Gutman, Amy. Equivocal Death

A legal thriller just off the presses is Amy Gutman's Equivocal Death. The author, Amy Gutman, is a young Harvard Law graduate who has left the legal field to write full time. Her writing has abundant detail of the legal world and her specifics add depth and color to this first page-turner. Her character, Kate Paine, is a second year law associate at New York City's prestigious Samson & Mills--and assisting on the case that may help make her career. The controversial editor of the notorious men's magazine Catch is being sued for sexual harassment by a former secretary, and Kate's assignment is both because she is a woman (which looks good to a jury) and that she has the legal stuff it takes to help this major money-making client. This is actually a secondary plot to the grisly and violent murder of a female partner whom Kate closely resembles.

This highly engaging plot has a few weak spots as Gutman introduces the thought processes of the murderer, and quite a list of supporting and suspicious characters. She improves as the novel progresses, building suspense nicely especially in the last quarter of the novel as Kate involves herself in solving the murder in order to unravel a few suspicions of her own. Corporate politics, sexual assault, and the comfort of friendship all have a place in the book. Gutman is being compared to Lisa Scottoline and John Grisham. She is not quite there yet, but this is an engaging thriller for legal suspense lovers and hopefully we can watch the author's career bloom like the popular authors in that genre.

Leane M. Ellis, February 2, 2001.