Paul Batista

Trust no one except Raquel Rematti.
“Accusation” by Paul Batista is ripped from the headlines and filled with true-to-life sensationalism and perceived notions of social issues. This account is from a different point of view, and while it might take a while to settle into this alternate account, as the drama evolves, every side becomes compelling. Public shaming and scorn envelop characters like a journalistic “Covid-19” plague.
When Aaron Julian reaches for the cell phone, he knows that nothing good ever comes from a call at two in the morning. He is correct; his life will never be the same. Six women have claimed that he inappropriately used his power and influence to promote their careers, hinder them, or ruin them.
Raquel Rematti is a criminal lawyer; she has a new client, and Aaron Julian will need all her cleverness and expertise. He has been accused of terrible things, but Rematti knows that accusations are easy to make, but not always the truth. If accusations were always true, there would be no need for judges, courtrooms, or juries. Evidence is what is needed, but what Rematti finds is apparent evidence, contradictory evidence, and manipulated evidence.
“Accusation” presents the “flip side” of the #MeToo movement. The story looks at both sides of a complex issue. Half-truths, conflicting narratives, and diverse personalities muddy the waters. I received a review copy of “Accusation” from Paul Batista and Oceanview Publishing. Things take dramatic and unexpected turns, and when it is over, it is really not.
“Accusation” is now available in print, as an e-book, and on audio from independent bookstores, online booksellers, retail stores, public libraries, and anywhere you get your books.
#BookReview # Accusations #PaulBatista #RaquelRemattiLegalThriller #MeTooFlip… (plus d'informations)

How far they will go to get what they want?

“The Warriors” is a legal thriller filled with deception, danger, and dead bodies. Raquel Rematti is one of the best criminal defense attorneys in the country. She has one job; always no matter the client, her job is to get an acquittal, not a mistrial, and certainly not a conviction. This time her client is Angelina Baldesteri, the widow of an assassinated President and a sitting United States Senator who expects to run for president herself. Rematti has developed a dislike for her client, and the client dislikes her just as much. The narrative contains extensive background on the characters, their goals, foibles, and pasts, both secret and public, so readers know that none are who they appear to be on the surface and most are skilled liars. It is hard to tell who is a good guy and who is decidedly bad.

Batista delivers the tension and drama of the high-stakes trial with proceedings that are full of deceit, impropriety, and constant maneuvering for advantage. An omnipotent narrator tantalizes readers with hints at things to come, for example “Those were the last words they ever spoke to each other.” There are accusations of fund-raising fraud, theft of campaign contributions, money laundering, and political impropriety. Even lies seem to have a modicum of truth. People from a prior case add complications that lead to even more questions and difficulties.

“The Warriors” is filled with complex characters; the action is non-stop, and the ending is unexpected. It shows the power of delusion, the cost of betrayal, and the price of obsession. I received a review copy of “The Warriors” from Paul Batista, Oceanview Publishing, and Independent Publishers Group.

This is high-stakes politics, and these are professional warriors; their victims might just be justice and truth.… (plus d'informations)

This though-provoking thriller brings us to New York City on a beautiful Sunday afternoon to celebrate Roland Fortune’s birthday, the guest of honor and the mayor of the city. Then suddenly multiple explosions rock the entire building….many are killed or terribly injured….Manhattan is placed on lockdown…

This fast moving plot not only provides entertainment but will also make us think….could a terrorist attack happen again…The plot brings us literally into a battle in the streets of Manhattan as well-known buildings are blown apart by terrorists. The story gets straight into the action in the first pages and moves along at a steady pace with never ending twists and turns all the way through. The descriptions are so vivid it is easy to become part of the horrible scenes of carnage. In this provocative tale there is so much tension and turmoil all through no wonder I was kept on the edge of my seat and hanging on…:) The story’s unpredictability is particularly well-done, no way can we forecast how it will evolve, how it will end and who is really responsible for the bombings. The driven force is the many well-developed and complex characters that populate the pages. We work our way through the story following the Mayor, the Police Commissioner, the NYPD, the president of the United States, a doctor and panoply of smaller players.

This thriller is without any doubt a suspenseful look at a plausible scenario.

I received this ARC from the publisher Oceanview Publishing via Edelweiss for an honest and unbiased review.… (plus d'informations)

What would it be like for an American lawyer to have the job of defending an accused enemy of the state in a dictatorial country? It would be much like fictional Byron Carlos Johnson’s undertaking in Paul Batista’s Extraordinary Rendition, except Johnson was working in the United States of America. Post 9/11, there were many changes in the legal system in response to concerns for national security, including establishing a new category of “enemy combatants,” whose rights are extremely limited. Batista’s novel takes this factual state of affairs somewhat further.

Byron Johnson is a successful partner in a large New York law firm. He has been asked to represent Ali Hussein, a suspected Al Qaeda money manager. Hussein has been the subject of “extraordinary rendition,” the practice of sending prisoners to countries that allow torture of those prisoners. Hussein was held and routinely beaten for several years in various countries, but has not been charged with a crime, and has not been allowed to see any visitors. The U.S. government has finally decided to bring Hussein back to the US. for trial. Johnson accepts the case on a pro bono (without charge) basis. The government allows Johnson to speak to Hussein, but only for very brief meetings.

Johnson is not even told what the charges are against Hussein. The government insists that Johnson should just get Hussein to confess, because the need for “national security” overrides any democratic principles relating to the rights of the accused. But Johnson wonders:

"…did the Constitution give Ali Hussein as a foreign national arrested overseas the right to a speedy trial, to effective representation by a lawyer, to a freedom from cruel and unusual punishment and to other constitutional guarantees?”

It’s a reasonable question, but the answer is fairly clear: No.

Johnson’s work on behalf of Hussein begins to take so much time (on a non-paying) basis that for this and a few other reasons his partners expel him from the firm. Nevertheless, he soldiers bravely on with the assistance of Christina Rosario, a beautiful Columbia law student who had worked for his firm as a clerk the previous summer. Johnson’s burden is greatly increased because, not only is he not given a copy of the indictment, he is also denied access to the government’s evidence due to “national security” concerns.

[The state secrets privilege is a common-law evidentiary rule that permits the government “to block discovery in a lawsuit of any information that, if disclosed, would adversely affect national security.” (Ellsberg v. Mitchell, 709 F.2d 51, 56 (D.C. Cir. 1983) The Department of Justice (DOJ) under George W. Bush radically expanded the use of the state secrets privilege, transforming the privilege, according to critics, into an alternative form of immunity that shielded the government and its agents from accountability for systemic violations of the law.]

Johnson enlists the aid of Simeon (“Sy”) Black, a free lance reporter closely modeled on Seymour Hersch. Through Black’s contacts, one of whom is a very competent private detective, Johnson learns a great deal about some shadowy (presumably CIA and Department of Homeland Security) thugs who are dictating case strategy and management to the government’s lawyers.

All of the people helping Hussein come into danger themselves, as the tension ratchets up for a riveting conclusion.

Evaluation: In brief, the legal portions were well done, the caricatured bad guys unnecessary, and the "romantic" scenes should have been omitted, or at least, rewritten.… (plus d'informations)