Brenda Qullian, a prominent businessman stands accused of murdering his wife Amanda. Assistant DA Alexandra Cooper is prosecuting, and the defence attorney is her former mentor Lem Howard. From the outset Alex’s case is shaky as Brendan Quillian has an alibi for the time of his wife’s murder, and when Howard quickly destroys the credibility of Alex’s first witness Katherine Mead, Amanda’s best friend, Alex is as mad as wet hen.
Alex is with Homicide Detective Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace having a post-mortem of the disastrous days court events when their musings are interrupted by an explosion. Their immediate reaction, understandable in the light of 9/11 is that it is an act of terrorism, but later intelligence suggests that it could have been an accident in one of the older water tunnels that provide NewYork City with their water. These are the network of water tunnels that are the vital infrastructure of New York city. Not something to which I would ever normally give a thought, but Linda Fairstein had me as hooked by the fascinating structure of the subterranean waterways that serve NewYork City, as with the actual mystery.
Mike Chapman is assigned to investigate the fatal explosion, and from one of the tunnel-workers Teddy O.Malley learns that the tunnel-workers are like a large family in that the tunnels have been worked by generations of the same families. He also learns of the age-old rivalry’s that exists between the Quillian and Hassett families. One of the tunnel explosion victims turns out to be the brother of Brendan Quillian, and working on the same shift was Bobby Hassett, From Brendan’s sister Trish they learn that Brendan has not been in touch with the family for many years. Having been blinded in one eye as a child he escaped from that life by marrying into a wealthy family. But there is more beneath the surface, and Alex and Mike find themselves having to unravel a labyrinth of relationships and bad feelings that have been festering for many years. Could the killing of Amanda Quillian be linked to these long standing feuds? Alex and Mike have to uncover many family secrets before they reach the truth.
While the investigation is proceeding Alex takes a few days off to fly to her place on Martha’s Vineyard to officiate at the marriage of her best friend, and makes a new ‘friend’– could this be a new love for Alex? A gripping and suspenseful read, with a surprising finish. Linda Fairstein just gets better and better.