Cape May Court House

June 17, 2002
In his latest, Schiller, who has previously written bestsellers on the JonBenet Ramsey and O.J. Simpson cases (American Tragedy, etc.), offers a no-frills narrative: no character development, no background and no resolution. It's a just-the-facts account that, nevertheless, keeps the pages turning. The question of whether or not a crime has actually been committed drives the narrative. Late one winter night in 1997, Eric Thomas, a dentist, and his wife, Tracy, were found in a car crash on a New Jersey highway; Tracy, pregnant, was dead in the driver's seat. The medical examiner determined that the airbag in the Ford Explorer caused her death, and Thomas brought a suit against Ford. But there are some disturbing questions: Why, before going on a vacation with her husband, had Tracy told her mother, "if anything happens to me," her mother should take Tracy's daughter, Alix, to her home? Why did Thomas go on several unexplained trips after his wife's death? And there were no prior cases on record of air-bag asphyxiation. Based on the report of its own forensic expert, Dr. Michael Bader, and their discovery that Thomas had been having an affair just before the accident, Ford accused Thomas of strangling his wife to death. Was this, as Thomas's lawyers claimed, a case of a huge corporation throwing its weight against a bereaved individual? Or was it, as Ford's lawyers said, a case of murder disguised as an accident? Much of the narrative consists of legal battles over discovery and pretrial motions and extracts from Thomas's and others' depositions, and it is compelling, though Thomas (who did not grant Schiller interviews) remains a frustrating cipher. (Sept.)Forecast:Lacking the front-page immediacy of Schiller's bestsellers, this will be a test of whether his name alone can sell his work.