The Senator's Daughter

When a prominent Boston union figure is murdered, defense attorney Taylor Brooke's fight to protect her client leads to a struggle to save her own life

Eye-catching Victoria Gotti, daughter of Godfather John Gotti, debuts as an accomplished thriller writer. Does Gotti's first novel feature her ties to her father? Well, John Gotti is here, but only psychically, in the form of two characters in conflict with each other. In DeCiccio's Restaurant on Boston's wharf, union strongman Joseph Sessio (read: John Gotti) is shot twice through the head. The power vacuum is filled by distinguished Senator Frank Morgan of Massachusetts (read: John Gotti), who was ushered into prominence long years before with union money derived in part from his father's old ties with the union as a bootlegger (the union moved his booze). The heroine is blond Taylor Brooke, a serious young lawyer with a pricey Boston firm who is tapped to defend Tommy Washington, the 19-year-old black busboy accused of shooting Sessio. But word is out that the rubout was set up by Sessio's son Mike, who wanted to take over his father's empire. Taylor finds herself befriended by the handsome, sensual, art-fancying Sessio, who tells her that he doesn't believe Washington killed his father. Thus, the murdered man's son is helping the defending attorney get his falsely accused father's murderer acquitted, although this points the finger only more strongly at himself. Taylor's background: Her mother was abandoned by her married lover, Frank Morgan (before he became senator), then became the alcoholic victim of a vehicular homicide. Taylor was raised in a Catholic girls' orphanage in Fall River, married and then fled from an abusive husband, assumed a new identity in Boston and, her career secretly underwritten by her guilt-ridden father, became a lawyer. Now dad hopes to mend fences. But bad people and a car-bomber are out to kill Taylor, as is her knife-bearing husband. Surprisingly effective throughout, until the parricidal final pages, which fly by too fast for credibility even for melodrama. Flashy but powerful. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Surprisingly, the daughter of the infamous gangster John Gotti is not resting on her famous name here. Instead, she has written a tightly crafted, entertaining suspense novel filled with surprising twists and turns. When union leader Joseph Sessio is murdered, Taylor Brooke, a young and beautiful district attorney, is assigned to defend Tommy Washington, the black youth accused of the crime. Feeling that Washington has been set up, Brooke begins an investigation that uncovers possible corruption in the district attorney's office and begins to doubt the loyalty of many of her colleagues. In the meantime, the murdered Sessio's son (who has not been ruled out as a suspect) has been insinuating himself into Brooke's life, although she has a haunting feeling that he is not to be trusted either. To top all of this off, she is being stalked by a murderous psychopath (her ex-husband), who is being paid by the bad guys to distract Taylor from her investigation. Gotti does a good job of creating a suspenseful, paranoia-filled setting. Kathleen Hughes

Someone has murdered Joe Sessio, head of the largest dock union in Boston, and attorney Taylor Brooke is determined to clear her client, Tommy Washington, of the charge. Realizing that Tommy has been set up, Taylor must question the motives of all the key players connected to the case. How can she possibly have romantic feelings for Michael Sessio, who may be involved in his father's death but who also provides her with pertinent information about Tommy's innocence? Why is her father, Senator Frank Morgan, suddenly back in her life after abandoning her as a child? Is the district attorney's office involved in a cover-up regarding the case? When her apartment is ransacked and her car explodes with someone else in it, Taylor knows that her life is in peril and that she can trust no one. In her first novel, Gotti (daughter of crime boss John Gotti) offers shady characters, intrigue, and romance galore with a mystery that keeps one wondering until the end. Recommended for popular fiction collections.?Mary Ellen Elsbernd, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.