Synopsis
- FORCING AMARYLLIS provides a new slant on courtroom mysteries. Louise Ure pulls back the curtain on jury consulting: the combination of psychology and marketing that has fascinated the nation in major courtroom battles since the O.J. Simpson trial.- The atmosphere of the Southwest is almost a character in this richly drawn novel, from the descriptions of the heat to the food and the landscape.- FORCING AMARYLLIS marks the debut of a sensational new talent. As a fourth generation Tucsonian, Louise Ure has a deep appreciation of the magic, the mystery, and the legends of the desert southwest, which endows this novel with potent and captivating details.
Reviews
Despite a clunky and obvious plot, Ure's first novel offers a surprisingly tender tale of sisterly vengeance. Trial consultant Calla Gentry must help ensure that Raymond Cates, the son of a wealthy Tucson, Ariz., rancher, is acquitted of the brutal rape and murder of a young woman he met at a bar. Unfortunately, Calla suspects that not only is Cates guilty but he may also be the perpetrator of a never-reported assault on Calla's sister, Amy (aka Amaryllis), seven years earlier. While Amy lies in a coma brought on by a suicide attempt following the near-fatal attack, Calla remains haunted by the specter of the unknown assailant who may or may not be her new client. Rather than refusing the case, she decides to seize the opportunity to lay her demons to rest. With the help of a few old friends and a romantically promising private detective, Calla turns sleuth, hoping to discover and bring to justice the man responsible for destroying her sister's life. While some readers may find the climax in which Calla walks into peril a tad unlikely, the exciting action should carry most through to the tidy conclusion.
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Ure's debut so compellingly evokes the hot, dry Southwest, readers may want to have an icy-cold glass of water nearby while reading it. Trial consultant Calla Gentry loves living in Tucson, despite the triple-digit heat, and she doesn't mind her job--as long as she can stick to civil cases. Inevitably, Calla's demanding boss insists she take on a criminal case--working for the defense team of accused rapist and murder Ray Cates. For Calla, whose sister Amaryllis was raped and nearly killed, and now sleeps in a coma following a suicide attempt, this task is almost unbearable. However, she needs the job and begins checking into Cates' background. To her horror, similarities between Cates and the man who attacked her sister begin to appear. Ethically bound to be on Cates' side in the criminal case, Calla must nonetheless investigate him and prove to herself that he is not Amaryllis' attacker. In the process, she must reopen the deep wounds of previous rape victims, who are her only hope of proving Cates' guilt. Ure, a Tucson native, clearly adores the city, and she brilliantly depicts its landscape, citizenry, and culture. This could be the start of a very special series. Jenny McLarin
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