The Pro Bono Client

Standalone Psychological Legal Thriller
The Pro Bono Client by Derek Fermin book cover
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The Pro Bono Client

A burned-out junior associate is forced to defend a homeless man accused of stabbing a hedge-fund star—only to discover that every attempt to escape the case triggers another tragedy.

Her client knows what will happen next. He also knows everything she has tried to forget.

Standalone Novel
Psychological Legal Thriller
New York City
Released April 21, 2026
Case Summary

The client should have been easy to dismiss.

The assignment

Maya Ellison can outwork anyone in her firm. Twenty-two hundred billable hours. Perfect briefs. Sleepless nights. Control is her religion.

Then a pro bono assignment lands on her desk: defend a homeless man accused of stabbing hedge-fund star Evan Karr.

Everyone around Maya wants the matter handled quickly, quietly, and without disrupting the firm’s more profitable clients.

The client

He calls himself Jonah. He is homeless on paper, but his vocabulary is razor-clean, his instincts are exact, and he knows things Maya has never told anyone.

When she attempts to withdraw, Jonah calmly predicts what will happen next—small, seemingly random tragedies that become personal, then catastrophic.

Maya must decide whether Jonah is impossible, dangerous, or the center of a conspiracy designed to make reality itself look unreliable.

Inside the Case

Every attempt to leave has a consequence.

Pressure Point 01

The Firm

Maya’s white-shoe firm treats the case as an obligation, but someone inside the building may know far more about Jonah than they admit.

Pressure Point 02

The Predictions

Jonah warns Maya before each tragedy occurs, forcing her to question whether he is causing the events, predicting them, or watching someone else pull the strings.

Pressure Point 03

The Truth

Every document, timestamp, memory, and witness offers two possible explanations—and neither one allows Maya to walk away safely.

Tone & Suspense

A legal thriller built to make you doubt everything.

What to expect

  • White-shoe firm pressure and courtroom realism.
  • A pro bono defense that becomes impossible to escape.
  • Ethical traps involving withdrawal and client loyalty.
  • Escalating tragedies disguised as coincidence.
  • A mystery that keeps two explanations alive at once.

Perfect for readers who love

  • Paranoid psychological suspense.
  • Grounded legal procedure with uncanny ambiguity.
  • Unreliable evidence, timestamps, and memory.
  • Moral gray choices and escalating pressure.
  • Thrillers that leave reality open to interpretation.
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Every time she tried to leave the case, her client warned her what would happen next.