DEAD EVEN
By Brad Meltzer
Weisbach/Morrow, $25
Fast on the heels of his successful debut novel, “The Tenth Justice,” Brad Meltzer comes back with an even stronger effort that should catch the eye of every John Grisham devotee.
The plot is a true original, pitting a married couple, both lawyers, against each other. On the day Sara Tate starts her job as a New York assistant district attorney, massive budget cuts in the system threaten to leave her unemployed. Desperate to save her job, she grabs a case that is headed to one of the office’s hotshots, hoping to make a name for herself. At first glance, the case looks like nothing special: a simple breaking and entering. The next day, however, Sara finds out that her husband, Jared, has been hired to be the defense attorney. The suspense starts to mount when Sara is told by a mysterious stranger that her husband will die if she loses the case. Meanwhile, Jared is told the same thing by his sleazy client, who adds emphasis to the threat by smacking Jared around his plush office. Unable to get out of the case or talk about the threats, husband and wife go at it tooth and nail in court and at home in their attempts to win their cases and save the other’s life. The marital fallout is intense, and things only get worse as nasty accidents begin happening to key witnesses and family members.
Meltzer has come up with a gem of a plot; it’s so strong, in fact, that it breezes along in high gear despite the fact that Sara and Jared are not particularly likable heroes. Plenty of slimy villains increase the pleasure for this highly recommended suspenser.
THE SECOND SUSPECT
By Heather Lewis
Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, $22.95
This noir-like thriller opens with a jolt: Socialite Ingrid Santerre calls the police to a plush hotel room she shares with her husband. When the cops arrive, they find the body of a young prostitute stuffed into a suitcase. Assigned to the case is New York police detective Caroline Reese, who soon discovers that Ingrid’s creepy husband, Gabriel, likes to play murderous sexual games with the local call girls. In a nice turn of events, Gabriel sets up his weak-willed wife for the murder rap.
Once in jail, Ingrid shuts up like a clam and the only information Reese can get out of her is about Lynn Carver, a young prostitute with a heroin craving who escaped with her life from one of Gabriel’s games. Reese tracks her down in hopes of finding a witness to the games and of finding out how many more women might be dead. What Reese soon learns is that Gabriel has connections to political bigshots and that she can only proceed at risk to her career, a career that is already in jeopardy due to some nasty events in her past.
While it occasionally suffers from too strong a noir influence, “The Second Suspect” is a sleek piece of storytelling that should interest fans of Jim Thompson’s and James Ellroy’s.
IN THE NIGHT SEASON
By Richard Bausch
HarperCollins, $24
After the accidental death of her husband, Jack, Nora Michaelson and their 11-year-old son, Jason, not only have to adjust to the loss but also to the failing of their family business. Nora strikes up a friendship with a black TV repairman, Edward Bishop, and this relationship offends the neighbors in their small Virginia town. Bishop and Michaelson begin to receive hate mail from the local white supremacist, and the plot takes a strange turn when the two are taken captive and terrorized in their homes. Nora’s parents are also taken hostage, and the reader begins to realize there’s more at work here than just small-town racism. The real motive turns out to involve a bunch of Jack’s old Army buddies and some stolen computer chips.
The book’s skewed plotting has a disorienting effect: One moment we’re reading a thriller with an interracial love story at its center, the next we’re dealing with a German black-market racketeer and his nasty lackeys who will stop at nothing to get the computer chips. There are plenty of grisly moments, but Richard Bausch, the acclaimed author of “Rebel Powers” and “Violence,” seems strangely detached from the material. It’s hard to know how to take this tale, but one thing is for sure: It’s far-flung parts never fit together in a satisfying way.
THE JUDAS CHILD
By Carol O’Connell
Putnam, $24.95
Best known for her series of books featuring Kathleen Mallory, Carol O’Connell has raised the standard for psychological thrillers over the last four years. And while her latest does not use Mallory as a main character, it has more than enough darkness and tension to make fans of Mallory take notice.
The story begins with the abduction of two small girls from a New York town a few days before Christmas. What makes the disappearance even more painful is its resemblance to one that took place 15 years earlier, when a young girl disappeared and her badly abused body was found on Christmas. A local priest was sent to jail for that murder, but the new abductions have raised questions about his guilt in the minds of at least two people in the community: Rouge Kendall, a local cop and twin brother of the murdered girl, and Ali Cray, a forensic psychologist. Both set out to learn the truth, and their search takes them into a kind of small-town heart of darkness.
“The Judas Child” is solidly crafted, and O’Connell has created a particularly poignant character in Kendall, who is haunted by his sister’s death. His determination to face the demons of his past makes this a compelling tale.
