Eye of The Storm

The Paul Truesdell Podcast

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UNEDITED TRANSCRIPT

0:00
Well, good morning, good afternoon or good evening. It is Wednesday, October 9. I thought I would do something a little bit different than the Paul Truesdale Podcast. Today. We have hurricane Milton in the neighborhood, and I finished a book series. So I thought I would talk with you a little bit about that, and maybe you might enjoy it, a legacy of thrillers. Scott Pratt, Joe Dillard and family collaboration. So Scott Pratt, P, R, A, T, T, he's an acclaimed author behind what's known as the Joe Dillard series, and he left an endearing mark on the legal theorem thriller genre, I would say, before his untimely death in 2018 so he's been gone for a while now. His novel sold literally millions of copies, and it really quite skillfully blended courtroom drama with a real complex series of moral dilemmas and his personal struggles all set in the backdrop of the state of Tennessee and their legal system. Now, the Joe Dillard series in particular stands out for its authenticity. It's a lot of emotional depth, and it's also well, it's shaped by the qualities that Pratt owned life. Essentially his wife's battle with cancer, and she eventually passed away. They had a very close bond, and he worked very closely with his son Dylan, The Joe Dillard series, a legal thriller with heart. So yeah, it it's a at the heart of Scott pratt's Success is the Joe Diller series, and he's written a few other things, but it follows a criminal defense attorney named Joe Diller. Of course, it navigates to murky waters of quote, unquote, Southern justice. And this the series begins with a book called An innocent client, where Dillard has he's tired of defending criminals and he's eager for a case where he can believe his client is innocent. The theme is one of moral conflict. It carries throughout the series, this moral conflict, and Dillard is often confronting his own ethical boundaries. His professional life is tightly woven with his personal life, especially with his his wife and Caroline, who suffers from multiple sclerosis now. Pratt writing style is pretty fast paced. It's easy to read. It's filled with different twists that will keep you on your edge.

2:43
Dillards cases often involve intense, high stake criminal cases. But what sets the series apart is the emotional weight his personal challenges, particularly

2:55
Caroline's illnesses. That's his wife in the book. So fans of legal thrillers, Joe Dillard definitely offers more than just courtroom drama provides a pretty rich character study of a man who's torn between his duties as a lawyer and love for families. While I really did enjoy the overall book, I found the last book, Justice loss to be somewhat less engaging than the earlier ones. The legal drama remained strong, but the emotional, personal developments didn't quite resonate as deeply with me. In addition, Justice loss is still a solid addition to the series. It closes everything out, but you should know that it had to be ghostwritten with his son and another individual because of Scott's death, and it kind of is what it is, from traditional to self publishing, reinventing a career. Yeah, let's talk a little bit about that. Scott's pratt's path to success really wasn't all that straightforward. And I like that, by the way, initially he published his first three Joe Dillard books with Penguin, but after struggling to find a real commercial foothold, foothold, I'll say he reclaimed the rights, and along with his son Dylan, they entered the world of self publishing, which is, I think, really cool. Together, they reestablished their books on Amazon's Kindle platform, and thanks to some really creative marketing, including book bub, that's B, O, O, k, b, u, B, BookBub, bub promotion gave away 75,000 copies in one day, in a series gained really some massive popularity. So what they did is they switched over to self publishing, and Pratt then began to reach a broader audience. He had full control over his work, and eventually sold millions of books worldwide, which is really quite cool, family, collaboration and continuing the legacy. What I like about this is that dil.

5:00
And Pratt he his son played a very key role in his father's success, managing the technical aspects of the business, while the father Scott focused on writing. Now, this close collaboration provided

5:15
a real crucial working component. It was, it was really crucial to their success, especially after Scott's passing, he was he was killed in a car accident in 2018

5:28
just a few months after his wife Christine's death. And so Dylan basically was tasked with continuous father's legacy. Stepped in to complete the ongoing projects and to continue promoting the Joe Dillard series, which I think is absolutely, totally amazing. So as we you know, kind of wrap this up.

5:52
He really did honor his father's commitments. He co authored a couple books, or, well, I should say blood is black. That's the first book in a new series that Scott had been working on before his death. So Dylan did finish that with a fellow writer and retained Scott's voice style, providing some continuity of fans have really come to like in the Dillard series, and that's another book that I will begin picking up and seeing if I like it, reflections on Scott pratt's legacy. So Scott Pratt is his career offers, really a powerful story of resilience, family, collaboration, connectiveness, creative determination, and the Joe Dillard series, I think, remains a standout in the legal thriller genre in the community. It's not the same as some of the best books of John Grisham, but blending high stakes legal cases with the genuine emotional depth.

7:02
And again, while justice loss may not have been my favorite, the series as a whole is pretty compelling. Is worth reading for anyone who enjoys legal thrillers and you want to go beyond just a crime solving. So we have hurricane Milton coming down on us, maybe you might want to just go to Amazon and download a book. I subscribe to Amazon, and I listen to not less than one book a month by addition to reading, actually two books or pleasure and all the other things that I do, I like to read a lot, ferocious, I guess, would be a good word to use. But the Dylan Pratt continuation of his father's work. It really does demonstrate an enduring impact that Scott had in storytelling. That's what we're doing here. It's just storytelling ensuring that his legacy lives on through new releases and continued promotion, I think is absolutely Well, fantastic. So I don't know whether you're a longtime fan of legal thrillers or new to the genre. The Joe Dillard series, I guess I would say, really offers a perfect blend of courtroom drama, human emotion, crafted by an author whose passion for storytelling,

8:11
basically through his own personal experiences, definitely made you kind of go well. That was interesting and kind of humbling at the very end, welcome to the Paul Truesdell podcast. Rather than two Pauls in a pod, this episode features Paul the elder, and thus just one Paul in a pod.

8:30
So what's the gig? Individually or collectively, Paul and Paul sit down and chat predominantly at the Truesdell professional building and record frequently they explain a few things about how life works. Before time gets away, they connect the dots and plot the knots, spots and ops with a heavy dose of knocks, mocks, pots, rocks, socks and mops. Confused, then welcome aboard. You see Paul the elder and Paul the younger enjoy telling complex stories that are always based on business, economics and forecasti...