Isaacson, Ken 1953(?)-

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Isaacson, Ken 1953(?)-

PERSONAL:

Born c. 1953, in Perth Amboy, NJ; married; wife's name Sylvia; children: Brandon, Devon, Jared; (stepchildren) Dail, Dawn, Daryl. Education: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, B.A., 1975; Columbia University, J.D., 1979.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Morristown, NJ.

CAREER:

Attorney. Has worked for a law firm in New York, NY; freelance legal counsel for an international transportation company, beginning c. 2000.

MEMBER:

Mystery Writers of America (board of directors, 2002-06).

AWARDS, HONORS:

Silver Noose Award, Mystery Writers of America, 2006.

WRITINGS:

Silent Counsel (novel), Windemere Press, 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Ken Isaacson is an attorney who has been in practice since the 1980s. Before attending law school at Columbia University, he earned a degree in urban studies and planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After earning a law degree, he worked for a Wall Street firm and then became a freelance legal counsel for a transportation company. As part of his job, Isaacson does a lot of writing, and he gradually turned to a little pleasure writing for his own enjoyment. As he related on his Web site: "It started as something I was doing just for myself. I'd come across a magazine article about a hit-and-run incident along a deserted highway in Florida. The driver had hired an attorney and told him to negotiate a plea agreement while at the same time keeping his (the client's) name secret under a claim of privilege. The case was resolved before the court decided whether the name of a client could be privileged information—the client had an attack of conscience and came forward on his own. But the article got me thinking. As a lawyer, I write for a living, and I guess there are cynics who'd even say lawyers write fiction for a living! So, I decided to write the story that, after life happened to me for a while, finally became Silent Counsel."

In Silent Counsel, Isaacson creates a scenario similar to the Florida case. Stacy and Marc Altman's six-year-old son, Ben, is killed by a hit-and-run driver who later turns himself in. Attorney Scott Heller is hired by the guilty party and is asked not to reveal the true identity of the client. Isaacson then explores the emotional trauma of the parents, as the husband tries to move on with his life while Stacy seeks revenge by finding out the true identity of the driver, and the ethical dilemma Scott faces concerning attorney-client privilege. "Despite plot holes, some clunky dialog and way too much lawyer-speak," according to one Kirkus Reviews critic, "the book boasts a complex story and heart-pounding climax." Harriet Klausner, writing for Genre Go Round Reviews, had much more praise for the author's debut, asserting: "It is hard to believe that this is Ken Isaacson's first legal thriller as the tale is on a par with the works of John Grisham."

While Isaacson said in his Web site interview that he has no intention of quitting the practice of law, he also intends to write more novels. His next planned project, tentatively titled Death Benefit, concerns unethical life insurance companies. He explained: "A viatical company offers you an option [when you are terminally ill]. It will pay you a significant percentage of the policy's face value today, become the beneficiary of your policy, and take over the premium payments. You now have a significant sum of money available to you today, when it means the most. What's in it for the viatical company? It's playing the numbers, and is banking on the fact that you'll pass away before its cash outlay exceeds the death benefit it'll receive from your insurance company when you die. That's their profit. If you live longer than expected, and the company's out-of-pocket expense exceeds the death benefit—that's a cost of doing business. In Death Benefit, we come across a viatical company that's found a way to cut costs."