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Until the Bough Breaks [Mass Market Paperback]

Christine McGuire (Author)
4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)


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Book Description

September 1, 1998
"New York Times" bestselling author Christine McGuire, a real-life criminal prosecutor, packs her legal thrillers with authentic details and "human characters who...leap right off the pages" ("The Pilot," Southern Pines, Ne.

Now, in "Until The Bough Breaks," McGuire's tenacious heroine, Assistant D.A. Kathryn Mackay, confronts a scorching controversy in the courtroom -- and a shattering revelation in her private life.


The Fourth of July is winding down, but in Santa Rita County the fireworks have just begun. A house in the well-to-do Mission Heights district has gone up in flames. Inside are the charred remains of Lawrence Lancaster, with a .22 caliber slug in his brain -- courtesy of his wife. Kathryn's convinced it's premeditated murder, but she's pitted against a high-profile, media-savvy attorney who's vowing to turn the trial into a referendum on Battered Women's Syndrome.


Kathryn's greatest challenge will be focusing on the defendant's love life...and not on her own. Her colleague and lover, David Granz, has also been accused of a crime -- the brutal rape of a former girlfriend -- and the evidence seems airtight. With her personal and professional worlds on a collision course, Kathryn races to uncover the truth -- and becomes the next target in a spiral of rage, recrimination, and explosive violence.


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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

McGuire's latest novel (after Until Death Do Us Part) starring Kathryn Mackay, a senior prosecuting trial attorney in the DA's office, is a provocative story examining the ugly twists of domestic violence. As an activist for battered women herself, Kate's determined to sift through murder evidence to find the truth when the defense poses BWS, Battered Women's Syndrome. No happy endings here; a subplot entangles Dave Granz, an inspector in the DA's office, and Kathryn's love interest, with Julia Soto, a woman who turns to crazed violent revenge after her rape and family disgrace. Statistics and the law, doled out in dialogue, form a running commentary on a high prevalence of domestic abuse. Despite occasional irregular and jarring scene transitions, early colorful forensics provide explicit, cogent detail in this sharp legal thriller.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Best-selling McGuire's new heroine, Kathryn MacKay, is a hardworking young woman struggling to maintain the job focus and dedication to justice needed as an assistant district attorney in Santa Rita County, California, but her ability to balance her career with her family and love life is put to the test when she and her boyfriend, police detective Dave Grantz, are called away from their Fourth of July holiday for a murder/arson emergency. As the investigation develops, what appears to be a straightforward case becomes complicated: Kathryn finds herself prosecuting against a surprise defense of battered wife syndrome, while Dave gets romantically (and nearly fatally) involved with an informant--who just so happens to be a passionate yet deranged ex-girlfriend. Although McGuire's characters lack depth, her plot is full of the sort of twists and insider looks at a criminal investigation that fans of legal thrillers adore. Catherine Sias

Product Details

  • Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Pocket; 671st edition (September 1, 1998)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0671536192
  • ISBN-13: 978-0671536190
  • Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,335,574 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

7 Reviews
5 star:
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4 star:
 (1)
3 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.9 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, August 21, 1998
By A Customer
This review is from: Until the Bough Breaks (Mass Market Paperback)
Residents of Santa Rita County are enjoying the Fourth of July holiday. Amidst the fireworks is the annual local parade being watched by much of the townsfolk including prosecutor Kathryn Mackay, her daughter Emma, and a friend investigator Dave Gantz. However, the family day off is abruptly ruined when both Kathryn and Dave's beepers go off, which can only mean a possible homicide has occurred.

Apparently, Anna Lancaster has killed her spouse Lawrence. The culprit claims battered women's syndrome as her defense and her attorney is one of the best in obtaining not guilty charges for her clients. Kathryn and Dave strongly suspect that not only did Anna plann the murder of her spouse, but the woman was never a victim of an abusive husband. Now all they have to do is prove it when many of the female groups rally around Anna and accuse Kathryn of being a traitor.

UNTIL THE BOUGH BREAKS is an intriguing legal thrill that is a page burner because of the genuine feel to the characters and their motives. The story one is fast-paced as the lead protagonists struggle to disprove the seemingly solid evidence that the victim is Anna and not Lawrence. A secondary subplot surrounding Dave and a former lover add a personal feel to a top rate thriller. Christine McGuire novels keeps getting better and better.

Harriet Klausner

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Exciting read, July 1, 1999
This review is from: Until the Bough Breaks (Mass Market Paperback)
I don't know what it is with this book. The plot is not overly complex or exciting. Quite early on it is clear who is the protagonist and who the victim. The courtroom scenes are not very exciting and, apart from that, build only a minor part of the novel And yet...I found it a very exciting book and read it in almost one session. I think it is the characters which in this fourt novel in the series continue to be well developed and intriguing. Even Emma is nice, where the spoiled brats some of the other female lawyers/detectives are raising, sometimes irritate you away from an otherwise good story. I am looking forward to the fifth...only I hope Mrs McGuire will do something about the very sad ( and perhaps undeserved) ending of this novel
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Kathryn Mackay has done it again!, March 30, 2001
By 
"sweetnsnooty" (Antioch, CA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Until the Bough Breaks (Mass Market Paperback)
She's a darn good prosecutor - I just can't read enough of her court victories! It wasn't too hard to figure out ahead of time who the bad guys were, but that did not spoil the reading at all - just the opposite! What compelled these people to do what resulted in their prosecution for first-degree murder??? Read on and find out - it's worth the reading. I was a bit disappointed at the end with the outcome of Kathryn's personal life, but I can't expect every book to end how I think it will end - can I?
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