Act of God

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY MAR 25, 2002

This explosive new novel by the author of An Isolated Incident takes aim at both sides of the abortion debate as it follows the trial of an all-American suspect in an abortion clinic bombing. Seattle defense lawyer Dana McAuliffe is horrified when the Seattle Family Services Center, known as Hill House, is destroyed in a mid-morning bomb blast that kills and maims hundreds. Dubbed an abortion clinic by the media, but primarily a maternity ward, day-care center and domestic counseling and homeless support unit, Hill House becomes the focus of abortion rights and pro-life extremists who try to skew the trial's outcome to further their causes. Dana's shock turns to chagrin when the senior partner at her firm assigns her to defend bombing suspect Corey Latham, a submarine lieutenant whose wife aborted at Hill House. Arrested by the DA and demonized by the media, Corey is assumed guilty by Dana's colleagues, the surviving victims, extremists on both sides and at first even by Dana herself. Meanwhile Dana's personal life collapses as she becomes immersed in the trial and a tabloid reporter pulls a damning secret from her best friend. Rainy Seattle and a murderous political climate lend the perfect backdrop to Sloan's nail-biting plot turns, which make up for her sometimes predictable characterizations. Though Sloan impugns radicals on both sides of the debate, she also suggests that the power of the abortion rights adversaries is as menacing as the bomb itself. The provocative final twists may ruffle feathers. Major ad/promo.