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Ricardo Arias is found dead, the gun still wedged in his mouth. It looks like suicide, but the physical evidence strongly suggests murder. The police investigation uncovers an estranged wife, Terri Peralta; an ugly custody battle over their six-year-old daughter, Elena; heated charges of child abuse; and a murder suspect: San Francisco defense attorney Christopher Paget. Paget has motive--it's his son accused of abusing Elena, his political plans for the future put at risk by the dead man's accusations, and his alibi that is dangerously threadbare. And the shocking revelations that threaten to explode in the courtroom may remain hidden forever...by Chris Paget's refusal to testify on his own behalf...by Elena's tangled loyalties...and by dark secrets that some desperately wish to keep silent....… (more)
User reviews
Unfortunately, as in the series' second book, Patterson still displays hack writer's penchant for referring to his characters way too often by their full names. As in, "Christopher Paget gazed at Theresa Peralta and wondered what she was thinking." I find that seriously distracting when it is repeated throughout the narrative, as it is here.
Also, Patterson has a fairly pronounced case of "all at once" disease. Meaning, characters all too often experience things "all at once." "All at once, he saw what the problem was." "All at once, he wanted to put his arms around her." Once or twice per book at most, my brother. After that, drop it. And it's curious, since Patterson is not a hack writer. Perhaps some hack editor went through the manuscript inserting the full names and all-at-once's without Patterson's knowledge.
Anyway, the book is quite enjoyable, although the ending is not all that hard to figure out. So I do recommend the first three books of this series, although those unfortunate tics drop my rating down from 4 starts to 3 1/2, and I'm not sure I feel compelled to read the series' 4th and final installment.