Trial by Ordeal

by Craig Parshall

Book Overview

Sweating in a hot cauldron of lawsuits, red tape, and Mafiathreats is history professor Kevin Hastings. The young, modestly successful professor stumbled acrossjust the right investment property in... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0736915133
• ISBN13: 9780736915137
• Release Date: May 2006
• Publisher: Harvest House Publishers
• Length: 330 Pages
• Weight: 0.72 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

The story of an ordinary man caught between extraordinarily ruthless enemies

A truly riveting read from beginning to end, Trial By Ordeal is the story of an ordinary man caught between extraordinarily ruthless enemies - and equally ruthless lawyers! When Kevin discovers a piece of property with an old church building in downtown Chicago, his investment turns into a millstone around his neck when he learns that he has signed a contract with the Mob - a contract he can't deliver on. The woman he loves most is an architectural preservationist, and perhaps worst of all, the lawyer he hires to sort things out is a brutal engineer of dirty tricks, legal intimidation, and worse, all at a horrendously expensive price tag. Forced to run for his life, Kevin seeks shelter at a rescue mission, and questions whether there is Someone who can bring justice into the mess surrounding him. An exciting novel that reflects the author's Christian faith and his thirty-four years of experience as a lawyer, Trial By Ordeal compels the reader to the very last page.

WHEN YOU START THIS BOOK - FORGET EVERYTHING ELSE!

Are you looking for a good legal thriller by a Christian author so you should not have to be as leary of what the content would be? If so, this is a good, "can't- put-down-until-you-finish" book. The author, Craig Parshall, is a highly successful lawyer from the Washington D.C. area, who specializes in civil liberty and constitutional rights cases. He is considered a man with conservative values in mainstream and Christian media. Knowing this, I dived into this book, and read it in a few days, reading late into the evenings. The story is of a normal, everyday young college professor, who decides to invest in some real-estate. In trying to make a quick buck, he finds himself in quite a web. The story quickly intensifies as this real estate investment begins to unravel its involvement with the Mafia and high powered attorneys, leading to losing his job, attacks on himself, becoming penniless, and through this being introduced to God. There is also a sweet love story that evolves. Having been a legal secretary in my younger days, I enjoyed reading this, and found much of it to be realistic (though the attorneys I worked for never were involved with the Mafia!!). It is not filled with too much legal jargon so that it is easy to understand and just keep flipping those pages! The outrageous fees that are charged and dealing with a variety of attorneys were quite true. The author has a way of captivating his readers greatly. I will be looking for more books by this author.

A big time page turner

I found it hard to put this book down once I picked it up. The story flows nicely and while leaving you some breathing room, it never gets boring or too slow. The characters are very well developed and you actually feel yourself being drawn in to Kevin Hastings world. Normally it would take me at least a week and a half to read a book this size but I finished this one in 2 days. I will definitely be getting more of Craig's books and I highly recommend this one.

You'll Love This Thriller

Book Review: Trial By Ordeal By Mike Landfair Trial By Ordeal by Craig Parshall, Harvest House Publishers - Paperback [...], 330 pages I received this book free from Active Christian Media on Thursday and finished the book Friday. I could not put it down. If you like thrillers, by Grisham, James Patterson, Michael Connelly and Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, you will love this book. To quote the back cover: "Pursuing a good real-estate investment, the professor (Kevin Hastings) stumbles onto a prime chunk of property in downtown Chicago. It just has an old church building to be cleared away. But the dream deal turns into an ordeal when Kevin discovers he's signed a contract with the mob - one he can't deliver on." Kevin's story is told from his viewpoint. He is a naive, definitely not street smart, kind of an ivory tower history professor, who is spiritually lost. When things get real tough for him he tries to rely on himself, then on lawyers, but discovers he is repelled by his lawyers morals, but doesn't know why. He meets people, "Christ-ers", Born Agains, who invoke the Lord's name and that feels uncomfortable to him. It is like hearing too much information. As a History professor, Kevin lectures on some interesting ways Medieval men could prove their innocence. You would grasp a red hot poker, walk 9 yards, your blistered hand would be bandaged, and three days later you would be examined. If, your hand was healed, you were innocent. Trial By Ordeal is Kevin's story of his ordeal to prove his innocence. Regarding "Born Agains", in the book a Rabbi questions Jesus about this need to be born again to see The Kingdom of God. "How can a man be born when he is old? ...Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb? But Jesus was talking about something else, something that whispers to us, blows past us like a winsome breeze, from beyond the observable, ..."Flesh gives birth to flesh," Jesus said, "but the Spirit gives birth to spirit."" And for Kevin, finding a way through the ordeal starts with his spirit, inside, and determines his actions and comforts him. Another passage spoke of the Mission where Kevin sought help, as peopled by "Men who wandered the streets of Chicago wearing clothes indelibly discolored with grime - men with faces that showed almost completely on the outside all the broken stuff on the inside." Not just the hard life on their faces, but their broken stuff. A feeling to me that says if you change the inside, the outside will change. Parshall wrote the mobster particularly well. I could see Tony Soprano in every scene, even the way Tony moves his head, all without using profanity. Trial By Ordeal ranks up there with The Gold Coast by Nelson DeMille. Both books explore what it's like to have a mobster take an interest in you? Five out of Five stare for me! Mover Mike {...]

Excellent Book and a Fun Read

Attorney Craig Parshall has written another fast moving, fantastic legal thriller reminiscent of his first novel The Resurrection File. In his own unique style, Parshall exquisitely weaves his knowledge of the law, history and literature into a wonderful adventure of a guy who has lost his love, and is trying to get over a broken heart. To distract himself from his personal heartache, Kevin Hastings, the protagonist , finds himself in a financial real estate fiasco, after taking the advice of a friend, concerning how to get rich quick. As a result, atrocious legal troubles unravel and the reader is taken on a journey through the seedy side of law, mobsters and academic politics. Parshall skillfully weaves in a new charming love interest, spiritual themes and moral lawyers offering the reader hope and a lesson in determining innocence or guilt, know as "trial by ordeal" all the while offering humor, and poignant truths about character and conversion.