Suspicion of Vengeance [Hardcover]

Barbara Parker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2, 2001

"Twelve years ago, in a coastal Florida town, a beautiful young wife and mother was savagely murdered. Kenny Ray Clark, a local troublemaker with a felony record, was quickly arrested, tried, found guilty and sentenced to death. When new evidence comes to light, Miami attorney Gail Connor agrees to take the case, although her fiancé, Anthony Quintana, a top criminal defense lawyer, warns her not to get involved. But one look at the trial transcript convinces Gail that her client was wrongfully convicted, and she will do everything in her power to stop the execution.



In a desperate race against time, Gail must overcome her pride to ask Anthony for help. Together, they push themselves and the law to the breaking point to find the real killer. But nothing can prepare them for the layers of greed, deception, and cruelty that lay hidden for so many years behind a brutal crime. And nothing can precent them from becomin the targets of terrible vengeance.

Filled with her trademark blend of adrenalin-charged plot, complex characters, and sizzling Florida atmosphere, Suspicion of Vengeance is bestselling author Barbara Parker at her galvanizing best.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In this latest entry in Barbara Parker's series featuring lawyers Gail Connor and Anthony Quintana, Gail gets guilt-tripped by an old family retainer into taking on a case everyone else warns her is not winnable, including her boyfriend, criminal attorney Anthony. But Gail, whose legal practice is primarily civil, nevertheless agrees to represent death-row inmate Kenny Ray Clark, scheduled to die by lethal injection in less than a month. Before she's even read the trial transcript, Gail is convinced Kenny Ray didn't stab Amber Dodson to death. Once she does read it, she's even more certain that he was done in by shoddy police work and poor lawyering, if nothing else.

Gail's no slouch at doing some guilt-tripping herself. She tells her besotted sweetheart that if he really loved her he'd help with Kenny Ray's appeal, and she's not above a little sexual teasing to make her point. Anthony agrees to help, which is lucky since Gail seesaws wildly from being confident she can keep Kenny from his date with the executioner to dissolving in tears when she's certain she can't.

The real culprit is clear from the outset--it's up to Gail and Anthony to get the goods on him. Most of the heat in this thriller comes from the couple's occasional clinches and the steamy Florida weather. Anthony Quintana, Gail's complex, sexy, Cuban-American boyfriend, gets a bit more ink than usual in this outing. That will delight fans who find him as fascinating as Connor. Unfortunately, freeing an innocent man from a date with the death chamber doesn't allow enough time for Anthony to carry out his plan to accompany his ailing grandfather back to the island of his birth; fans of the series will have to wait for the next book to find out what happens when he does. --Jane Adams

From Publishers Weekly

Once readers are pulled in by the intricate plot of Parker's eighth Gail Connor/Anthony Quintana legal thriller (after Suspicion of Innocence), they won't want to skip a word. The premise is simple enough: Gail is asked to take on the case of an old family friend's grandson, Kenny Ray Clark, who was convicted of the stabbing death of a housewife over a decade earlier, indirectly causing the death of her infant son. Now, after 11 years on death row, his appeals are about to run out. Anthony, Gail's on-again, off-again fianc‚, himself a high-powered Florida attorney, warns her of the futility of trying to save Clark. But Gail digs into the records and finds, among other things, a drunk defense attorney, a bogus confession and a witness who would have provided an alibi but was threatened by police. At the same time, she discovers skeletons in her own family's closet that seem to be linked to Clark's case, as well as a crooked real estate deal and some unsavory individuals who don't want her getting involved. With help from Anthony and her cousin Jackie, an idealistic young cop, she races to expose the flaws in the state's case and challenges the bureaucratic "conveyor belt" mentality of the death penalty. If Parker has an ax to grind here, it is the legal system's determination to put judicial procedure and the public's thirst for vengeance ahead of the sanctity of human life. She is a former prosecutor who knows her way around the system; her characters are complex and believable, all of which makes this multifaceted and thought-provoking mystery one of the better ones this year. (Aug. 6)Forecast: Parker hit bestseller lists with Suspicion of Betrayal and looks poised to do so again, having taken on a hot-button issue without being sensational or exploitative.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Dutton; 1st edition (August 2, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525946012
• ISBN-13: 978-0525946014
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,597,311 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gail Connor tries to free her client from Death Row., September 1, 2001

By 

E. Bukowsky "booklover10" (NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Suspicion of Vengeance (Hardcover)

"Suspicion of Vengeance" is a superb installment in the Gail Connor/Anthony Quintana series that is based in Florida. Barbara Parker has written a book that not only succeeds as a legal thriller, but it works on a number of other levels as well.

Those who have read this series know about the tempestuous relationship of Gail and Anthony. Anthony Quintana, a successful criminal lawyer, is handsome, proud, rich and a bit condescending at times. Anthony, a Cuban, was born into a society in which men are dominant, and he sometimes forgets that Gail Connor, also a lawyer, takes orders from no one. Gail will not accept Anthony unless he treats her as an equal.

In this novel, Gail takes the case of Kenny Ray Clark, the grandson of a woman named Ruby, who cared for Gail and her family for many years. Kenny has been condemned to die for a twelve-year-old crime that he claims he did not commit--the murder of a young woman, Amber Dodson. Anthony tells Gail that she is making a mistake in taking this hopeless case. Gail is not a criminal attorney and she has no idea how much time and money it will take to carry out an appeal to a death sentence. Anthony is proven right, but instead of fighting with one another, as they would have done in the past, Gail and Anthony join forces to help free Kenny.

Parker does many things well in this novel. In flashback, she describes in vivid detail the murder of Amber Dodson, as well as the events that led up to the arrest of Kenny Ray Clark. We learn about Amber's ineffectual husband, Gary, and her boss, Whit McGrath, a wealthy developer with a shady past. Could one of these two men have been involved in Amber's death?

The mechanics of conducting a "death appeal" are meticulously laid out and explained, and Gail's exhaustive efforts to free Kenny leave her physically and emotionally drained. She and Anthony learn that the story of Amber Dodson's death is much more complicated that it first appeared. Amber Dodson was involved in an affair with her boss, Whit McGrath, a man with a great deal of money and some secrets that he would not want revealed. Was Amber killed to keep her silent? Or did her killer have another reason for viciously stabbing her to death?

In "Suspicion of Vengeance," Barbara Parker, a former prosecutor herself, shows that the criminal justice system is deeply flawed. When the police and the courts make mistakes, they rarely admit it. Instead of depicting the character of Kenny Ray Clark as just another loser, the author climbs into Kenny's skin to show how it feels to be wrongfully condemned to death.

There are several mysteries in the novel and Parker handles them all with skill. The novel ends in a stunning and climactic manner and the loose ends are not all tied up neatly, just as life is not always neat and tidy. Gail's and Anthony's relationship has evolved from a strong physical attraction based on passion into a partnership based on caring and compassion. I recommend "Suspicion of Vengeance" highly. It is a terrific novel of legal suspense.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Entertaining!, August 22, 2001

By 

Carmen DeRaleau - See all my reviews

This review is from: Suspicion of Vengeance (Hardcover)

Suspicion of Vengeance is one of Barbara Parker's best in the Connor/Quintana series. The character development was fantastic, and it was nice to see growth in the relationship between Gail and Anthony. Ms. Parker also gives us a great story. Whatever your viewpoint on capital punishment, she definitely makes you think and reevaluate. Unfortunately, now we have to wait another year for the next installment ...

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Gripping Legal Thriller, August 16, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Suspicion of Vengeance (Hardcover)

The sixth outing for Barbara Parker's legal duo, Gail Connor and Anthony Quintana, is the best yet in this excellent legal thriller series. Gail and Anthony take a capital appeal case with time running out and the system running against their client. With an engrossing plot, intriguing characters, and great pacing, the reader is drawn into the story of this last-ditch effort to save an innocent man (or is he) from execution. As they pursue the case, Gail and Anthony find that the only way to stop the execution is a fraught-with-danger attempt to locate the real killer. If there is any quibble with this thought-provoking study of the death penalty and the legal system, it is that fans of the series might miss its usual Miami locale and also notice that the focus here on the legal partnership of Connor-Quintana leaves little time for focusing on the deliciously torrid side of their relationship. But then, perhaps, that's for the next "Suspicion" book. If you haven't read the earlier books in the series--Suspicion of Innocence, Guilt, Deceit, Betrayal, and Malice--do so. They shouldn't be missed!