Reckless Disregard

Former topnotch attorney Parker Stern, still crippled by courtroom stage

fright, takes on a dicey case for an elusive video game designer known

to the world only by the name of "Poniard."  In Poniard's blockbuster

online video game, Abduction!, a real-life movie mogul is charged

with kidnapping and murdering a beautiful actress who disappeared in

the 1980s. Predictably, the mogul--William "the Conqueror" Bishop--has

responded with a libel lawsuit. Now it's up to Parker to defend the game

designer in the suit.In defending Poniard, Parker discovers

that people aren't who they claim to be and that nothing is as it seems.

At one point, his client resorts to blackmail, threatening to expose a

dark secret about Parker. Then, many of the potential witnesses who

could have helped the case die prematurely, and the survivors are too

frightened to talk. Parker begins to feel as if he's merely a character

in a video game, fighting malevolent Level Bosses who appear out of

nowhere and threaten to destroy him.