October 18, 2010
San Francisco homicide chief Abe Glitsky takes on a particularly nasty villain in Lescroart's hair-raising 16th novel featuring Glitsky and lawyer Dismas Hardy (after A Plague of Secrets). After Ro Curtlee serves 10 years of a long prison sentence for the rape and murder of one of his family's housekeepers, an appeals court orders a new trial and his wealthy and powerful parents post bail of $10 million for his release. Cocky and ruthless, Curtlee eliminates one of the witnesses who testified against him and threatens Glitsky's family, while his parents, who own San Francisco's #2 newspaper, and their favorite columnist, Sheila Marrenas, apply other kinds of pressure to new DA Wes Farrell, among others. Either influence or lack of hard evidence frustrates every move Glitsky and his colleagues make to try to nail Curtlee. What at first appears to be a stunningly stark black-and-white portrayal reveals many subtle shadings by book's end.

November 15, 2010

Ten years after his conviction, a legal technicality sets a murderous rapist free, with predictably disastrous results.

Everyone who matters knows that Roland Curtlee raped at least three Guatemalan servants in his wealthy parents' employ and killed one of them. The moment a San Francisco judge sets him free on the grounds that the buttons with photos of Dolores Sandoval that supporters of the victim wore to the courthouse were unreasonably prejudicial, the violence resumes. Felicia Nuñez, another domestic who testified against him, is strangled and her apartment set ablaze. Even though her corpse is naked except for her shoes—a signature preference of Ro's—there's no physical evidence linking him to the crime scene. Nor is there any hard evidence when psychiatrist Janice Durbin, the wife of the jury foreman who argued for Ro's conviction, is found dead under remarkably similar circumstances. Since rookie D.A. Wes Farrell, who'd been convinced that it would amount to special pleading to encourage a local judge to deny Ro's bail application, appears helpless, homicide chief Abe Glitsky takes it on himself to put pressure on Ro, a tactic that only gives Ro's father, newspaper publisher Cliff Curtlee, new ammunition against what his pet columnist Sheila Marrenas calls the police state Glitsky represents. Aided by Eztli, the Curtlee super-butler, Ro meanwhile continues his reign of terror, killing an investigator who's tailing him, slashing the paintings of Janice's distraught husband Michael, poisoning Farrell's dog and setting his sights on the one remaining rape victim who testified in his original trial.

Lescroart's habitual fondness for hot-button–issue thrillers (Treasure Hunt, 2010, etc.) sets an irresistible hook. But although the plot is a barn-burner, it never offers any special insight on how or whether to keep convicted criminals from going free. Not that enraptured readers will notice.

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

November 1, 2010

Ro Curtlee, son of wealthy and connected San Francisco newspaper owners, has been in jail for many years after his conviction for rape and murder. After enough pressure is put on high-ranking officials, Ro is sprung from jail on a technicality while he awaits a new trial. Almost immediately, more murders happen; a major witness in the first trial against Ro and the jury foreman's wife are both killed in strikingly similar fashion. Although Ro is the obvious suspect, the influence of his parents is worth more than the minimal evidence against him, and he remains free on bail. With Lescroart series staple homicide head Abe Glitsky working to put the bad guy behind bars, readers are in for a nail-biting good time. Wes Farrell, a former law partner of Dismas Hardy and now the city's newly elected district attorney, must also find a balance among his friends, his ethics, and his job security. VERDICT Lescroart (A Plague of Secrets; Betrayal) fans will be pleased with his latest; although this is not a Dismas Hardy book, he is involved. Other readers who enjoy legal thrillers will be entertained by this carefully woven suspense novel. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 8/10.]--Amanda Scott, Cambridge Springs P.L., PA

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2010
Wes Farrell, the lawyer who appeared in A Certain Justice (1995) and Guilt (1997), has a new job: he is San Fransiscos new district attorney. And his first case looks like its going to be a doozy. Ten years ago, Roland Curtlee, scion of a wealthy and powerful family, was convicted of the rape and murder of a family employee. Now hes been let out pending a retrial (on what seems an especially nit-picky technicality). When the first trials chief witness appears to be killed in a house fire, and someone else involved in the case dies under similar circumstances, Wes must fend off pressure from the Curtlee family and find the truth in a case thats full of confusion and lies. Naturally, he turns to his old friend and colleague, Abe Glitsky, the homicide cop who acts as a sort of link between the Farrell novels and Lescroarts series featuring attorney Dismas Hardy (who also appears, in a minor role, in this book). Another solid, well-constructed legal thriller from the popular author. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Hows this for a track record: more than 8.5 million copies of Lescroarts novels have been sold in the past decade, and his books have been translated into 16 languages in more than 75 countries. Piggy-backing on all that, his latest will profit from a six-figure marketing campaign.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)

November 15, 2010

Ten years after his conviction, a legal technicality sets a murderous rapist free, with predictably disastrous results.

Everyone who matters knows that Roland Curtlee raped at least three Guatemalan servants in his wealthy parents' employ and killed one of them. The moment a San Francisco judge sets him free on the grounds that the buttons with photos of Dolores Sandoval that supporters of the victim wore to the courthouse were unreasonably prejudicial, the violence resumes. Felicia Nu�ez, another domestic who testified against him, is strangled and her apartment set ablaze. Even though her corpse is naked except for her shoes--a signature preference of Ro's--there's no physical evidence linking him to the crime scene. Nor is there any hard evidence when psychiatrist Janice Durbin, the wife of the jury foreman who argued for Ro's conviction, is found dead under remarkably similar circumstances. Since rookie D.A. Wes Farrell, who'd been convinced that it would amount to special pleading to encourage a local judge to deny Ro's bail application, appears helpless, homicide chief Abe Glitsky takes it on himself to put pressure on Ro, a tactic that only gives Ro's father, newspaper publisher Cliff Curtlee, new ammunition against what his pet columnist Sheila Marrenas calls the police state Glitsky represents. Aided by Eztli, the Curtlee super-butler, Ro meanwhile continues his reign of terror, killing an investigator who's tailing him, slashing the paintings of Janice's distraught husband Michael, poisoning Farrell's dog and setting his sights on the one remaining rape victim who testified in his original trial.

Lescroart's habitual fondness for hot-button-issue thrillers (Treasure Hunt, 2010, etc.) sets an irresistible hook. But although the plot is a barn-burner, it never offers any special insight on how or whether to keep convicted criminals from going free. Not that enraptured readers will notice.

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)