First Offense

Barely surviving a shooting attack by the man she believes is her missing husband, probation officer Ann Carlisle follows the investigation of the drug dealer she supervises while struggling against a corrupt criminal justice system. 150,000 first printing. $150,000 ad/promo. Tour.

America's most popular champion of vigilantism ( Mitigating Circumstances ) returns with another button-pushing melodrama showing how a spunky heroine who takes the law into her own hands can bring down any villain. Rosenberg's new angel of vengeance is California probation officer Ann Carlisle, beautiful blonde and single mom. Ann doesn't kill for justice, as one previous Rosenberg heroine did; she merely illegally breaks-and-enters in order to get her man. But the author makes up for the relatively demure action by linking it to a mug book's worth of the law's failures, including a wrongly convicted felon, a sadistic cop and an overly ambitious DA. The busy plot buzzes with suspense and intrigue: Was it Ann's new drug-dealing probationer who shot her in the shoulder? Is it he who breaks into her house and molests her? Why is her prosecutor-paramour so eager to see an accused rapist behind bars? And has Ann's cop-husband, missing for four years, returned from the grave to make cryptic phone calls? Just when readers will have figured all the angles, savvy Rosenberg unveils the villain and flips the plot into an exciting manhunt, with Ann as bait. Offering plenty of sex and violence--and violent sex--plus a vigorous plucking of heartstrings, Rosenberg notches up another crowd-pleasing page-turner. Paperback rights to Signet; Literary Guild main selection; audio to Penguin HighBridge; author tour.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A bestselling track record and some hot sex scenarios can't mask the fact that Rosenberg's latest legal-action thriller is a clunker. When her highway patrolman husband, Hank, disappeared, probation officer Ann Carlisle came apart at the seams. Now, four years later, her 12-year-old son, David, has nightmares, wets his bed, and is eating himself into a fat slug. But Ann is beginning to get her life back. She's dating rugged, ostentatiously wealthy assistant DA Glen Hopkins, whose mama is a powerhouse judge, and though David hates him, the sex is great; they even do it in the stairwell of the courthouse. Then Ann is shot outside the courthouse, and again her world turns upside down. Ann's probationer Jimmy Sawyer, a drug dealer who saved her life, is charged with the crime and immediately smears Ann, saying they had an affair that went sour. Ann is getting harassing phone calls from a man who sounds like Hank, and she is forced to remember that her marriage was less than idyllic. Hank liked to smack her around--but did he shoot her? Ann fears she'll antagonize Glen because she's uncovered evidence that may free a rapist he's locked up, and Tommy Reed, a macho Keystone-like cop, smothers her with concern. Like assistant DA Lily Forrester of Mitigating Circumstances (1993), who kills the man she thinks raped her and her daughter, Ann is a victim who tries to go on the offensive. But her actions are obscured by her girlish, namby-pamby ways and her deference to the men she loves. Rosenberg is a former probation officer whose obnoxious promo material tells us she was raped in college and therefore knows how victims feel. She offers a glimpse into a probation officer's gritty day-to-day activities, but it's not very interesting. Cartoon characters, psychobabble, and a helpless heroine who's oblivious to the culprit right under her nose. Skip the book and wait to rent the movie on a very slow weekend. (Literary Guild main selection; author tour) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Action dominates Rosenberg's third novel: Within a very few pages, for instance, probation officer Ann Carlisle affronts a sexist judge, engages in steamy sex in a county-building stairwell, and is shot. Deeply involved with impulsive, controlling Assistant District Attorney Glen Hopkins, Ann also juggles her career and motherhood. Mother and young son are grieving over the disappearance of Ann's police officer husband, a wound time seems unable to heal. Though Ann and David have good support, primarily from Det. Sgt. Tom Reed, surrogate father and grandfather, the Carlisles must ultimately confront their personal problems on their own even as a killer pursues Ann, whose escalating professional difficulties raise serious questions about the judicial system. Unfortunately, the intense reader identification these factors should generate never surfaces. Despite the fast pace and the detailed background, Ann Carlisle remains a somewhat interesting but not truly engaging protagonist. For popular mystery collections.
--Jane S. Bakerman, Indiana State Univ., Terre Haute
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Rosenberg is on a roll. Her new thriller is even better than her two 1993 novels, Mitigating Circumstances and Interest of Justice. It's got all the right ingredients to ensure commercial success: a heroine with moxie, some hot sex scenes, fast-paced action, plenty of suspense, and a happy ending. Probation officer Ann Carlisle's husband, a highway patrolman, disappeared mysteriously four years ago, and it's been tough for Ann and her 12-year-old son to put their lives back together. A new love interest plus a heavy caseload at work are just beginning to help heal Ann's wounds when she becomes involved in a narcotics trial that will unravel her life all over again. Jimmy Sawyer, a spoiled rich kid, is convicted of selling drugs, and Ann is assigned to serve as his probation officer. But the minute Sawyer is out on bail, Ann is shot and nearly raped, her house is burglarized, her son is threatened, and she begins receiving mysterious phone calls from a man who sounds exactly like her supposedly dead husband. Rosenberg spins a "can't-put-it-down" story that's sure to generate plenty of requests. A main selection of the Literary Guild. Emily Melton