Pocket Books and Bestselling Author Paul Levine Announce Online Be a Character Contest

Posted on August 26, 1998

The Pocket Books division of Simon & Schuster and popular novelist Paul Levine today announced an online contest for readers in connection with Levine's sizzling new Supreme Court thriller, 9 Scorpions, which debuts in hardcover in September. USA Today describes 9 Scorpions as, "Highly readable and fun...it has an irresistible momentum."

The novel explores the inner workings of the Court and how a case could be fixed by a wealthy corporation. 9 Scorpions is the eighth novel by Levine, a former trial attorney and winner of the John D. MacDonald award for his critically acclaimed Jake Lassiter series.

The Grand Prize winner will have his or her name used as a character in Paul Levine's next book, The Big Dance Blues, and will receive a collection of signed first editions of his prior novels. Other prizes from the Supreme Court Historical Society include: 1st Prize: an autographed copy of 9 Scorpions and a solid brass scales of justice; 2nd Prize: a 24 karat gold-plated Supreme Court coffee mug; 3rd Prize: a brass Supreme Court bookmark. Five runners up will receive 9 Scorpions t-shirts.

In 9 Scorpions, Lisa Fremont, a brilliant and beautiful young lawyer, is planted on the Court as a law clerk to newly-appointed Sam Truitt, a charismatic former Harvard law school professor. Her job is to ensure the outcome of a multi-million dollar airplane crash case by swaying Truitt, either with her legal acumen, or if that fails, her feminine charms. But what Lisa doesn't anticipate is her growing passion for Sam and her increasing disgust at what she has been blackmailed into doing.

The story exposes the conflicts between her tainted past and her new ideals, between Truitt's notions of rigid law and compassionate justice. Although the story is fiction, it explores a very real and disturbing issue: the power that young law clerks wield on the Supreme Court.

Oliver Wendell Holmes described his contentious brethren on the Supreme Court as "nine scorpions in a bottle." 9 Scorpions, the novel, reveals just how deadly their sting can be.

Levine's first novel, To Speak for the Dead, was a bestseller honored as one of the ten best mysteries of the year by the L.A. Times. An adaptation of the book appeared as an NBC World Premiere Movie in 1995. Levine's earlier books include Night Vision, False Dawn, Mortal Sin, Slashback, Fool Me Twice and Flesh and Bones. He has also written for ABC Television, Stephen J. Cannell Studios, and the CBS television series, Jag.