A Minor Fall

Davy Jessie, the narrator of lawyer Ainsworth’s uneven debut, has it all: a position with a “top-drawer plaintiff’s personal injury law firm in downtown Houston,” and a loving and beautiful wife who happens to be his boss’s daughter. Davy is feeling pleased with himself after his artful use of Scripture proves persuasive to the jury in a risky negligence suit. But things begin to go south after his father-in-law, Tim Sullivan, assigns him to a complex pollution lawsuit, which alleges that a corporation harvested oil in Kentucky in a way that left radioactive material behind, contaminating the local water supply. That litigation brings Davy into contact with Beth Sheehan, a contract lawyer with an “incredible figure, large brown eyes, and full lips.” Davy is tempted to be unfaithful, and predictable complications ensue. Ainsworth makes tort law accessible to the layperson and can write moving prose, but his characters’ personal dramas overwhelm the legal plot. (June)