A Minor Fall

This contemporary novel reworks a story from the Old Testament. Its protagonist, Davy Jessie, is a junior attorney at a prestigious Houston firm in 2005, handling personal injury lawsuits. Many of the cases he takes on are close to hopeless, but he also supports Tim Sullivan, a senior partner whose flashy style, quotable wit, and long record of courtroom wins have brought him considerable wealth. Davy idolizes Sullivan and tries to copy both his professional polish and his personal conduct.

After an unlikely courtroom victory, Davy is handed the lead on a major matter for the firm: representing landowners in eastern Kentucky whose soil and water have been poisoned by oil field operations. On that trip he and Beth Sheehan, a contract lawyer assisting with document review, begin a short affair. When Davy returns home, he learns his wife Michelle is expecting. The betrayal and the pressure of the case push him into a deep depression and a state of emotional paralysis.

As he sinks into this moral crisis, Davy wrestles with large questions: what law is for, why literature matters, whether God exists, and what gives life meaning beyond whiskey and wine. He weighs the possibility of losing his marriage, leaving the firm, and walking away from the legal profession altogether.