Justis by Nicole Stuart

Book Title:  Justis by Nicole Stuart

ISBN  978-1-920659-11-0

Part of Series:  No

Author:  Nicole Stuart 

Available at:  Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Apple, Diesel, Baker-Taylor, Sony  Amazon US Amazon UK

Price:  $4.99

Number of words (approximately):  54 114

Star Rating (of five):  4

Summary:  A businessman is ripped off, first by a customer and then by the Court.  He concludes that the justice system is designed to be abused by lawyers and wealthy litigants, and sets about creating his own system of dispensing the sort of justice that people really need. 

Extract: 

- Jeff arrived in Miami on Friday night and booked into an hotel near the jogging route that the target used.  He was up early the next morning, dressed in his jogging outfit, with a small backpack containing a couple of energy bars and a bottle containing a few drops of the chemical that Swanson had given him yesterday.  There was also an absorbent cloth for wiping up the residue of the chemical, backed by a plastic coating and moistened with a liquid that would neutralize the chemical on contact.  He jogged along the route until he found a convenient bench, where he sat down to wait.  The target arrived a few minutes later, jogging along with no real sincerity, watching the pretty girls on the beach.  Jeff stood and then started jogging in the same direction, more slowly, so that the man came up behind him and then moved out to pass near to him before he’d run a couple of hundred yards.  As he did so, Jeff held the plastic bottle over his shoulder and squeezed.  A nearly invisible spray came from the bottle.

The result was dramatic.  The man ran on a couple of paces, then crashed to the ground, a look of agony on his face.  Jeff stopped running and turned around at the sound of the man falling.  He stepped quickly to the man’s side and knelt down.  He saw that the man was sweating heavily.  He quickly opened his backpack, put the squeeze bottle into it and withdrew the special cloth.  He used it to wipe the man’s face and neck.

As he watched, the man stopped breathing.  Jeff turned to one of the people standing irresolutely nearby.

“I think he’s had a heart attack!  Quick!  Call 911.”  He bent over and listened to the man’s heart.  There was no sound.  Jeff quickly wiped the man’s face and exposed skin again, then bent over to listen to his heart again.  There was no change.  He stood up, holding the cloth in one hand and his backpack in the other, and looked around.  He saw no-one with a cellphone, so he looked inside his backpack and pulled out the cellphone he had bought on the street yesterday.  He moved away from the group a little and made to dial 911, then put the phone to his ear and, after waiting a few seconds, spoke.

“This is a medical emergency.  A man was running, and he collapsed on the street.  I think he’s had a heart attack.  I can’t pick up any heartbeat!”  He gave the address, moving away from the crowd a little, supposedly to read the street names.  When he closed off the fake call, he looked around, saw no-one was looking at him.  He mopped his forehead with a fresh handkerchief from his backpack, and moved slowly away, looking anxiously down the street, as though for the ambulance.  After a few minutes, he was far enough from the crowd hovering around the body on the street to be able to walk away without anyone noticing.  He was back at his hotel after a few minutes, and he went inside to shower and change to street clothes.  He stayed in his room until ten, then checked out and went to the airport.

*~*

By Monday, Ken was able to confirm that the wife was satisfied, and would make payment as soon as the estate of her late husband had been cleared.  She expected that within three months, but the first payment would be made from the proceeds of a life insurance policy, that, she expected, would be paid out within a couple of weeks.

 

Reviewer’s Comments:

Structure:  The book complies with the formatting requirements for easy eBook reading.  The language (American English) is good and correctly structured.

Content:  This book sets out a belief that is not uncommon amongst non-legal people, many of whom do not believe that the law and the legal system complies with common sense or their concept of justice.  In this case the aggrieved businessman does something about it.

Reviewer’s Comments:  The story is credible, the underlying situation not all that uncommon, and the solution complies with what many people would like to see.  The story flows freely, taking the reader with it to the conclusion, and giving a sense of satisfaction, coupled with a niggling question:  Why not?