A Trial of One: The Third in the Osgoode Trilogy [Paperback]

A Trial Of One
Author: Mary E. Martin

Alzheimer's is a death sentence and although there have been many clinical trials and research to find the true cause of the disease and a cure non-has been found. When someone is diagnosed with this illness it just a matter of time before their mind deteriorates their thoughts become like scrambled eggs so tangled and jumbled they no longer make sense or can communicate properly. I know this because I witnessed it first hand with my mom. There are no treatments and the drugs that are on the market do nothing to slow it down or restore memory. Harry Jenkins is back and he is trying to find those elusive Elixicorp shares that so many have already died for trying to locate and claim them. Claiming that research was being done to restore memory loss and that a drug had been created Archie Brinks, George Pappas, Arthur Dinnick and his wife Norma formed an unholy alliance of fraud. Added into the mix was Norma's boyfriend David also deceased. So many after one thing and yet there was no drug and no real research being done but somehow investors did not know this and over thirty million dollars is hidden somewhere and there are still several people that will stop at nothing to get what has been hidden for so many years.

Dr. Robert Hawke is quite dangerous and wants the money set-aside for his own purposes. He is quite crazy and claims to have a cure for the disease. Claiming he has a drug that will not only cure the disease but also restore brain cells on those who are far-gone, he enlists the help of another doctor, his hospital and facilities for medical research. But, the danger has just begun as this mad doctor is after Norma and wants to find out what she knows. Hiring someone to locate her and find where she is this man hopes to rid the world of Norma but not before finding out where she hid the shares.

Norma is very much alive and in a state of the art mental institution lucid one minute and out to pasture the next. But, which is it? Is she faking and just wants to be there to be safe from harm or is she really nuts? Let's not forget Stanley Jenkins, Harry's father who had a stroke, surgery and is also in a facility but not receiving the care that he should be. When we meet him at the home we learn of the abuses inflicted, the bruises on his body and the denial of a simple thing like water to this man because the staff could care less. This is why nursing homes need to be monitored more carefully and this is why I fought to keep my mom home with the best care possible. Not all homes are the same but this one described in this novel is true to form to the ones I visited just to let myself know, which I did anyway, that my family's decision was right.

Harry is not out of the woods yet as he tells Ms. Giveny that he needs to go out of town to find the shares, leaves his father, hopes to get Natasha, his true love to come along and is almost run off the road on and finds himself at Natasha's shaken up but not welcome. Meeting her friend Sheila enlightens the reader to Natasha's often strained and cold behavior towards Harry. Harry realizes something is wrong but has not figured out what. All Natasha wants is to love two people even though both want a commitment of some type from her.

Harry enters the King Edward Hotel to meet Dr. Robert Hawke. The encounter would be one he will never forget. After the perfunctory greetings Hawke begins with an inquiry about Harry's father and his health. Harry relates some of the facts as Hawke cleverly picks up the fact that his father has Alzheimer's and is often not lucid. Added to the conversation is the fact that Stanley can become violent and his behavior erratic. Claiming that the missing funds were earmarked for research for medical research to find a cure for Alzheimer's Hawke becomes incensed when Harry states Norma wants the money for herself. The banter continues and Hawke recounts that the money was raised by a conglomerate with the sole responsibility of using it for medical research claiming that Norma is begin selfish and is standing in the way of a major breakthrough for Alzheimer's patients. Harry brings the ball back in his corner when he questions the kind of research and wants to know more about the clinical trials. As Hawke explains that he hopes to create a drug that would reverse the affects of the disease Harry listens but does not agree to what he suggests but will discuss it with Norma. Wouldn't it be great if a cure could be found? Reminders of his father flash in his mind and Harry remembers the mood swings and the changes he sees when he does visit him but he pushes these thoughts to the corner of his mind. Hawke rambles on and describes the inner workings of the brain as if mesmerized with his own thoughts and enamored with himself. Stating the late George Pappas raised the money to save minds, Norma has not right to stand in the way. But, Hawke's behavior and conversation become strange as he pretends to make advances towards Harry causing a definite uneasy feeling and starts ranting about being colorblind and the lack of seeing colors clearly as a way to try and make him plead his case to Norma and win. But, what is really behind this madman and what is the real trial of one he has planned for Harry? Why is his assistant Mrs. Deal going along with him when she must know he is mad? Then we learn more about Ms. Giveny and her sister's problem and we move to Dorothy Crawford who takes front and center for a major breakthrough in the plot that will enlighten the reader as to what caused her husband Richard's death and the link to a person referred to as Q. A series of dated notes in Richard's handwriting are shared with the reader as a short timeline that leads up to his death. Recounting how he got sick every time he had dinner with Q should have alerted him to seek more than just one doctor's opinion and possibly the police too. But, Dorothy realizes that to learn the truth she needs Harry but not before uncovering another deep dark secret that would change her life forever and her feelings for her late husband as notes from a woman named MD reveal a child named Susannah.

Harry attends the medical professional's meeting and becomes enthralled with the entire event as Hawke introduces his miracle drug but not before one of the researchers states in public that the drug and his findings indicate no further study. But, the board members met without him and decided to fund the research as Hawke brings in a man named Andrew Jefferson who supposedly has Parkinson's and Alzheimer's and miraculously for a short time becomes lucid and able to address the assembly within ten minutes of being injected with a drug called Emerituus. Is this for real or a placebo and is the man named Dr. Jefferson a shill to make everyone believe he really has the cure? Is Hawke a savior or a madman who just wants power and money? Why does the board acquiesce to him and why did they tell one doctor named Hearn that the meeting was postponed? Why did they overrule his findings?

Hidden secrets, betrayals, truths and lies come out as the author reveals the reasons for Natasha's battle with her feelings, the hidden truth behind the funds and who really has the right to them if anyone, Hawke's real intentions and the revenge one man takes to get what he wants at all costs. Added in once again is Dorothy's claim that Richard was murdered and the startling information she uncovers that might bear looking in to. Sabotage, blind approval for one lunatic and lives hang in the balance just how will this play out?

Harry is victimized by Richard and Mrs. Deal in a clever and subtle way that leads the reader to believe he might not be aware of just how dangerous this man is and what he is capable of doing. Norma is another casualty of this plot and just what is this Trial of One that Richard has in store for Harry? When all of the pieces of the puzzle finally fit together just who will be left alive and who will suffer at the hand of a madman? Will Harry find the money and is Norma really insane? Who is the real mastermind behind Richard's death and what is Hawke's Trial of One for Harry? Just how many lives will be lost in order to find the cure and cause for this deadly disease? Of course if memory serves me right and mine does: I can't tell you the answer to that question and it's not because I forgot or cannot remember but because you need to read the entire trilogy for yourself.

One blockbuster trilogy with one unexpected ending that you will never see coming. Once again author Mary E. Martin keeps the reader glued to every hotel room, plane ride and bank Harry visits until the dramatic conclusion. Harry Jenkins: you have found your middle ground.

Let's give this one: Five Gold Stars

Just when Harry believes that he can take a breath and slow down, he's in for the biggest ride of his life. He continues to visit Norma at the institution, determined to help find the missing shares to Elixicorp for her, understanding that they're worth approximately thirty-million dollars. And just when he thought he had no worries, as all the men who've threatened him and Norma are no longer in the picture, in comes `Dr.' Robert Hawke.

Hawke wants the share and the money for his own purposes. He believes with the money, he can actually produce a cure for Alzheimer's. And while one company is testing on Alzheimer's patients, Hawke has been creating an ultimate sin; using perfectly healthy `victims' and destroying their psyche by trying to induce Alzheimer's. What's scarier: Hawke actually believes that he's doing no wrong.

Hawke believes he and Harry should combine forces and track downt he shares together, with an agreement that the matter would be brought before the courts as to determine the monies' rightful owner. But Harry doesn't trust him and slips from Hawke's grasp, first heading to Venice, Italy. Once there, it is determined that he needs to head to London, England for another piece of the puzzle before returning to Venice for the prize - for the thirty million has turned into fifty million. Question is, can Harry find the money before Hawke kills him?

Meanwhile, Dorothy Crawford, wife of Harry's late partner, Richard, has found Richard's diaries. Convinced that he'd been poisoned to death. He began to get sick and it became worse every time he ate at Q's, whom Dorothy presumes was one of many of Richard's lovers. Even though angry at Richard for his treatment toward her as his wife, Dorothy is determined to find Richard's murderer and bring that person to justice.

And just to complicate things, Harry's father's psyche is slipping away more and more, and it hurts Harry. Just when he'd forgiven him and they started talking, Harry is now worried that he'll lose his father all too soon. And then there's the lovely Natasha. They've been seeing each other for just over a year, and Harry's ready to have Natasha move in with him. But Natasha believes they're moving too fast; when in truth, Natasha is torn between two people: Harry, and Sheila...

Oh, was this the perfect ending to Ms. Martin's trilogy! An incredible blend of extraordinary characters, an intricate plot with lies, half-truths and deceit, Harry literally has to watch his back at every turn. You're swept into his world and feel deeply for him. From Toronto to Venice to London, each scene is vividly described so that you can really picture it in your mind as you're reading. Scenes with Harry's father and Norma will hit closet to home for readers with family and friends who suffer from Alzheimers and dementia.

It was very easy for this author to lose herself in Martin's profound and challenging story and highly recommend it. Filled with chills and suspense, intense characters and romance, and a great quest, this book is unputdownable - I dare you to read it. I know you'll have a hard time putting it down, too!

As the sequence of events which are the final work of the Osgood trilogy, A Trial of One, opens; Norma Dinnick, Harry Jenkins' elderly client has committed no actual offense. She HAD embroidered the accounts of homicidal retribution in a singsong voice as her doctors rubbed their jaws to cover up their grins. Their opinion was psychotic dementia with a little Alzheimer's added to the mix. Norma was psychologically inept.

Harry was accordingly assigned as her legal guardian by the courts, whereupon he found her housings in a well-appointed mental hospital and set about trying to trace missing stock for the Elixicorp Enterprises which had been secreted by her late husband.

Initially marketed to elevate money for medical research into recollection loss too often found in the aged; the shares oddly enough had gone missing, and no one remembered just where they might be. Norma was quite adamant that she and she alone had any real claim regarding the stock which were said to be worth upwards of 30 million. Three men who also coveted the money were deceased, Norma had alleged that she had assassinated them. Dead also was her husband Arthur. George Pappas and his underworld connections, Archie Brinks and David Parrish, all dead. Even Harry's law partner was dead.

Harry realized Norma's madness was something she was well able to turn off and on pretty much at will.

A Dr Robert Hawke searching for the cause of Alzheimer's wanted to find Norma, as did his associate Veronica Deal. And, her brother Garth. A lot of people were looking for Norma and all that money. The search was to take Harry to Europe where Hawke's extreme anxiety led to Harry being ruthlessly beaten. Only rescue by the quick thinking desk clerk at his hotel saved Harry from potential death. Later Harry returned the good deed when the clerk too was savagely assaulted for refusing to give away where Harry was.

Sale of Norma's Georgian six-plex, a female named Natasha, an asphyxiated cat, and the suicide of Harry's law school roommate, a crow in a workplace, Europe, London, Venice, peril and a anonymous woman known as Q, fabrication and treachery, torment, and blood lust and obsession, covert lines of investigation, demise of a mischief maker bent on dreadfulness, and a slayer unmasked.

Writer Martin, no relative to this reviewer, is a skilled writer who has on the pages of A Trial of One fashioned a medley of stimulating players overflowing with more persona and angst than most. Locales are well detailed serving to draw the reader into the sequence of events and grasp reader concentration fast.

Discourse is at times coarse, unrefined and astringent. The plot is a gripping, reader captivating set of circumstances. Villains are properly iniquitous, Harry is dense and clever by turns as he tries to disentangle the vagueness and treachery found in his client, the deaths of his late partner along with the scoundrels determined to latch onto all that money to be had from the shares of stock, moreover the conclusion of the trilogy is gratifying.

Not for everyone, A Trial of One does have some profanity and reference to sex will put off readers easily shocked. Others will enjoy the work, and if they have not yet read the first two of the trilogy will be determined to track them down for reading. Enjoyed the read, happy to recommend.

Molly Martin
Reviewer