From Publishers Weekly
Political drama and star-crossed romance mix with the suspenseful action of a legal thriller and family mystery as MacDougal tackles murder, espionage, kidnapping, statutory rape and corrupt political campaigns in this followup to Angle of Impact. Beautiful newlywed lawyer Campbell Alexander fears her murky past will come to light when her husband, Doug, is named his party's (it's called the Party, with no further political ID) surprise candidate for a Delaware congressional seat, backed by formidable, deep-pocketed Senator Ash Ramsey. Cam fails to convince Doug to stay out of the political spotlight and winds up fearfully playing the loyal, supportive wife under the whip of campaign strategist and D.C. femme fatale Meredith Winters. When Sen. Ramsey's son Trey is snatched off the street, Cam is hired to find the kidnapper, who turns out to be the boy's biological father, Steve, who was tricked into giving up his son years before. A series of brutal murders linked to Cam's long-missing mother gives the secretive lawyer more crimes to worry about. As ambitious Doug descends into dirty politics and her marriage falls apart, Cam falls for Steve. Eventually, Cam's childhood secret is unearthed by one of Doug's enemies, who has secrets of his own, leading to political mayhem; the ensuing maneuvering and courtroom action are flawlessly nasty, while illicit sexual affairs provide welcome, if sometimes sappily dialogued, balance to the murderous gore. Fans of romantic suspense will relish the labyrinthine plot and the dramatic scenes of Cam and Meredith waging battle in the heart of the men's club, outsmarting the boys most of the time. (Aug.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
MacDougal's third (Angle of Impact, 1998, etc.) finds the author in ripping form, her writing keener and more glamorous than ever. Center-stage this time is a self-made Philadelphia lawyer who marries into fashionable Wilmington society, only to find herself in a world she never knew and facing an aspect of her husband she never suspected. Campbell Smith, whose specialty is tracing assets in divorce cases, has no hint that one reason she was pursued to the altar by fellow lawyer Doug Alexander after her Philadelphia firm merged with Doug's smaller Delaware firm was that she came to him with no baggage from the past that would have to be overcome politically. For Doug's old family friend Senator Ashton Ramsey suddenly announces at their fancy country wedding reception that Doug is the Party's choice to run in November for the US House of Representatives. Campbell, though stunned, can't understand why the Party has chosen Doug, a self-effacing real-estate lawyer of middling charm, but no great candidate. On the way to the reception she has happened to see Senator Ramsey's 13-year-old son, Trey, on a wilding spree, knocking over country mailboxes; and this very evening Trey is kidnaped while secretary Gloria Lipton of Campbell and Doug's firm is abducted, raped and murdered. Cam says that Gloria's an orphan whose parents were murdered by Muslims in the Philippines. But does her brutal murder have something to do with Camwho may have baggage after all that could compromise Doug's run? And why does Senator Ramsey show more concern for politics than for his missing son? Then Doris Palumbo, an associate of Gloria's, is murdered too, followed by Joan Truesdale, who'd also been part ofwell, let's not say. The gore aside, MacDougal writes with heart, Cam being a character who bears real feelings, not only the burdens of melodrama. Even the ending avoids standard showdown clichs. Bravo. --
Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.