There is a certain poise that comes with understanding the ocean's moods, tapping a pulse borne of a distinct, untamed, unfathomable energy source. An equilibrium, located on a singular track between the sucking trough and the pitching crest. A sense of perfect balance on a rolling, temporary stage, not a single movement wasted. A spray-blinded late takeoff in roaring Santa Ana winds. A confidence, knowing your instincts won't let you down. Thirteen years ago J. Shepard's mother rose before dawn, packed a bag and walked out of his life forever. Since then, the rolling surf has been his only escape, a refuge from the daily stress of his job defending parents in the overburdened L.A. juvenile dependency court, and from the dark, unanswered questions of his past. When J. is assigned a high profile case, one in which a mother is accused of selling her child to the highest bidder, even a day in the surf won't let him escape. J. can't hide from the media...

For state prosecutor Bradlee Aames, psychosis is a fact of life, a waking nightmare from which modern medicine's soulless jargon and mind-numbing meds have offered little relief. Bradlee stays focused by winning trial after trial, even while she's self-medicating with booze, dope, and midnight surfing sessions at a classic LA point break. But when a thick fog of delusions engulfs her, she blows a case, and her reputation and competence are called into question. To rehabilitate her career, her boss gives her an easy assignment: Dr. Don, a popular TV shrink and former state Medical Board expert, now stands accused of sexually exploiting a vulnerable female patient, yet the broken woman won't testify. If Bradlee can settle the matter quietly, the board, avoiding further embarrassment, will be pleased. But Bradlee Aames doesn't do things the easy way—not when a predator like Dr. Don is primed to debase more helpless women.Illusive LA is the gritty, sun-blasted setting for...

In this brooding, atmospheric mystery, John DeCure once again brings the seemingly disparate worlds of law and surfing together with engaging results. For J. Shepard, prosecuting attorney with the California State Bar Association, only one thing in his life keeps him centered: riding waves. When the surf is rising, J. has never had a problem coming up with an excuse to cut out of work. But with a new fiancée and a troubling internal audit beginning at work, J. has little time these days to hit the sand. When a legal mentor from his distant past washes up in his office stinking of alcohol and hoping for a second chance at life, J. drops everything, including his surfboard. But will he be able to help? The man is in deep trouble, and J. will have to use every tool at his disposal, both in the courtroom and on the beach, to get him out of it. A wrenching, suspenseful follow-up to John DeCure's critically acclaimed Reef Dance, Bluebird Rising is a taut...