I never wanted to be a lawyer.

Those were the first—and some of the last—words of Christian J. Dismas, or Chris, as most people knew him. For Chris, who had spent several years after college just drifting from job to job, law school was the final rip cord in his life parachute. But as a first-year associate with Fentz Underwood & Tuohy, the largest regional law firm east of the Mississippi, Chris found he was little more than an errand boy. He was on the verge of quitting and chalking up the practice of law as just another failed attempt to find himself.

Then he met Stan Amanguso.

Stan was a new partner to the firm, charismatic and persuasive with an intimidating personality and a multimillion-dollar book of business. Yet beneath the surface lurked a murky past and questionable motives. Chris was manipulated by Stan and seduced by the material trappings he offered. Before long, against his better judgment, Chris became Stan’s dutiful right-hand man, helping him execute a scheme that not only threatened Chris’ career, but his very future.

When his conscience eventually got the better of him, Chris sought to cut ties with this rogue partner, but Stan retaliated with the same relentless aggression he had for his adversaries in court. Chris’ life quickly unraveled, and he was forced to search for salvation or lose himself completely to Stan’s nefarious ways.

The Reasonable Prudent Man is not only a cautionary tale about a person so blinded by ambition and the expectations of others that he would abandon the very standards he had set for himself to gain wealth and prestige, but it uses the backdrop of the practice of law, with all of its flaws, to tell this story of a young man struggling to discover his true calling, who becomes consumed by something he realizes he never really wanted and then must find his way back when it would seem easier to just give up.

Coming November 3, 2026 from Silent Clamor Press. Pre-order links will be available soon!