CRUDE AMBITION

by

Patricia Hunt Holmes

Categories: Mystery / Thriller / Women’s Fiction

Publisher: River Grove Books (Greenleaf Book Group)
Date of Publication: June 8, 2021

Number of Pages: 326

Scroll down for the giveaway!

A Texas Reckoning

In the early morning hours after a law firm recruiting party at a beachside house on Galveston Island, a female summer intern is found lying on the floor, bruised, bleeding and unconscious.  Four men and one young woman attorney who were staying at the house know something terrible happened.

The woman attorney takes her to a hospital but the next day the intern disappears. All of them decide to keep silent, doing nothing about the incident in order to further their own career ambitions while the events of that night haunt the two women.  Time passes and then ten years later, crime and hubris bring the former intern back into their lives.  Only this time she has the power and the truth is finally brought to light, uprooting everyone’s plans.

From the power centers of Houston law and oil to the fracking fields of South Texas to the Jersey Shore and Washington D.C., this story chronicles the struggles of two ambitious young women in their quest for legal success and justice.

Amazon | Murder By The Book | Barnes and Noble

Bookshop.org

Praise

“Crude Ambition is a great read.  It is an authentic look at big law in Houston and the Texas oil business.  Patricia Hunt Holmes weaves a story of ambition, greed, romance and revenge that kept me turning the pages until all the just desserts were served.” — Marc Grossberg, J.D., Author of The Best People: A Tale of Trials and Errors

“In Crude Ambition, Patricia Hunt Holmes shows she knows Texas in the way Grisham knows Mississippi—politics, environment, strong men and strong women, egos, oil, arrogance, influence and hunger for power.  I don’t think anyone could have nailed it better.” — Bill Sarpalius, Former U.S. Congressman, Author of The Grand Duke of Boys’ Ranch 

The journey of two women, Carolyn and Laura/Ann, hampered by the “good ol’ boy” network proves that goals can be obtained with hard work and dedication…and maybe a little bit of revenge.

This book elicited some strong emotions from me especially when it came to the misogynic attitudes of the men in this story.  Laura is an intern with Carolyn’s law firm and she is mentoring Laura. What she doesn’t expect is for a situation at a home in Galveston to go all wrong and for Laura to disappear. What happened to her? Is she still alive? We see Carolyn’s compassionate side because she knows something happened that shouldn’t have but she doesn’t know what to do or if she should say anything. I can understand because she is relatively new to the firm and rocking the boat could cause her to lose her job. But is it the right thing to do to stay silent against the men in the firm? Even when she asks her mentor his opinion, he tells her to keep quiet. What sort of precedence does that set for Carolyn and this law firm? For Laura, this event shakes her to her core and her life isn’t quite the same after that. We see her struggles and how she copes with the situation and the effect it has on her life.

This story has so many facets to it that it kept me intrigued especially when it involved different areas of the law including the Securities and Exchange Commission, Environmental Law and the Clean Water Act, and the oil & gas industry. In Texas, there is always a possibility of hitting oil or gas in your backyard. However, not all companies are ethical and we see that when they descend upon Carolyn’s hometown. I was drawn to the friendship between Carolyn and Cynthia. These two women are driven to become partners in the firm and will do what it takes to get there ethically unlike their male counterparts.

Speaking of the men…whew, the mentality of most of these men is mind-boggling. I’m not sure who was the worst because there were multiple contenders. Paul is a lawyer in the firm and his biggest client is Joe Bill. I think there could be a tie between these two as to who had the worst personality and outlook when it came to business and women. I felt bad for Paul at times when he had to try and figure out what Joe Bill was doing since he wasn’t the most forthcoming with his business movements. This might have actually been a slight blessing for Paul because he could have plausible deniability in some cases.

The book would not be complete without a romance storyline. Carolyn has two suitors including her high school boyfriend and a doctor that happens to be the brother of one of the other lawyers in the firm. I could sense her struggle with who to choose and why because these two men are polar opposites in where they are in their life. I think her final decision and the path that would be laid out from her choice was the best possible outcome.

There are a lot of moving parts to this book, but they all come together and I enjoyed the alternating POV where we see what is happening with Laura/Ann and how she is handling her life after her time in Houston. I cheered at the end when certain characters got what was coming to them and perhaps it should be a lesson to the reader that bad behavior will not be rewarded in the end. The author also pays attention to detail and researched the different parts of Texas that were represented.

Overall we give this 4 paws up and look forward to the next novel from this author and the social issue that it addresses.

Patricia Hunt Holmes spent 30 years as a public finance attorney with a large international law firm, specializing in nonprofit healthcare finance and rural electric cooperative finance. Consistently listed in Best Lawyers in America, Texas Super Lawyers, and Top Lawyers in Houston, she was a frequent speaker at national public finance and health care conferences. Patricia has also served on the faculty of the University of Missouri-Columbia, University of Tennessee, and University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. She has written and published in the fields of intellectual history and law.

In addition to her legal career, Patricia has been a member and board member of several social service organizations throughout Houston, including the United Way of the Texas Gulf Coast Women’s Initiative, Dress for Success Houston, the University of Houston Women’s Studies Program, University of Houston Law Review Board of Directors, is a Trustee of the Houston Grand Opera, and Houston Justice for Our Neighbors.

Patricia grew up in Egg Harbor City, New Jersey but has lived in Houston for over 40 years. She has two daughters, Hillary and Ashley, who have successful careers as an attorney and a geologist, and three adorable grandsons. She is an avid golfer and traveler.

Patricia holds a BA in English and History, an MA in History, and a PhD in Russian and South Asian History with honors, all from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She received her J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center and was an editor on the Houston Law Review.

  Website  ║  Facebook ║ Amazon

 Goodreads ║ LinkedIn ║Twitter

GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!

TWO WINNERS:

1^st: $75 Gift Card to Murder By The Book bookstore

2^nd: $50 to Bookshop.org.

(US only, ends midnight, CDT, 8/20/2021)

Visit the Lone Star Literary Life Tour Page

For direct links to each post on this tour, updated daily.

Or, visit the blogs directly:

blog tour services provided by