By Dan Murphy
Former Westchester prosecutor and Yonkers Inspector General Dan Schorr has authored his debut nove Final Table, a political thriller about sexual misconduct in the #MeToo era, one victim’s battle to survive and overcome trauma, and the cable news machine that feeds off scandal and confrontation.
Former White House staffer Maggie Raster is struggling to build her own consulting firm and overcome a recent sexual assault by an ex-boss. Kyler Dawson, a broke former poker champion, desperately needs to gain entry into a controversial but potentially very lucrative international poker tournament. The host nation faces widespread condemnation for the recent murder of a prominent female US journalist, and a pending presidential executive order threatens to prohibit him and others from participating.
Maggie’s chaotic first attempt to promote her new business as a television political analyst brings her to Kyler’s attention, and convinces him that her political smarts and connections can provide the help he needs. When he approaches her for assistance, she must decide whether to agree–in return for a portion of the potential $20 million prize. To succeed, she will have to confront numerous challenges–personal and political, foreign and domestic–including mounting pressure to publicly address the misconduct of her former boss. Kyler also has his own obstacles and upsetting past to overcome, but if they each can outmaneuver their daunting challenges, he might win the tournament–and earn them both a fortune.
“Choosing which characters get to tell their versions of the story was a major part of building this narrative. I have loved writing and reading fiction my whole life. As a sex crimes prosecutor and investigator, I’ve wanted to write a novel involving real-world sexual misconduct issues for a while, because the media generally portrays stories of sexual assault in stereotypical, unrealistic ways. There are so many complexities to experiencing and surviving a sexual assault that are ignored or misrepresented in fictional depictions of sexual assault victims, such as misplaced self-blame, sympathy for the attacker, confusion about understanding whether an actual sexual assault occurred, and fear of not being believed and/or taken seriously if one reports the incident,” said Schorr who now works as a sexual misconduct investigator at his firm, Dan Schorr, LLC, and an adjunct professor at Fordham Law School, where he teaches a course on sexual misconduct and domestic violence.
What is stealthing and how prevalent is it? “Stealthing” occurs when one person surreptitiously removes a condom during sexual intercourse without the other person’s knowledge or consent. In my investigations, I have recently seen a disturbing increase in complaints involving “stealthing,” which can lead to serious emotional and physical consequences, such as intense feelings of violations, STIs, and pregnancy. How to address this is becoming a hotly debated issue in sexual misconduct circles, college campuses, state legislatures, and elsewhere, as it is currently not defined as a sexual assault crime in any state, although there is currently a proposed law in California to make this practice illegal. New Zealand just had its first successful prosecution of a stealthing incident, and that made international news.
What are the major differences between how sexual assaults are often depicted in fictional accounts in TV, movies, and books vs. how they often occur in real life? Often fictional sexual assaults are committed by strangers in dangerous places or by groups of assailants, which is consistent with the “stranger danger” attitude that is widespread regarding potential sexual assaults. However, most sexual assaults in my investigative experience are committed by people who the victim knows and trusts, and many involve victims who have engaged in some consensual sexual contact with prior to the nonconsensual activity, as is the case in Final Table.
Some have compared Final Table to the best sellers Gone Girl, Girl on the Train genre of sex crime thrillers. “Final Table is a compelling, timely, and fast-paced story of a sexual assault survivor’s fight to regain control of her life in the face of fear, self-doubt, international intrigue, and looming retribution. Former sex crimes prosecutor Dan Schorr’s nuanced and layered debut novel smashes stereotypes and cliches with a strikingly original and memorable narrative,” said –Sunny Hostin, Emmy-Winning Co-Host of The View and best-selling author of I Am These Truths and Summer on the Bluffs
Schorr, who has been a regular television legal analyst for Good Morning America, CNN, and Fox News, lives in White Plains, with his wife and two children.
