Act Of God - Softcover

TEMPLETON, Charles

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0751569771 ISBN 13: 9780751569773

Publisher: McClelland, 1977

Synopsis

A bomb destroys a medical centre in Seattle, killing over a hundred staff and patients. While no-one claims responsibility, the centre has been the target of anti-abortionists and the authorities are sure that pro-life campaigners are behind the attack, a view that is swiftly reinforced when various pieces of evidence lead them to arrest Lieutenant Corey Hamlin, whose wife aborted his child when he was away at sea. Dana McAuliffe is asked to defend Hamlin, a task she instinctively wants to decline, but when she meets the accused man she quickly discerns that the case against him is far from water-tight and that he is in all probablity innocent. As the trial draws closer she also realises that both she and her client are being manipulated by political forces with scant regard for justice: they are wanting the trial to be on the abortion issue itself and are quite prepared to drag in her own life and secrets to get the result they want. With her personal and professional life on the line, as well as trying to keep an innocent man from the electric chair, Dana has to find the real perpetrator of the bombing outrage if they are to have any chance of survival.

About this title

About the Author

Susan Sloan was a practising defence lawyer on the east coast before the success of her first novel allowed her to 'retire' to an island off the coast of Washington state.

From AudioFile

Pamela Nyberg's soft, low-pitched voice and neutral approach are boons to this politically charged presentation. One hundred-seventy-six people have perished in the bombing of a Seattle clinic that, among many social services, provides abortions. A squeaky clean naval officer whose wife secretly aborted is a likely suspect. Defense attorney Dana McAuliffe must deal with a despised client, an unscrupulous journalist, jurors with agendas, and bosses who don't want her to succeed. This is a long story, full of characters and subplots; most of both will stick with you, thanks to the even-handed and well-paced reading. Some characters get voices, and some don't; male voices are lower, Southern accents appear for fundamentalists, and Nyberg gives the defendant's wife a hard edge to suggest that all is not well there. You probaby won't guess the ending, so keep listening. J.B.G. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: McClelland
• Publication date: 1977
• ISBN 10: 0751569771
• ISBN 13: 9780751569773
• Binding: Paperback