Act of God

March 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.

April 1, 2002
When the Seattle Family Services Center, a highly controversial abortion clinic, crumbles from the explosion of a handmade bomb, nearly 200 innocent men, women, and children are killed. Local police, under pressure to identify the terrorist, arrest Corey Dean Latham, a young naval officer. Attorney Dana McAuliffe, assigned to defend him, is challenged by public demonstrations, gatherings of the victims' families, and the constant presence of the media in both the public and the private lives of everyone possibly associated with the happenings. Yet she builds a defense for the man who's been convicted in the court of public opinion. Readers gain a sense of immediacy as Sloan (Guilt by Association) sensitively details the pre-courtroom stress and the trial's impact upon the accused, his family, and the lawyer. Comparable in its language and development of suspense to the works of John Lescroart and John Grisham, this is highly recommended for public libraries. Jetta Carol Culpepper, Murray State Univ. Libs., KY

Copyright 2002 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2002
Sloan grafts the spy-novel technique of rapid cutting from scene to scene to the traditional legal thriller, successfully reminding readers of the scope of the central crime throughout this somewhat overlong novel. A bomb explodes in the Seattle Family Services Center, leaving 200 adults and children dead and many other grievously injured. A U.S. Navy weapons officer on a nuclear submarine has been arrested for the crime. It falls to young defense attorney Dana McAuliffe, a junior member of a prestigious Seattle law firm, to mount the defense against one of the most hated men in America. McAuliffe is the most unsatisfying aspect of this thriller: she's a Mary Higgins Clark heroine clone, brilliant and beautiful, with the requisite sprinkling of freckles across her nose. Still, some readers will find this formulaic character comforting in a thriller that unflinchingly focuses on the aftermath of terror. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)