DEAD WRONG

by Alan Dennis Burke ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 1, 1990

Innocent suspect fights like crazy to beat the rap in this rerun of Burke's Getting Away with Murder (1981). When contractor Kevin Bourque's slimy partner, lawyer Larry Dexter, turns up dead in a newly completed house, the police pounce on Kevin with joy. He'd been seen threatening Larry just the day before over his bribery and other financial shenanigans; he was faced with bankruptcy if the Indian Peak development went under; and he'd just taken up with uninhibited Terri Pratt, who carries edible panties in her purse and who turns out to be Larry's longtime lover. Kevin's convinced that femme fatale Terri has set him up, but everybody he turns to for help--ex-wife Susan, old friends Jack and Pat Halloran, fellow-contractor John Finnerty, Larry's hysterical widow Kikki and her well-connected father--seems equally suspicious. As Kevin races to get evidence about a European trip that Larry took four years ago (netting him a fast $80,1300)--and he doesn't mind begging, threatening, and breaking into Larry's office in his search--the police are moving in on him; his own fledgling lawyer (who's never heard of genetic blood-typing) seems just smart enough to doubt his word; Terri keeps swearing her innocence as he catches her in lie after lie; and somebody keeps trying to kill him. The closing revelation is a letdown--though an epilogue showing Kevin's cynical contentment is wonderfully unnerving--but by then you'll be limp with relief that Kevin's ordeal, and yours, is over. Less twisty and funny than Getting Away. . ., but just as riveting in Kevin's paranoid fear of everything with a pulse.

Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1990

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1990

Categories: FICTION