The Pact

October 25, 2004
In the prologue of this breezy, absorbing mystery, Rachel Benjamin and her four college girlfriends promise to keep each other from romancing unlikable men by whatever means necessary. A decade later, the still-close group reunites at a lavish Adirondack vacation home for the wedding of one member to the utterly despicable Richard. The rehearsal dinner finds the friends lamenting the senseless match and their inability to keep the pact, but their distress doesn't last long: on the morning of the wedding, Rachel discovers Richard dead in the pool. Suddenly, the house guests—including the girlfriends, the bride's parents and the groom's attractive best man, Peter—are all suspects. While policemen survey the scene, Rachel embarks on a well-intentioned, clumsy and often-misguided search for the murderer and an equally awkward romantic pursuit of Peter. Quirky Rachel aside, the characters are one-dimensional, and the dialogue is superficial; Sturman's writing is comic, but laden with clichés. So why is this debut so thoroughly enjoyable? Perhaps it's because Rachel is such a winning detective: she sifts through clues at the reader's pace and does so with wit and pluck. The novel's mise-en-scène—successful, attractive Ivy League graduates at a lakeside mansion—makes for escapist pleasure, and well-placed cliffhangers, a careful distribution of motives and unexpected twists promise readers light, satisfying suspense. Agent, Laura Langlie.

November 1, 2004
Rachel should have listened to her friends the first time she dated a sociopath. Hilary, Luisa, Jane, and Emma, Rachel's four Harvard roommates and best gal pals, all told her he was completely wrong for her. The result of that particular dating fiasco was a pact among the five women, who agreed to do whatever it might take to rescue any of the others from a bad relationship. But 10 years later, nothing Rachel or her friends say changes Emma's mind about marrying slick and slimy Richard Mallory. Then Richard winds up dead on the morning of the wedding, and Rachel can't help but wonder if someone didn't take their pact just a little bit too far. Sturman's debut is a rare delight, and her sharp, sassy writing is wonderfully addictive. Sturman is as adept at detailing a career gal's search for a good man as she is at crafting a clever mystery, making " The "Pact a great choice for chick-lit fans and readers who enjoy their amateur sleuthing with a dash of romance.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)