Barry Freeman has 3 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 2 narrators. The most-rated is A Tale of Two Lawyers.
The Wanted
Summary
The Wanted, Barry Freeman's new novel, is a suspenseful thriller for thoughtful fans of literary fiction. The book features respected lawyer Benjamin Diamond, who is pushing 70 and retiring after many successful years as the head of an esteemed Chicago law firm. He lives with his wife Elizabeth and their two golden retrievers in their Highland Park, Illinois, steel and glass dream house on a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan. One Sunday, mid-August morning, Ben and Liz take their dogs for a romp on the beach below their house. The dogs come upon an apparent pile of rags, which turns out to be an obliterated corpse. A tailor's name tag, too, easily enables the police to identify the otherwise unidentifiable body as an international fugitive known as James Terry. Terry is the missing one of three defendants in a criminal case Diamond is defending - his final trial before retirement. James Terry (aka Sharky) is a sinister gambler and killer, an escapee from a Baghdad jail, wanted by the Baghdad authorities, the FBI, Interpol, the Las Vegas mob, and a wife left destitute and pregnant. Sharky's life has been fatefully entangled with the Diamonds' lives, conceivably as a result of his own free will, the inevitability of determinism, divine intervention, or a combination thereof (listener's choice), perhaps from the beginning of the universe through the thrilling conclusion of the book. The body on the beach launches the story of Sharky's intriguing odyssey: from his Atlantic City beginnings and maturity into life as a gambler; his troubles in Las Vegas; escape to Baghdad and then to Istanbul; back to Chicago; to Costa Rica; and finally back to the Diamond’s beach. Add to the mix Taahira, his beautiful Egyptian mistress, and the appearance of Cathy, the talented 19-year-old daughter he’d never seen - and the plot thickens. The author retired as a trial lawyer in 2007, after just about 50 years of practice in Chicago. This is his sixth published work and third novel.
©2016 Barry J. Freeman (P)2020 Barry J. Freeman
Ahmed's List
Summary
This is the story of Ahmed, born and raised in war-ravaged Yemen, recruited by Al-Qaeda, and sent to the US to attend college, and become an Islamic martyr by joining a terrorist cell planning a deadly attack on the Naval Training Station at Great Lakes. On the way to fulfilling his oath to Al-Qaeda, Ahmed falls in love with Fida, likewise a Yemeni student who is a member of his cell. In need of supplemental funding, He seeks legal help to obtain a visa that would permit him to obtain off-campus work and thus enlists pro bono attorneys Sarah and Bruce Benson of Highland Park, Illinois. A list of Arabic names and phone numbers is inadvertently dropped by Ahmed in their office, causing the Bensons to become suspicious of Ahmed's and Fida's affiliations. Thus, with the help of their visiting Israeli close friends, Leah, and Ari Stern (a member of Israeli Intelligence), they attempt to resolve their suspicions through a developing mutual friendship with the young Yemeni couple. This book describes the beauty and tragedy of Yemen; it is about the Islamic religion and those who would use it to justify terrorism; and it explores the effects of love and hate as part of the human condition. The story is told through the interactions of its colorful characters, describing their diverse lives, backgrounds, travels, thoughts, philosophy, and emotions, all of which lead to the story’s exciting climax - the Memorial Day terrorist attack on the Great Lakes naval base.
©2019 Barry Jay Freeman (P)2019 Barry Jay Freeman
A Tale of Two Lawyers
Summary
A Tale of Two Lawyers is a novel that chronicles the professional and personal lives of two Chicago attorneys - Mel Foster and Jerry Sloan - as they follow divergent pathways, beginning as law school roommates and continuing through their colorful, contrasting legal careers. Love and marriages come and go in the progression of their lives, but one woman becomes of key importance in the final confrontation that ends their careers - successfully and happily for one, and ignominiously for the other. About the author: Barry J. Freeman has been a Chicago litigator for over 47 years (now retired). He writes from his experience as a participant and observer, exposing the practice of law as it has changed from noble profession to a dog-eat-dog, money-grubbing business, driven by a widespread, flagrant, unethical lawyer/client conflict of interest - hourly billing.
©2015 Barry Jay Freeman (P)2020 Barry Jay Freeman