The Body in Question

When a wealthy teenage twin is accused of murdering her toddler brother, two of the sequestered jurors launch an affair. After conviction, the judge receives an anonymous challenge to the verdict owing to the episode, even as the public rages that the wrong twin is getting jail time. Prize-winning Ciment's Heroic Measures was an Oprah Book Club summer read.

Starred review from May 1, 2019
Two sequestered jurors on a tabloidworthy Florida murder trial tumble into an impassioned, illicit affair in this engaging, empathetic novel. In a jury holding room, waiting to be called into the courtroom for a voir dire, two prospective jurors, identified for most of the book only as C-2 and F-17, begin a flirtation that rapidly grows into a full-blown love affair. C-2 is a 52-year-old female photographer of some renown. Having shot portraits for magazines like Rolling Stone and Interview early in her career, she eventually concluded she was interested in people not as individuals but as a species, and she turned her lens to other subjects, such as war and animals. C-2 is married to a much older man, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who is now 85. Their once-ardent relationship has evolved, and she is increasingly aware of the toll time is taking on their lives and bodies. Now, intensely attracted to F-17, a professor of anatomy in his early 40s with a pitted complexion, piercing blue eyes, and "beautiful feet," C-2 finds herself hoping for "one last dalliance before she gets too old." As the affair plays out against a backdrop of a gruesome, sad, and unsettling murder trial (a teenage girl stands accused of killing her toddler brother, but is the real culprit her twin sister?) and the shabby Econo Lodge accommodations and unappetizing luncheonette meals the court has arranged for the jurors during their sequestration, C-2, as both a lover and a juror, must weigh issues of guilt and innocence, loyalty and betrayal, life and death, passion and compassion. Ciment (Act of God, 2015, etc.) lays out the plot--part love story, part whodunit, part coming-of-old-age tale--with gentle sensitivity and straightforward intelligence, approaching complex emotions and conflicting loyalties as might a good juror: observing her characters' behavior with an open mind and heart, an ability to consider context and varied perspectives, an appreciation for the evidence, and a notable lack of judgment. This honest, mature look at life and love adds to a growing body of evidence leading to a decisive verdict: Ciment is an author well worth reading.

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July 8, 2019
Ciement’s intriguing, swift-moving novel (after Act of God) is set in the midst of a sensational murder trial—a teenage twin is on trial for murdering her toddler brother, as two jurors engage in a love affair. Moving from jury selection to sequestering, the two jurors spend their days listening to grisly details of the crime, and their nights in furtive lovemaking. Juror Hannah, 52, the protagonist, struggles with her marriage to an 86-year-old. As she continues her torrid affair with Graham, a 42-year-old professor, they vow not to discuss the case. However, when the jury reaches deliberations, Hannah and Graham quickly realize they are on opposing sides, and to make matters worse, fellow jurors are aware of their dalliance. Once the verdict is read, Hannah returns to life with her husband, riddled with guilt over her indiscretion. Unbeknownst to Hannah, things are about to get worse. The case is soon in the headlines again as new information comes to light suggesting the jury convicted the wrong twin. Worse, the judge has received an anonymous note reporting that “two of my fellow jurors had sexual contact,” and suddenly, not only does Hannah face the destruction of her marriage, but public, moral outrage over her fling. Ciment expertly toggles between the thrilling twists and turns of the courtroom to the private and personal struggles of marriage and aging. This novel will hook readers with its powerful, magnetic narrative.

May 15, 2019
It's a Florida murder case ready-made for social-media frenzy: teenage twin sisters, adopted Romanian orphans, are suspected in the fiery death of their mother's miracle baby, 18-month-old Caleb. It's both a sensational and subtle puzzle, and the sequestered jurors need to pay close attention. C-2, a prominent photographer, shouldn't serve. Her much older husband, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, is unwell and shouldn't be left alone. But C-2 is flirting with F-17, a younger, clever anatomy professor, and enters the dreary Econo-Lodge in an erotic fugue state. They fail to conceal their affair, and ultimately it becomes public knowledge as outrage over the verdict surges. Ciment (Act of God, 2015), a virtuoso of the situational novel, has created a hypnotizing, forked tale of trust and guilt, masks and doubling, lies and desire, life and death. As she stealthily readjusts the depth of field and provokes the reader into questioning testimony personal and judicial in this intricately unsettling tale of morality and longing, Ciment dramatizes the anguish of betrayal, age, and illness and the many forms that acts of love can take.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)