The Codicil

When a New York telecommunications magnate shocks his family by leaving half of his estate to a child he fathered in Vietnam, a street-smart former lawyer must find out whether the child is still alive.

Topor's pulse-quickening thriller has the earmarks of hot sales. The premise is a taut battle of wills?of the legal variety?as vividly drawn characters discover that public men often conceal private pasts. To the displeasure and disbelief of a deceased millionaire's widow and three kids, their late husband/father added a codicil to his will bequeathing half of his considerable estate to a child he fathered in Vietnam?if the youngster can be found alive. The estate attorneys hire Adam Bruno, a criminal lawyer turned detective, to locate Matthew Marshall's child, as the will dictates, hoping that he'll fumble the assignment. Marshall had spent his third and final visit to 'Nam vainly searching for Cricket, the Vietnamese girl with whom he had fallen in love. Bruno's visit to Marshall's upstate N.Y. cabin retreat provides leads to Marshall's Vietnam connections, and an additional boost comes in the form of anonymous mailings of old letters from an imprisoned Viet Minh officer that imply Cricket escaped to the U.S. with Matt's child. Bruno hires Nicole Maldonado, a beautiful Puerto Rican-Vietnamese interpreter, who gleans more insights from the letters than mere translations of the words. He also attempts to track down Matt's war buddies, but the plot thickens as veterans Bruno interviews turn up dead after his reports to the executors. Topor (Coda) builds excruciating tension in this page-turner, with rock solid plotting leading readers through a maze of shocking surprises few will see coming.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Matthew Marshall, founder of a telecommunications empire, had it all-a beautiful wife and children, houses in Corfu, Telluride, and Antigua-and appears to have been it all-war hero, self-made man, and generous donor to charity. However, his untimely death and a strange codicil added to his will a few weeks before his death stipulating that half of his estate go to an unknown daughter cast doubt on much of his life. Adam Bruno, an erstwhile lawyer who is investigating the existence of the daughter, discovers that Marshall commanded great loyalty from those who knew him but revealed little of himself in return. The only clues lie in a remote cabin in upstate New York that serves as a memorial to Marshall's experiences in the Vietnam War. Topor (Coda, LJ 11/1/84) deftly creates a cast of complex characters in this compelling suspense yarn. For most popular collections.
Cynthia Johnson, Cary Memorial Lib., Lexington, Mass.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Topor may not be well known, but it was his fine screenplay for The Accused that helped actress Jodie Foster win an Oscar. Topor's new book would make a terrific movie, too--maybe with Harrison Ford playing the hero, street-smart lawyer Adam Bruno, who's been hired to track down the illegitimate child fathered by multimillionaire businessman Matthew Marshall in Vietnam during the war. Now that Marshall's dead of a stroke, his wife and three grown children can't wait to get their hands on his $100 million estate. Imagine their shock when they find out Marshall had recently added a codicil to his will leaving half his money to his love child--if the child is still alive and can be located. Enter Adam Bruno, tough, cynical, tenacious, and smart. Bruno wouldn't mind finding Marshall's kid, especially since it would make the ultrasnobbish Mrs. Marshall and her three rude offspring mad as hell. The trail to Vietnam and Marshall's past is littered with false leads, dead ends, and frustratingly little real evidence, but Bruno persists, and with the help of a beautiful Vietnamese American woman, finally unravels the complicated and heartbreaking story of Marshall's long-ago love affair. Topor's complex, taut, compelling story has best-seller written all over it, so expect high demand. Riveting reading. Emily Melton