Suspicion of Betrayal - Hardcover

Parker, Barbara

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0525944680 ISBN 13: 9780525944683

Publisher: Dutton Adult, 1999

Synopsis

Attorney Gail Connor finds her happy, successful life turned upside down by a stalker who pursues and then abducts her eleven-year-old daughter and joins forces with her jealous ex-husband and new fiance+a7 to find Karen and deliver their own brand of justice. 40,000 first printing. Tour.

About this title

About the Author

Barbara Parker is a former prosecutor with the state attorney's office in Dade County, Florida.

Reviews

Miami lawyer Gail Connor (Suspicion of Deceit), 34, is tough and aggressive ("the only recourse," she says, "is to be a bigger s.o.b. than the next guy"), and as this gripping, dark story unfolds, it's easy to see why somebody is out to get her. Divorced and in a custody battle with her combative ex-husband for their 10-year-old daughter, Karen, Gail is about to be married to Anthony Quintana, a top criminal lawyer from a powerful Cuban-American family that may have ties to organized crime. Gail is also handling a nasty divorce case for Jamie Sweet, whose husband, Wendell, has shady business dealings that might link Quintana to some illegal businesses in Colombia. Gail begins to get menacing phone calls and her car is vandalized. Then Karen is threatened with a grisly death. Who is responsible? As the threats mount and her law practice threatens to spin out of control, Gail begins to have serious doubts about both her ex-husband and Quintana. With a fine combination of romance, cultural clashes and police procedure, plus some razor-sharp portraits, this story develops into a riveting thriller whose only flaw is that the author may tip her hand a bit too early. Author tour.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

How can you tell that Miami lawyer Gail Connor is being lied to again? Because her ears are open, as they are to no avail throughout this fourth round of her legal-cum-domestic travails. At first Gail thinks the metallic-sounding voice threatening her over the phone must belong to Payton Cunningham, the neighborhood kid she chased out of her yard after he kissed her daughter Karen, 11. But would a teenager really identify himself as Death, send her doctored photographs threatening Karen and herself, as well as roses offering condolences for Karen's (nonexistent) death accompanied by a card signed by Gail's murdered sister Renee, or decapitate Karen's pet kitten? No kid could have such an animus, Gail decides. But if the perp isn't Payton, who is? The field of apparently innocuous men surrounding Gailmen who suddenly reveal potentially murderous depths beneath their smiling surfacesis worthy of Mary Higgins Clark. There's Wendell Sweet, the oilman husband who's doing his best to divorce Gail's earthy client without leaving her a cent. There's Simon Yancey, the disgruntled victim of a mortgage foreclosure Gail handled years back. There's Charlie Jenkins, the contractor who magically turned up one day to work on restoring the house Gail's purchased with her fianc, well-connected Cuban attorney Anthony Quintana (Suspicion of Deceit, 1998). There's Hector Mesa, the sinister friend and courier to the Pedrosas, Anthony's wealthy family. And for good measure, there's Anthony himself, looking awfully hot-headed now that there's pressure on his bride-to-be, and Dave Metzger, Gail's ex, who's bobbed up from his Caribbean sojourn to sue Gail for custody of Karen. All right, the real culprit isn't worth a second shudder. Until the disappointing denouement, though, Parker piles on the menace with all the smooth efficiency of the storied Pedrosas. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

A prominent lawyer who has just left one of the biggest Miami firms to open her own office, Gail Connor is used to stressful situations. She's in the middle of a nasty divorce and bitter custody battle, has moved into a new house that needs major renovations, and is engaged to another well-known Miami lawyer. As if this isn't enough, a stranger is calling Gail and threatening her 11-year-old daughter's life. Parker (Suspicion of Deceit, LJ 1/98) has written another suspenseful story that keeps the reader guessing until the very end. Despite some slow patches, it's intriguing enough to be recommended for all public libraries.
-AStacey Reasor, ITT Technical Inst. Lib., Tampa, FL
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Dutton Adult
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0525944680
• ISBN 13: 9780525944683
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 347