Unbillable Hours: A True Story Book

At first the two components of the story, Ian's job with a giant law firm and Mario's unfair imprisonment, seemed jarring and ill-suited to be told in the same book. But actually the similarities are quite organic. I would be hard-pressed to pick the more hellish life, psychological enslavement at Latham and Watkins or physical confinement at Calipatria. And in the end Ian and Mario rescue each other.

Unlike most other reviewers, I found the account of Ian's three years as an associate attorney to be the more interesting of the two. It revealed a world I never dreamed existed, while cases similar to Mario's have been the subject of movies, TV, and books. I did find a little too much repitition, as when the author twice on the same page explained the purpose of a letter he wrote. And then later in the book he explained it again.

In general, it was an interesting read, and I'm looking forward to the discussion at my book club.