The Discovery

Description of The Discovery

Despite what he told people, Frank Horgan didn’t move to Basswood Hills for the fishing. Even though he had eventually come to love his quiet nights in a boat out on the lake, Frank’s move was prompted by a scandal that had driven him out of his large law firm in Minneapolis. Frank was a cocky young attorney, and he had wanted to show the entire firm that he could handle that big case all on his own. But it blew up on him.

Frank still dreamed of handling a big case. Even after 14 years of a solo law practice in a small town, Frank had not completely extinguished his dream. And then one day his big case finally walks into his father’s diner, where Frank is eating lunch. It is a case that will eventually turn into a national investment fraud scandal.

At the diner, Frank is approached by Clayton McCorkle, the wealthiest man in town, who wants to sue his children to recover the manufacturing business he conveyed to them a decade ago.  Soon after Frank commences the lawsuit, a small platoon of lawyers from a large New York City law firm arrives in Basswood Hills to represent the McCorkle children.

At the same time that Frank is becoming involved in this seemingly intra-family lawsuit, he is coming to know Emily Marsh, who works with troubled young women.  Emily grew up in Basswood Hills, left at age 17 to join a religious convent, and has recently returned under somewhat mysterious circumstances.

The friendship between Frank and Emily intensifies when Frank’s father, Seamus, has a heart attack. From his hospital bed, Seamus asks both Emily and Frank to help run his diner while he is laid up. So for the next couple of weeks, Frank relocates his law practice to one of the rickety tables by the large front window in the old diner..

As the lawsuit proceeds, Frank discovers the real reason for the presence of the New York lawyers. They also represent a New York commodities hedge fund, which owns a large grain bin site located outside town, adjacent to the factory land. The bins allegedly contain millions of bushels of grain. But Frank begins to suspect that the bin site is not what it is made out to be.

Frank learns that the McCorkle siblings are connected to this fraud scheme through their relationship with the investment house that owns the bins. Consequently, the siblings want to give away all the land surrounding that bin site to a charity to preclude any future development of the land, which in turn will prevent anyone from discovering the true nature of the bin site. But when Frank pushes on with the litigation of his case, he is confronted with a tough choice. He learns that Emily, due to an event in her past, is connected to the case and may actually be dependent on Frank losing the case.

Furthermore, Frank’s best friend Martin has developed his own secret interest in the outcome of the case.  After a series of increasingly mysterious acts, Martin finally confesses to Frank his reasons for wanting Frank to lose the case.

So Frank makes his choice.  Knowing that the other side has hired a private investigator to spy on him, Frank maneuvers that investigator into discovering false information that in turn prompts the McCorkle siblings to rush through their donation to Emily’s project.  Then Frank, knowing that the siblings have their wealth tied up in a commodities fraud scam, reveals information that brings about a financial demise of that scam, forcing the siblings to sell the factory back to Clayton.  And throughout all this, Frank manages to protect Martin’s secret.

But to achieve all these goals, Frank has to violate the rules of professional conduct, thereby subjecting himself to disbarment. In the end, Frank’s father gets what he has always wanted: a business partnership with his ex-lawyer son in the diner.  And amidst all the deceptions and conflicts arising from the case, Frank discovers a truth from which he had been fleeing for years, and in doing so reconnects with the faith his mother once taught him.

Reviews for The Discovery

A tough-minded lawyer burdened by memories of the past moves to a small town to restart his career. Frank Horgan is fleeing the after effects of an affair with a woman who turned against him and the laws he has sworn to uphold. But being in Basswood Hills revives a deeper layer of hidden frustrations. In a family emergency, Horgan finds himself running his father’s café, The Chair. But he hasn’t given up law practice. Some strange things are going on in the small town, and one of those unwittingly drawn into them is Emily, a former nun trying to start a shelter for battered women. With the assistance of Joyce, his secretary, and Irene, a former addict now keen on helping the right side of the law, Horgan slowly uncovers major fault lines in a noted commodities fund. And through his relationship with Emily, he discovers a long-repressed need for the solace of religious faith.

Award-winning novelist and law professor Garry has composed Horgan’s story as a third-person narrative, while deftly inserting a few first-person vignettes from certain characters to fill in the picture of his protagonists and the precise circumstances of their predicaments. Garry portrays Horgan carrying the weight of familial resentment and regret, with Emily able to reach him through her unguarded spirituality. However, her naiveté makes her a foil for the evildoers Horgan is battling on the legal front. Two parallel plots claim the reader’s attention: the mysterious illegal activities that spur Horgan’s professional dedication and the budding friendship between Horgan the remorseful everyman and Emily, who speaks directly to his deepest private longings. Intertwining these two complex plots demonstrates Garry’s considerable skill as a wordsmith. His latest offering stands poised to attract new fans of gutsy legal drama while satisfying an already-established fan base.
-Barbara Bamberger Scott, US Review of Books

When scandal drives Frank Horgan from his law firm job, he can’t seem to let go of his dream of being involved in a big-ticket case, even though he’s relocated from the big city (where such cases are common) to a small town (where lawyers tend to operate in relative obscurity).

When he becomes involved in what at first seems to be a family spat, only to find it leads directly to a Wall Street investment scam, he may have his big break at last. It’s then that further family issues emerge in The Discovery, a fine story about big aspirations and immense trouble in small town places.

As Frank becomes increasingly privy to small-town secrets and more aware of their ties to Wall Street, he finds his low-key legal operation turning into something far more challenging than he anticipated. Will the price of professional fame perhaps be too much to pay?

From bodies that could prove or disprove dubious connections to why a lawyer from New York is being hired to oversee a small-town case, the mystery deepens as Frank finds himself drawn into the secrets that both fuel the town’s undercurrent of society and threaten various lives in different ways.

When his father Seamus Horgan suffers a heart attack, Frank’s loyalties are tested. His ability to field both personal and professional challenges becomes mercurial as he tackles too many circumstances beyond his control.

Patrick M. Garry presents his case and Frank’s story from alternating viewpoints. From the insights of former colleague Parker Longren to a hospital worker who admits Frank’s father, these different perspectives add meat to the story, flushing out Frank’s character and presenting him as he appears to others: “I went to law school in California, but I started at the firm the same time Frank did. There were eight of us who started at the same time. The first couple of weeks, we, the new attorneys, went out for lunch together, and stayed late at night and talked about our assignments and all the odd senior partners at the firm. But after that, Frank went his own way. He didn’t work in the library with the rest of us; he worked alone in his office. He was friendly on the surface, when you’d pass him in the hall. In fact, he was a real glad-hander and backslapper. But his conversations never lasted more than a minute.”

The result is an intriguing series of observations that dig up dirt, provide insights and inspect motivations, poverty, and wealth, and probe Frank’s own process of self-discovery, which proves every bit as important as his goals of being a famous, effective lawyer.

Readers interested in legal and personal investigations will find The Discovery an excellent exploration of not just court proceedings, but a lawyer charged with family burdens and changes that bring him full circle back to the roots he left so long ago. It’s an excellent, involving story that’s especially recommended for those who look for legal-based dilemmas beyond courtroom confrontation.
-D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

Patrick M. Garry’s The Discovery encompasses a narrative that traverses a family legal case jigsaw puzzle toward a discovery of self by exploring the ghost of ancient regrets, basic human desires, and questions of faith…The omniscient third-person narration of the story is the correct choice, in that, it allows for the characters’ implicit dialogues to gain depth into their development. Patrick M. Garry cleverly utilizes a non-linear narrative, the incorporation of first-person accounts written by Frank Horgan’s acquaintances and former clients that adds a sense of urgency and character development of the protagonist.

A key theme in the novel is the nuanced relationship between moral emotions and behavior in human life.

The continual struggle with guilt, as well as the search for meaning in life, dominate the novel. This reinforces the recurring topic in this author’s novels – life and the struggle of human beings to live in ways that transcend basic materialism and the grasp of destructive temptations.

Infused with legal drama, religious themes, and a personal quest, The Discovery is an all-action adrenaline-filled novel readers’ won’t want to put down.
-Chanticleer Book Reviews, 5-star review

I enjoyed the big issues popping up in this small-town-based novel.  Masquerading as a case of family issues, the larger Wall Street investment case is an interesting one.  While the case that Frank handles ends up being less family-rooted and more corporate, the switch from Frank being more lawyer-focused to rediscovering his faith and strengthening his own family ties was heartwarming and refreshing.  This symmetrical balance is not something I typically notice in a novel and I enjoyed it.

–Writers Digest Book Awards

In The Discovery, readers get to explore every twist and turn in a complicated legal conflict that will have them on the edges of their seats.
–Feathered Quill

Literary Awards

Winner, 2020 Independent Press Award

Winner, American Fiction Award

Colorado Indep. Publ. Assn EVVY Award

Grand Prize Winner, 2020 Chanticleer International Book Award

Shelf Unbound Best Book Award

Feathered Quill Reviewer’s Choice Award