The Test

August 24, 2009
Fans of TV's Dynasty
and Sidney Sheldon will like Gussin's stand-alone suspense novel, in which the late Paul Parnell, a Philadelphia philanthropist, leaves a will that stipulates his six children must each pass a family values test to inherit a share of his huge estate. When Paul's executor reveals the terms of the yearlong test, Paul's U.S. senator son, Frank, and his wife, Meredith, are angry because they were expecting funds for Frank's presidential campaign. The would-be heirs are also disturbed to learn that Paul had a daughter out of wedlock, superstar Monica Monroe, who could also inherit. Meanwhile, psychiatrist Conrad Welton, a greedy psycho, schemes to marry Ashley, one of Paul's legitimate daughters. Various tragedies claim the lives of more than one heir. When, on the morning of 9/11, pregnant Ashley seeks advice about her upcoming marriage to Conrad from a lawyer with offices in the World Trade Center, she disappears. Is she dead or alive? The plot takes a number of terrifying twists before Gussin (Shadow of Death
) reveals the answer.