An Organized Crime Legal Thriller
Criminal defense lawyer delivers a novel of drug lord drama and corruption in the Big Apple.
Traverse City, Michigan—“Been there. Done that.” From Todd Merer, a lawyer with a four-decade career in criminal defense law with a clientele including such prominent figures as leaders of the Cali Cartel, the Pablo Escobar family, and Colombian associates of El Chapo, that’s what you’d generously call an understatement.
Now, with The Good Doctora: An Organized Crime Legal Thriller from Mission Point Press, (March 25, 2025), he’s doing it again. Merer launched his literary career with The Extraditionist, a widely-acclaimed novel that achieved best-selling status, followed by The White Tigress, a sequel inspired by his advocacy for Asian defendants embroiled in the “China White” heroin trade. Yet his third title isn’t fully “done that,” for The Good Doctora has a decidedly different angle. “I decided I no longer wanted to write my own character via my protagonist but instead, try to create and understand another totally different person, a woman. But everything I write is drawn from my experiences and The Good Doctora is no exception,” Merer said.
His carefully created character, Electra, is a fearless lawyer who thrives on representing extradited drug lords while navigating the Colombian expat community in Queens and perilous Andean cartel strongholds. At the crossroads of crime and conscience, she discovers more than she bargained for and readers are met with a narrative that explores the dark alleys of the legal world and the inner sanctum of Electra’s true self.
From Lawyer to Writer
Merer is now 1,500 miles away from his days of drug wars and courtroom battles, happily ensconced in a two-hundred-year-old house overlooking San Juan Bay, in Puerto Rico. Reflecting on his journey, Merer shared, “Writing was always on my mind. When I was sixteen, I composed an essay, “What It Means to Be an American,” for a class assignment and without my knowledge, my teacher submitted it to a nationwide contest and it won first prize. But I wanted to be a lawyer and didn’t write fiction again until I decided my occupation was no longer satisfying. The most surprising thing I discovered was that the life of a writer is great fun!”
The Author
Todd Merer, a New York University Law School graduate, boasts a four-decade career in criminal defense law. Throughout his tenure, he specialized in representing individuals facing drug crime allegations, particularly those extradited from Latin America. Notably, his clientele included prominent figures such as leaders of the Cali Cartel, the Pablo Escobar family, the Bogota Cartel boss, and Colombian associates of El Chapo. Drawing from his wealth of experience, Merer authored The Extraditionist, a widely acclaimed novel that achieved best-selling status and earned recognition as an Amazon Book of the Month selection. This literary triumph captured the attention of industry luminaries, leading to its optioning by Alexandra Milchan, co-producer of The Wolf of Wall Street, with direction by Oliver Stone. Additionally, Merer wrote a compelling sequel titled The White Tigress, inspired by his advocacy for Asian defendants embroiled in the “China White” heroin trade.
The Book
The Good Doctora: An Organized Crime Legal Thriller
Todd Merer
304 pages; 6 x 9 inches; B/W
Fiction, Crime, Thrillers, Legal, Suspense
ISBN: 978-1-965278-02-4, $16.95 (Softcover)
ISBN: 978-1-965278-03-1, $24.95 (Hardcover)
Mission Point Press, March 25, 2025
Copies are available for preorder at Bookshop.org, Amazon, and other online retailers. On its March 25 publication date, it will be available for purchase wherever books are sold. For information or to arrange for signings and events, contact the author at todd.merer@gmail.com or visit toddmererauthor.com.
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