In this latest entry in Barbara Parker's series featuring lawyers Gail Connor and Anthony Quintana, Gail gets guilt-tripped by an old family retainer into taking on a case everyone else warns her is not winnable, including her boyfriend, criminal attorney Anthony. But Gail, whose legal practice is primarily civil, nevertheless agrees to represent death-row inmate Kenny Ray Clark, scheduled to die by lethal injection in less than a month. Before she's even read the trial transcript, Gail is convinced Kenny Ray didn't stab Amber Dodson to death. Once she does read it, she's even more certain that he was done in by shoddy police work and poor lawyering, if nothing else.
Gail's no slouch at doing some guilt-tripping herself. She tells her besotted sweetheart that if he really loved her he'd help with Kenny Ray's appeal, and she's not above a little sexual teasing to make her point. Anthony agrees to help, which is lucky since Gail seesaws wildly from being confident she can keep Kenny from his date with the executioner to dissolving in tears when she's certain she can't.
The real culprit is clear from the outset--it's up to Gail and Anthony to get the goods on him. Most of the heat in this thriller comes from the couple's occasional clinches and the steamy Florida weather. Anthony Quintana, Gail's complex, sexy, Cuban-American boyfriend, gets a bit more ink than usual in this outing. That will delight fans who find him as fascinating as Connor. Unfortunately, freeing an innocent man from a date with the death chamber doesn't allow enough time for Anthony to carry out his plan to accompany his ailing grandfather back to the island of his birth; fans of the series will have to wait for the next book to find out what happens when he does. --Jane Adams
From Publishers Weekly
Once readers are pulled in by the intricate plot of Parker's eighth Gail Connor/Anthony Quintana legal thriller (after Suspicion of Innocence), they won't want to skip a word. The premise is simple enough: Gail is asked to take on the case of an old family friend's grandson, Kenny Ray Clark, who was convicted of the stabbing death of a housewife over a decade earlier, indirectly causing the death of her infant son. Now, after 11 years on death row, his appeals are about to run out. Anthony, Gail's on-again, off-again fianc‚, himself a high-powered Florida attorney, warns her of the futility of trying to save Clark. But Gail digs into the records and finds, among other things, a drunk defense attorney, a bogus confession and a witness who would have provided an alibi but was threatened by police. At the same time, she discovers skeletons in her own family's closet that seem to be linked to Clark's case, as well as a crooked real estate deal and some unsavory individuals who don't want her getting involved. With help from Anthony and her cousin Jackie, an idealistic young cop, she races to expose the flaws in the state's case and challenges the bureaucratic "conveyor belt" mentality of the death penalty. If Parker has an ax to grind here, it is the legal system's determination to put judicial procedure and the public's thirst for vengeance ahead of the sanctity of human life. She is a former prosecutor who knows her way around the system; her characters are complex and believable, all of which makes this multifaceted and thought-provoking mystery one of the better ones this year. (Aug. 6)Forecast: Parker hit bestseller lists with Suspicion of Betrayal and looks poised to do so again, having taken on a hot-button issue without being sensational or exploitative.Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Book Description
"Twelve years ago, in a coastal Florida town, a beautiful young wife and mother was savagely murdered. Kenny Ray Clark, a local troublemaker with a felony record, was quickly arrested, tried, found guilty and sentenced to death. When new evidence comes to light, Miami attorney Gail Connor agrees to take the case, although her fiancé, Anthony Quintana, a top criminal defense lawyer, warns her not to get involved. But one look at the trial transcript convinces Gail that her client was wrongfully convicted, and she will do everything in her power to stop the execution.
In a desperate race against time, Gail must overcome her pride to ask Anthony for help. Together, they push themselves and the law to the breaking point to find the real killer. But nothing can prepare them for the layers of greed, deception, and cruelty that lay hidden for so many years behind a brutal crime. And nothing can precent them from becomin the targets of terrible vengeance.
Filled with her trademark blend of adrenalin-charged plot, complex characters, and sizzling Florida atmosphere, Suspicion of Vengeance is bestselling author Barbara Parker at her galvanizing best.
About the Author
Barbara Parker is a former prosecutor with the state attorney's office in Dade County, Florida. She is the author of seven previous suspense novels, including the New York Times bestseller, Suspicion of Betrayal, and Suspicion of Innocence, a finalist for the Edgar Award for Best First Novel by an American Author.
Suspicion of Vengeance FROM OUR EDITORS
To win the release of a convicted murderer, Anthony Quintina and Gail Connor must not only prove his innocence; they must convince the community that convicted him that they are not freeing a dangerous killer. Uncovering plots under a scorching Florida sun.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Twelve years ago, in the quiet coastal town of Stuart, Florida, a beautiful young wife and mother was savagely murdered, stabbed twenty-seven times in her own bed one sunny morning. Kenny Ray Clark, a local troublemaker with a felony record, was quickly arrested, tried, found guilty, and sentenced to death. When new evidence comes to light, Miami attorney Gail Connor agrees to take the case, although her fiance, Anthony Quintana, a top criminal defense lawyer, warns her not to get involved. But one look at the trial transcript convinces Gail that her client was wrongfully convicted, and she will do everything in her power to stop the execution. Gail turns to her cousin Jackie Bryce, a rookie cop with the Stuart Police Department, to help her navigate the local terrain. Jackie is smart enough to know that the conviction stinks, and idealistic enough to care - even if it means crossing her own father, the county sheriff; and even if it brings her closer to discovering the awful truth about her parents' marriage and her mother's tragic end. In a desperate race against time, Gail must overcome her pride to ask Anthony for help. Together, they push themselves and the law to the breaking point to find the real killer. But nothing can prepare them for the layers of greed, deception, and cruelty that lay hidden for so many years behind a brutal crime. And nothing can prevent them from becoming the targets of a terrible vengeance.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Once readers are pulled in by the intricate plot of Parker's eighth Gail Connor/Anthony Quintana legal thriller (after Suspicion of Innocence), they won't want to skip a word. The premise is simple enough: Gail is asked to take on the case of an old family friend's grandson, Kenny Ray Clark, who was convicted of the stabbing death of a housewife over a decade earlier, indirectly causing the death of her infant son. Now, after 11 years on death row, his appeals are about to run out. Anthony, Gail's on-again, off-again fianc?, himself a high-powered Florida attorney, warns her of the futility of trying to save Clark. But Gail digs into the records and finds, among other things, a drunk defense attorney, a bogus confession and a witness who would have provided an alibi but was threatened by police. At the same time, she discovers skeletons in her own family's closet that seem to be linked to Clark's case, as well as a crooked real estate deal and some unsavory individuals who don't want her getting involved. With help from Anthony and her cousin Jackie, an idealistic young cop, she races to expose the flaws in the state's case and challenges the bureaucratic "conveyor belt" mentality of the death penalty. If Parker has an ax to grind here, it is the legal system's determination to put judicial procedure and the public's thirst for vengeance ahead of the sanctity of human life. She is a former prosecutor who knows her way around the system; her characters are complex and believable, all of which makes this multifaceted and thought-provoking mystery one of the better ones this year. (Aug. 6) Forecast: Parker hit bestseller lists with Suspicion of Betrayal and looks poised to do so again,having taken on a hot-button issue without being sensational or exploitative. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
A double dip into violent deaths past isn't enough to power Miami lawyer Gail Connor's race to save a wrongly convicted killer swiftly heading toward execution.. Everybody in suburban Stuart, Florida, knows that 12 years ago Kenny Ray Clark killed Amber Dodson, who worked for the same developer he did. True, Kenny's always denied it, but his checkered past, a jailhouse snitch he allegedly unburdened himself to, and an eyewitness who placed him at the scene say different. Now that he's coming up to his very last appeal only a few weeks before his own date with death, his grandmother, Gail's ex-housekeeper Ruby Smith, wants Gail to press his court-appointed attorney to do whatever she can on the appeal. Gail presses, all right, and as a reward ends up preparing the appeal herself-dragging in her even more skeptical on-again fiance, criminal attorney Anthony Quintana. As she works feverishly against the clock to locate a possible alibi witness, impeach the snitch, and dig up other possible suspects-from Amber's ineffectual husband Gary to her boss, high-powered developer J. Whitney McGrath, and his redneck gofer Rusty Beck-Gail's attention is drawn increasingly to a second fatality a year before Amber's: the one-car accident that claimed the life of Gail's own aunt, Louise Bryce, a realtor whose widower, Garlan, the cop in charge of the Dodson case, is still certain Kenny's conviction was righteous. It's a shame that all this rooting around in the past leaves precious little room for present-day surprise, suspense, action, or felony. About all that keeps Gail going is Kenny's march toward the death chamber, and stolen moments in which she and Anthony talk about their future togetherand the possibility of an offstage quickie in the present. Parker (Suspicion of Malice, 2000, etc.) pulls off the impossible: the story of an 11th-hour Death Row appeal that actually plods.
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