Helpful Score: 2
This book is definitely not a pager turner but I enjoyed reading it because of all the twists and turns. The characters are so well defined I started feeling for them. The one downside I had was I had the ending pretty much figured out early going in the book so that was a let down. Overall it was a pretty good read.
With the first scenes of Richard North Patterson's electrifying new audio, we are plunged into the moment of a vicious crime: 22-year-old Brett Allen discovers her boyfriend brutally slain--and finds herself, only hours later, in police custody, the prime suspect. Her aunt, Caroline Masters is summoned to act as her defense attorney. the result is a painful meeting with Brett, whom Caroline has not seen since infancy and a confrontation with 3 people from whom she is deeply estranged, her first lover, who is now the prosecutor, her half-sister, and most difficult of all, her domineering father. The story moves quickly now, opening into the police investigation and the courtroom. Yet the truths about herself and her family that Caroline ultimately uncovers are painful beyond the deepest doubts and shocking beyond the deepest fears that haunt her adult life--and make up the explosive core of the author's most powerful novel to date.
Sensational trial with inconsistencies in testimony of the star witness
Not a bad story. It held my interest, but was a bit predictable. Abridged version.
Riveting. Couldn't put it down.
I couldn't put this one down!! Great read.
I quite enjoyed this book since it was set in New England, where I live, but have explored very little. I knew a couple of things before they were revealed, but I was suprised when the killer was revealed. All in all a great book about family dynamics.
Excellent, compelling read. I hated to put it down at night!
Patterson is always good,
A great story that will keep you on the edge right to the end.
good mystery thriller
Carol is ummoned home to defend her niece against murder charges. They found 22 yr old brett Allen covered in blood and incoherent near the scene of the crime. Her fingerprints on the murder weapon. Carol has doubts about bretts innocence but then begins to find inconsistencies in the star witness testimony. Now she is having to trust her former lover andrisking the system she has worked her whole life for to expose a dark family secret that could save her neice or destroy them both!!
I enjoy Richard North Patterson books and this was no exception. Good fast read.
remarkable book
Long estranged from her blue-blooded New England family, attorney Caroline Masters is summoned home to defend her niece against charges of murder. Police found twenty-two-year old Brett Allen blood -spattered and incoherent near the scene of the crime, the weapon covered with her fingerprints.
Long estranged from her blue-blooded New England family, attorney Caroline Masters is summoned home to defend her niece against charges of murder. Police found 22-year old Brett Allen blood-splattered and incoherent near the scene of the crime, the weapon covered with her fingerprints. Caroline has doubts of her own about Brett's innocence. But as the sensational trial heats up, she'll find disturbing inconsistencies in the testimony of the prosecution's star witness and find herself facing some of the toughest challenges of her life and career -- from trusting her former lover, state prosecutor Jackson Watts, to risking the federal judgeship she's worked her whole life for, to exposing a dark family secret that could save her niece or destroy them both ...
Cover a bit bent
A novel about murder, trust and exposing a dark family secret as attorney Caroline Masters is summoned back home to New England to defend her 22-year old niece against murder charges.
Caroline Masters, who has just been appointed to the Court of Appeals by the President, is summoned home to New Hampshire to defend her niece, arrested for the particularly grisly murder of her lover. Caroline, who had broken with her family some 20 years ago, finds the carefully compartmentalized existence she has built coming apart as her efforts to clear her niece threaten to reveal a series of family secrets long suppressed. The courtroom scenes are vivid, tense and convincing.
Caroline is no simple heroine: increasingly desperate to identify the real killer, she steps outside the law to secure evidence. And the resolution of the case surprises with quiet conviction. This somber novel is both an ingenious mystery and a moving exploration of the ways in which silence and fear can destroy a family. -- Salon
Caroline is no simple heroine: increasingly desperate to identify the real killer, she steps outside the law to secure evidence. And the resolution of the case surprises with quiet conviction. This somber novel is both an ingenious mystery and a moving exploration of the ways in which silence and fear can destroy a family. -- Salon
Blue blood New England Family & murder are the theme.
I love Richard North Paterson books with Caroline in them. This was a very good whodunit with past and present stories being told at the same time.
Long estranged from her blue-blooded New England family, attorney Caroline Masters is summoned home to defend her niece against charges of murder. Police found twenty-two year old Brett Allen blood-splattered and incoherent near the scene of the crime, the weapon covered with her fingerprints. Caroline has doubts of her own about Brett's innocence. But as the sensational trial heats up, she'll find disturbing inconsistencies in the testimony of the prosecution's star witness and find herself facing some of the toughest challenges of her life and career - from trusting her former lover, state prosecutor Jackson Watts, to risking the federal judgeship she's worked her whole life for, toe exposing a dark family secret that could save her niece or destroy them both...
May 21, 1971. 2 New York City patrolmen are returning after a domestic disturbance call. They are ambushed from behind, and killed.....
Thriller / murder mystery.
I give this one a 4 out of 5.
First Ballantine Books Domestic Edition January 1997, 500+ pages. Different cover than stock photo.
