Identical twin brothers reconnect after a long estrangement. Each carries an understanding of events twenty years ago that almost destroyed one of them and has threatened to undo the other. What have they each sacrificed and how far will they go to protect one another? Where does their path lead?
Triple Jeopardy
Copyright by Norman Bacal.
Genre
Award Category
My first ten pages are attached in PDF format.
Synopsis:
How is your life shaped when your brother is the all American straight male and you are the queer misfit growing up in small town, Bethlehem PA.? When your parents will go to any lengths to convert you? When there is no one in the world you hate more than yourself?
Shortly after their father dies and their mother disappears, the twin brothers part ways. Clifford has used the family inheritance to go off to law school in California. David suffers a breakdown and confesses to the murder of his mother on the advice of his legal aid attorney. Throughout his incarceration only one person believes in him and stands by him— Clifford.
Clifford's support allows David to become a bestselling author after his long incarceration and recovery. Clifford has gone on to become attorney general of California. But Clifford has been carrying his own secret that could destroy his political career and his life. A secret that leads to his estrangement from David.
The brothers reunite in Bethlehem after a twenty year estrangement to catch up on lost years and to reflect. They are shocked to discover that their dead mother is still alive and threatens to once more destroy their family.
Clifford admits that he believed he had killed his mother in a fit of rage years ago. A mother who was prepared to destroy his dreams of leaving Bethlehem and going to law school. David discovers he went to prison for a crime he did not commit, but for which he never felt remorse. Now that their mother is alive, he contemplates murdering her for a second time.
He consults his original attorney, now a prominent criminal attorney, as to whether he can be convicted twice of the same crime. When she figures out what must be going on, she is thrust into the dilemma as to whether her professional secrecy applies to a murder that her client might be contemplating. She isn't certain, but whatever decision she makes could ruin her own career.
The wheels begin to turn as to how David can eliminate Mother, reunite with his twin, forgive the sin of omission, and assist Clifford's political career. Can he be stopped?
