False Accusations

Dr. Phillip Madison's privileged life is turned upside down when he is charged with double homicide in a brutal hit-and-run that takes the lives of a young couple, a crime that is linked to him by forensic evidence and eyewitness testimony and for which he has no alibi. A first novel. 50,000 first printing.

An apparent hit-and-run accident involving a car he owns results in a charge of vehicular manslaughter against an orthopedic surgeon in this laborious debut by California medical evaluator Jacobson. Two people die in what turns out to be a deliberate killing in a minority neighborhood in Sacramento, and Philip Madison's Mercedes is sighted as the vehicle, although he claims he was home in bed asleep, an alibi he can't prove. After he is arrested, Madison's attorney hires PI Ryan Chandler, an ace forensic investigator who will turn out to be the white knight of this narrative. Madison is already in trouble up to his neck: a beautiful but unstable volunteer worker for a mental health organization that Madison serves as president has suddenly and illogically accused him of rape. In the fallout from Brittany Harding's accusation, Madison's wife leaves him, taking the kids. It becomes clear quickly, as Brittany's emotional problems are drawn in large and stereotypically shrill outline, that she is the real killer. With all tension thus removed from the story, the author trots out some recent technological gains in forensics?saliva from the rim of a beer can for DNA sampling, retrieving and comparing Brittany's lip prints from a cigarette. There is far too much information about the novel's myriad cast of minor characters; numerous subplots add little to the main story; and a smattering of pharmaceutical and medical jargon essentially extends the slim material but does not enliven it. Moreover, Brittany's vindictive behavior is never explained; she merely acts out of female delusional fantasies. The trial is flat and predictably melodramatic. Jacobson's prose can best be described as wooden and graceless. This clunky attempt proves that forensic knowledge does not a writer make. Foreign rights sold to Denmark, Great Britain, Holland, Germany, Norway and Sweden; author tour.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A debut suspenser that takes something from Patricia Cornwell, something from John Grisham, and manages a bland blend of both. Like E.A Robinson's Richard Cory, Dr. Phillip Madison, orthopedic surgeon, glitters when he walks. A talented, caring physicianthey don't call him King of Sacramento General Hospital for nothinghe is, in fact, a medical golden boy. At home, he has a beautiful, appreciative wife and two adorable children. But thriller writers specialize in turning gold into dross, and in a blink there's poor Phil arrested, charged with vehicular homicide, and hauled off to jail. Two people have been run down and left for deadand theres not much doubt that the killer car belonged to Phillip. Moreover, he has no alibi. A worrisome situation, Jeffrey Hellman, his friend and lawyer, tells him, while proclaiming enduring belief in Phillip's innocence. If Phillip is innocent, though, then he must have been framed. But by whom? To Phillip the answer is obvious: Brittany Harding. Hired by Phillip to fill a key hospital job, Brittany seemed at the time a perfect fit. The braininess, however, is merely packagingfor a female viper. Complaints about her arrogance and rudeness mount, and soon Phillip has to tell her the hiring might have been a mistake. She goes ballistic. Faster than you can say Catherine de Medici, she becomes a stalker, degrades his life, accuses him of rape, and ends, he insists, by planting the evidence that has him facing 20 years. Beleaguered, he enlists the aid of forensic investigator Ryan Chandler (that's the Cornwell part). Ryan finds the critical DNA evidence that results in Phillip's release and Brittany's jailing. She goes on trial big-time (the Grisham part). Will she be convicted? Will she walk? What is justice in Brittany's case? Good questions, but the characters, meanwhile, are stick figures and the plottings unconvincingincluding the final twist, which in its awkwardness is more irritating than breathtaking. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Phillip Madison, a wealthy and generous surgeon, finds himself the target of a vengeful woman looking for a quick dollar. Brittany Harding was fired for her bad attitude and insensitivity to the clients of the Consortium for Citizens with Mental Retardation. She blames Madison and retaliates with accusations of assault, sexual harassment, and rape. The pressure is such that her extortion of $50,000 works. The discovery that Brittany has done this before results in her having to return the money, whereupon she relaunches her hate campaign. When two people are victims of a hit-and-run and all physical evidence points to Phillip, he asks Jeffrey Hellman, his attorney, and Ryan Chandler, a friend and ex-policeman, to prove that Brittany has set him up again. The piecing together of facts that the police have overlooked results in a suspenseful and intriguing tale. First-novelist Jacobson writes with the confidence of firsthand courtroom experience. Essential for suspense and thriller collections.?Jo Ann Vicarel, Cleveland Heights-University Heights P.L., OH
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.