandhi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting book. Enjoyed the flow . Author weaves so many characters into this story and they all blend very well in the narrative . The ending was little tame but nevertheless very absorbing plot

[F · Rating 3 out of 5]

So many characters that the following should have been in the front of the book -------
TWELVE APOSTLES (12 main partners) of Nelson & Clark, America’s #1 business law firm, located in Manhattan, New York:

AINSWORTH MARTIN, age 67, managing partner of Nelson & Clark
ABNER SLOCUM, age 69, oldest main partner, once dated Sylvia Winship of the Scarsdale estate
JOHN CRIM, age 68, main partner whose office was in Washington, DC
KATHERINE THURSTON, age 52, only female main partner, handled litigation for entertainment industry, first marriage to a Senator, second marriage to Noel Thurston
FRANK JOHNSON, age 50, main partner who was head of litigation, had been a main partner for about six years, husband of Muriel Johnson
FRANK XAVIER DESMOND, age 67, main partner, head of probate and estate department
ASA CHAMBERLAIN, age 67, main partner, tax department
DAVID PRATT, main partner, international law
BENNET BROWN, main partner, financial law
MORRIS SOLOMON, age 68, main partner, financial law
PHILLIP CRAWFORTH, youngest and newest main partner
SEAFORTH RUSSELL, age 44, main partner with family connections to Russell Oil, considered a dullard

OTHER CHARACTERS:
CHRISTINA STEVENS GILES, age 36, participating partner – head of corporate development division, wife of Dr. Hank Giles, mother of Henry (age 14)
DAN SPENCER, participating partner in litigation department, divorced with one daughter
ANDY PERKINS, participating partner in litigation department, answered to Dan Spencer
BRUNO CHASEN, senior associate in litigation department
JEFFERY ROWE, senior associate in litigation department, son of an international bank vice-president
MICHAEL COLLINS, age 24, beginning associate hired by Ainsworth Martin, Notre Dame law graduate, son of Patrick Collins
EDWARD SIMPSON "TEDDY" EDWARDS, chairman of board of Brown & Brown (international chemical group)
AUGUSTUS “GUS” MURRAY, president of Brown & Brown (international chemical group)
EMERSON BECKER, ruthless "gunslinger" Wall Street lawyer hired to represent Brown & Brown (international chemical group)
JOHN NORMAN SCOTT, chief executive officer of Lockwood Limited
NANCY MERRIAM, age 28, vice-president for program planning – Lockwood Limited
TARO KURAGAMO, Japanese tycoon, son of an English father and a Japanese mother, studied at Oxford in England
PATRICK DOWD, Irish financier, one of the world's richest men

[James Georger · Rating 3 out of 5]

I suppose it is a matter of taste: a) she rose and addressed the court. b) She rose on long, muscular, yet supple legs, and fixed her emerald green eyes upon the court. ( my words, my example).
I can't decide which is worshipped more in this book, physical beauty, or the rarefied atmosphere of a top law firm. It got to be a little much.
When lawyers compete to fill an "apostle" vacancy, those not chosen must leave the firm! What a stupid idea.....will there be a "next" opening? The front runners for that are all gone. This is just an example of how the story struck me as over-hyped, for the sake of conjured drama.

[Harry Katz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it. Unputdownable. Not too sure about some of the detail. If anti-trust is so string in the US how come Zuckerberg has got away with all his takeovers? But if you enjoy a good novel about legal & business this is for you. I was pleased to notice that the author, like me, is a devoted 'leg man'!

[Kim Alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pleasant read

Decent story with well developed characters. Not the best novel written but kept me fairly entertained. The last 50 pages were gripping, the end was a trifle disappointing, if not predictable. All in all, I enjoyed the read.

[Donna Whitley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Page turner

I usually don't prefer long books, this book was intriguing, and characters were real. The writing in this book was superb and I am looking to read Mr. Williams next book.

[Marci Kimball · Rating 4 out of 5]

A whole different world!!?

Wow!! Talk about power & money!!! I was blown away by this story. Both appalled & invigorated by the good - & rauuncy sides of law at its ion faced, tell-all best & worst!!! Very enlightening!!!!🤔

[David Berkley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Slow starting book

Plot took awhile to pan out. Didn't really get going until the last few chapters. Would read another of his books.

[Chick Marks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading a book written in 1984 in 2018 is trip in the way-back machine. A whole different perspective on stereotypes and feminism from what would be considered appropriate today.

[Cathi Cantrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intricate law novel with oh-so-many characters... page turner to-be-sure! Strong similarity, in my mind, of the 1980's hit TV series, L.A. Law. Cursing made me want to rate it 3-1/2 stars though.

[Leon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

[RHONDA · Rating 4 out of 5]

A long read. I hurried at the end to get done. Way too technical in lawyer talk for me.

[Don Paske · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is entirely too long. The character development is so-so. The law firm is implausible. 2 1/2 stars, rounded up.

[Aravind · Rating 3 out of 5]

If Arthur Hailey had written about the world of corporate law, the result would have been like this one, more or less. It details the inner workings of a top notch corporate law firm, through a few days in the lives of its partners and associates. The story is engaging for the most part, with a few solid characters and some fast legal action.
But, there was too much legal technicalities towards the end, and some unconvincing characters, which made me enjoy it less than I would have liked.

[Stanley Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read

For the better part of the story it was a great read. The ending was weak. I enjoyed it otherwise

[Barbara Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great legal story

There were a lot of characters, but each one was very interesting. This book keeps you reading right up until the end.

[Isabel Luna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recuerdo que esta novela me causó una muy impresión. Hay muchos personajes pero en líneas generales todo gira en torno a Dan y Christina, dos abogados de una importante firma de Nueva York q se encuentran en pugna por un sitio entre "Los 12 Apóstoles", como son conocidos los socios de la firma donde trabajan. Ambos son brillantes profesionales y defienden sus casos con uñas y dientes porque solo uno de ellos llegará a la meta. Solo q en el camino, ambos descubren q están perdidamente enamorados y eso los pone en la disyuntiva de tener q elegir entre su carrera profesional o el q podría ser el gran amor de su vida.
El autor es definitivamente de quien Grisham tomó ejemplo al novelar pleitos jurídicos. La novela es muy buena. Sin pretensiones. Existe un suspenso sutil en toda la novela y los personajes son sobre todo realistas. El toque de romance no falta y el final me encantó.
Para mi: Excelente.

[Edward Weiss · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have come to this author late, after he had died in fact. It was a good thing I didn't come on this one when he first wrote it or before I came on to his Death Penalty, one of his Charley Sloan series, else I would have never had read anything he had written.

This one isn't to be recommended for a few reasons: (1) It's about a whole bunch or rich and powerful people and their intrigues, people and actions I care nothing about; (2) Even the non-rich and not quite powerful wooden characters are people I wouldn't want to meet; (3) the so-called good guys won and everybody except the two really slovenly SOBs had a happy ending, even some of the not-so-SOBs; (4) it demonstrates all of the reasons my protagonist (see Hammering Nails Can Be Murder) doesn't practice.

Don't waste your time.

[Robert Beveridge · Rating 1 out of 5]

William J. Coughlin, The Twelve Apostles (Putnam, 1984)

It didn't take long to see that this one was going to my feeding my nearly-starved dustbunnies. The characters were completely wooden and presented in confusing fashion, too many plot threads were thrown at the reader all at once, and Coughlin gives his readers just one too many stereotypes by the time you get to the end of chapter three. With a bit more organization and some depth of character, this might have been a worthwhile book. As it stands, it's a morass of mediocrity in the highest degree. (zero)

[elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Book

love the thrill at the court hearings and the pressure of filing and trying to get all motions filled. For those who like the legal thrillers this is one you will want to read.

[Heidi Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this good old-fashioned courtroom drama. I still like this genre although it seems like nobody is writing them anymore.

[Cynthia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hated this book

[Ian]

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[lenora crenshaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Attorney Book

Very exciting attorney novel with some difficult life and family issues of the kind that are often found in the careers of many professionals.

[John P. Finerty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another Great Read.

Different than his other books,Coughlin brings together a cast of characters in a fast moving legal thriller. Exceptional read! One of his best!