Dragons and Garden Peas

An architect fights for life, liberty and prime oceanfront real estate in this zesty courtroom drama. After separating from his wife Jessica, tony New York architect Max Green buys a Porsche and dates a stewardess, but finds his midlife crisis giving way to a potential end-of-life crisis when he's diagnosed with lung cancer. A more reflective man might seize the moment to simplify and take stock, but Max just sees another opportunity to keep on course. So, while he's weighing the benefits of surgery versus chemo, he throws himself into building his dream house on a Shelter Island beach, becoming embroiled in a regulatory battle with his neighbor, the mayor, who doesn't want his view spoiled by Max's development. To complicate things, he's having an affair with the mayor's sculptress/theoretical physicist/kickboxing aficionado daughter. In another twist, Max reconciles with Jessica and takes her on a sailing trip; when she's knocked overboard and drowned, Max faces a murder rap. Jacoby (Georgia Peach, 2000) uses these proliferating crises to create an engrossing procedural in every discipline from oncology to landscaping. (The courtroom scenes, easily stolen by Max's feisty, whip-smart lawyer, are especially riveting.) The author also illuminates the social world of well-heeled professionals like Max-as the protagonist gathers his entourage of doctors, attorneys, forensics specialists, environmental consultants and contractors, the book seemingly centers on the way expensive professionals require a team of other expensive professionals to enable them to lead their elaborate lives. Fortunately, Max is a compelling figure. He's exasperating-duplicitous, conniving, self-absorbed and oblivious to the trainwrecks he's steering himself into-but very much alive and driven by lust, even with a likely death sentence hanging over him. A page-turner with a hero readers can't help but root for.-Kirkus Discoveries