Knucklehead

DEBUT Set in the 1990s in the politically and racially charged era of the Rodney King incident and the O.J. Simpson trial, this debut features young African American lawyer Marcus Hayes, whose opportunities for success are continually undercut by a propensity for wanting to punish bad behavior immediately with his own brand of social justice-a trait that marks him as the "knucklehead" of the title. While in law school at NYU, he meets the brilliant and attractive Amalia Stewart, who is able to curb his worst tendencies. Her death from cancer not long after they marry and move to the West Coast sends him on a downward spiral and back into his old ways. He eventually leaves his job at a San Francisco law firm and takes up with Sarah, a latter-day hippie with a volatile temper and a precarious lifestyle. Their tumultuous breakup, replete with smashed belongings and accusations of abuse, sends him into court as something other than counsel and into a hand-to-mouth life representing indigent clients.