The Associate - Softcover

Margolin, Phillip

Softcover

ISBN 10: 006621405X ISBN 13: 9780066214054

Publisher: Harper, 2001

Synopsis

A mesmerizing tale of deceit and criminal stealth in the high-stakes world of pharmaceutical research from Phillip Margolin, the New York Times bestselling master of the courtroom thriller.

Daniel Ames is living the American dream. After an improvished youth, he's now an associate at Reed, Briggs -- Portland's most prestigious law firm -- earning more money than he ever imagined possible.

Then Aaron Flynn, a charismatic civil litigator, sues Reed, Brigg's biggest client for manufacturing a drug that he claims causes unspeakable birth defects. Daniel is certain the claim has no merit -- but as he begins to investigate, his world comes tumbling down around him. His work is sabataged, he's accused of professional imcomptence, and he's fired. Twelve hours later he's arrested for murder.

Daniel scrambles to clear his name and save his reputation -- and in the process unearths a trail of deceit that leads back to a series of unsolved kidnappings seven years earlier. But someone doesn't want this trail explored, and Daniel becomes the target of a vicious killer who will stop at nothing to prevent the truth from being revealed.

About this title

Review:

Daniel Ames, a blue-collar associate at a preppy, white-shoe law firm, gets snookered by a pretty colleague into reviewing thousands of pages of documents. The client, a pharmaceutical company, is charged with falsifying test results on a new drug that appears to cause horrendous birth defects. Daniel is sure the company didn't do it, but among all the documents he overlooks a letter that could destroy his client's defense. The opposing counsel gets hold of it, and the next thing you know, Daniel's smack in the middle of a murder as well as the attendant legal fraud and chicanery. Who else, besides its manufacturer, wants the truth about the drug trials covered up? Whose body, charred almost beyond recognition, was found in the lab along with a score of dead test monkeys? And what's the connection between a double kidnapping and murder that happened years ago in Arizona and the headline-grabbing lawyer that's trying to pin the blame on Daniel's client for the drug's terrible effects?

Phillip Margolin, author of seven previous bestsellers (including Wild Justice), is clearly venturing into John Grisham territory here. Although he rarely probes beneath the surface of his central characters, he spins an electrifying yarn in this provocative thriller. --Jane Adams

About the Author:

Phillip Margolin has written nineteen novels, many of them New York Times bestsellers, including his latest novels Woman with a Gun, Worthy Brown’s Daughter, Sleight of Hand, and the Washington trilogy. Each displays a unique, compelling insider’s view of criminal behavior, which comes from his long background as a criminal defense attorney who has handled thirty murder cases. Winner of the Distinguished Northwest Writer Award, he lives in Portland, Oregon.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 006621405X
• ISBN 13: 9780066214054
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 416