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Summary
Summary
Rose Connors brings a fresh voice, a dynamic storytelling power, and a passion for the law to her compelling crime fiction debut. Martha "Marty" Nickerson is a lawyer who truly loves her job. As an assistant D.A. for Massachusetts's Barnstable County, which includes all the small towns on Cape Cod, she speaks for the victims of crime and their families, and sees the system as a means for doing right. The case of Manuel Rodriguez is a prime example. Rodriguez is accused of brutally murdering a college student, a kind young man who had a bright future. Marty has worked hard on this case; as the mother of a teenage son, she identifies with the murdered boy's grieving parents. Her case against Rodriguez is so solid that even public defender Harry Madigan -- the champion of the Cape's underdogs -- expects a conviction. And, on Memorial Day, exactly a year after the crime, the verdict comes in: guilty as charged. Justice prevails. Then, with Rodriguez behind bars, another body turns up in disturbingly similar circumstances. Did Marty and her colleagues target the wrong man? Her supervisor -- Geraldine Schilling, who aspires to be the county's first female D.A. -- refuses to reopen such a high-profile case. Why should she? The prosecutors played by the rules and won big. But Marty fears that the real killer will strike again. With her career on the line and lives at stake, Marty must rely on her own moral compass, legal savvy, and gut instinct as she matches wits with a twisted killer. The system itself is on trial as Marty tries to serve Justice, not merely the Law. Only an author with years of courtroom experience could add such riveting authenticity to a novel that asks important questions and provides surprising answers. Rose Connors's Absolute Certainty introduces a new crime-writing star.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Unlike many legal thrillers, which suffer from excess verbiage or rely on obscure legal maneuverings, Connors's first novel offers sleek, straightforward entertainment. A year after a horrific murder (a young man was bludgeoned and mutilated), prosecuting attorney Martha "Marty" Nickerson of Chatham on Cape Cod successfully secures the conviction of Manuel Rodriguez for the crime. For Nickerson, an assistant DA for more than a decade, the conviction is fully satisfying until a second murder, disturbingly similar to the first, occurs. The arrest of a likely suspect for the second crime isn't enough to quiet her growing doubts. She soon finds herself in conflict with her ambitious boss, Geraldine Schilling, and, surprisingly, in league with her frequent adversary, defense attorney Harry Madigan. A single mom raising a teenage son and coping with her ex's belated efforts to forge a bond with his long-ignored son, Nickerson is bright, determined, competent. Her unease turns to dread as her suspicion grows that at least one innocent man has been convicted and more young men will die if the law, rather than justice, is served. To pursue the truth, Nickerson must put her career at risk, alienating her mentor and putting herself outside the very system she has depended on. Connors wrings a fair amount of suspense from her appealing heroine's predicament and shows considerable flair in producing a solution to the crimes. Readers will swiftly devour this swift-paced debut. Agent, Nancy Yost. (Aug. 27) FYI: A member of the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys, the author has been a trial attorney for 18 years. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
A Cape Cod prosecutor who's just fought to put away a cold-blooded killer fights to free him in the wake of a series of crimes that look like his work. Not that Martha Nickerson has any love for Manuel Rodriguez, who reacted to the news of his conviction for a murder last Memorial Day by trying to strangle her in open court. (Marty brings her Lady Smith .32 to his sentencing hearing, though "I would never fire it in this crowded courtroom.") When a second scion of wealthy, insular Chatham is found stabbed to death exactly one year later with a pattern of wounds that strongly suggests the Roman numeral II, however, Marty's disturbed by her recollection of what had seemed like the numeral I carved in Michael Scott's chest. Are the mutilations nothing more than a coincidence, or the work of a copycat killer, as stop-at-nothing First Assistant DA Geraldine Schilling, insists, or do they indicate that a serial killer was celebrating a patriotic holiday by committing the murder of which Rodriguez was convicted? The lack of support in the prosecutor's office-don't even mention Marty's ex-husband, globetrotting forensic psychiatrist Ralph Ellis, who makes a great living testifying on behalf of defendants pleading some kind of diminished responsibility-drives her into cahoots with Rodriguez's upright public defender Harry Madigan, who urges her to bug her own office to see whether evidence is still being planted against his client. But now that La Schilling's announced her candidacy for the DA's post, will embattled Marty have her job long enough to monitor the equipment she's set to eavesdrop on her colleagues? The mystery is folderol-the motive comes out of nowhere, and the choice of Roman numerals is never explained-but first-timer Connors's strong sense of pace and skeptical reflections about the morality of the legal system could help her ride a stronger plot into Scott Turow territory.
Booklist Review
Short chapters propel the reader along in this engrossing legal thriller. The assistant district attorney of Cape Cod's Barnstable County, Martha "Marty" Nickerson, has just obtained the conviction of Manuel Rodriguez, who butchered a college student on Memorial Day in Chatham, Massachusetts. The day after the guilty verdict is announced, however, a teenager is found murdered in a similar manner. Marty's boss plays down the similarities; they won a conviction in the Rodriguez case on compelling evidence, and a serial killer on the loose will hurt the Cape's vast tourist industry. Unconvinced, Marty, along with Rodriguez's public defender, delves deeper into both crimes. Marty is a thoughtful, appealing heroine, concerned about the integrity of the legal system. Gripping courtroom scenes, crisp details of the legal system, vividly realized local color, and a nuanced portrait of the close-knit community, including Marty's personal life, all add up to a satisfying, often poignant debut novel. Recommend Connors to fans of Perri O'Shaughnessy and Lisa Scottoline, although, thus so far at least, she lacks the humor of Scottoline. --Sue O'Brien
Library Journal Review
Another lawyer tries her luck with thrillers, and the publisher is pitching the result as the first of a big new series. Assistant D.A. Martha "Marty" Nickerson, who helped convict Manuel Rodriguez for the murder of a college student, begins to suspect that this was anything but an open-and-shut case. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.