The Enabler Is for Readers Who Enjoy…

the legal maneuvering and moral ambiguity of John Grisham, the Washington power struggles of David Baldacci, and the psychologically manipulative villains found in novels by Lisa Jewell.

Readers who like ambitious female protagonists, toxic clients, and thrillers about the line between professional duty and complicity may find much to enjoy in Morgan Steele’s descent.

You might like The Enabler because Morgan is not forced into one enormous, unmistakable betrayal.

She takes a succession of smaller steps: overlooking the source of money; treating contradictions as strategy; using publicity to strengthen her position; believing she can withdraw before real damage occurs…

Each decision remains defensible in isolation. Together, they transform her.

A Courtroom Thriller About Ambition and Manipulation

If ambition could kill, she would be six feet under.

Morgan Steele knows exactly what Washington’s most powerful law firms think of her.

Brilliant. Productive. Useful.

But not partner material.

After being passed over in favor of better-connected candidates, Morgan opens her own practice and waits for the case that will force the legal establishment to recognize her.

Then Vivien Gibson needs a lawyer.

Vivien is one of the most reviled defendants in America: an escaped prisoner, disgraced media entrepreneur, and the woman accused of kidnapping the president’s young children.

Other attorneys consider her toxic. Morgan sees an opportunity.

Morgan does not need to believe Vivien is innocent. She needs only to provide an effective defense.

At first, the distinction seems clear. Everyone has a right to counsel, and even the most hated defendant deserves a lawyer willing to challenge the government’s evidence.

Morgan tells herself she will perform excellent legal work, gain national visibility, and ensure that justice follows proper procedure.

Yet Vivien’s case demands more than courtroom skill.

The retainer comes through a maze of accounts designed to conceal its origin. Vivien admits using transactions structured to avoid scrutiny. Her stories shift. Her supposed victimhood grows more elaborate with every meeting.

Morgan notices each warning.

Then finds a reason not to act on it. After all, it’s all legal on her end.

Still, Morgan struggles with Vivien’s defense, but everything changes when Alex, the first lady and the mother of the kidnapped babies, is herself accused of a crime.

Almost imperceptibly, Morgan becomes an enabler.

When Defense Becomes Complicity

Morgan does not share Vivien’s motives. She disapproves of her crimes. She does not even like Vivien.

That does not make her harmless.

Vivien needs someone willing to challenge the evidence, explain away the inconsistencies, and cast reasonable doubt on every warning sign. Morgan is exceptionally good at all three.

She keeps repeating the same truths: Everyone has the right to counsel. The government must prove its case. Suspicion is not evidence. Ambition is not a crime.

But the more Morgan uses those principles to protect Vivien, the harder it becomes to see where legal duty ends—and enabling begins.

By the time she recognizes the line, she may already have crossed it.

About the Alex Demarchelier Series

The Alex Demarchelier Series follows an internationally successful designer whose insight into people repeatedly draws her into crimes involving technology, politics, financial manipulation, and dangerous personal relationships.

Each novel presents its own central conflict while continuing Alex’s family life, public role, professional journey, and struggle against enemies who exploit institutions as effectively as they exploit individuals.

The Enabler is a fourth book in the series and can be read as a standalone because it has its own central conflict and presents a new principal protagonist in Morgan Steele. However, reading the earlier books provides additional context for Alex, Vivien, Andreas, the kidnapping, and the White House conspiracy.

The series includes:

• The Wall
• The Deal
• The Code
• The Enabler

 Continue the Alex Demarchelier Series with The Enabler and enter a Washington courtroom where guilt is only the beginning, ambition is an open door, and the most dangerous person in the room may be the one who still believes she is in control.

Meet the author