SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES

Benjamin Aaron O'Malley, a streetwise, Irish/Jewish law-school grad (NYU) from New Jersey, is more than a little uncomfortable at the stuffy corporate-law firm of Jenkins & Dorman--especially when he winds up as the firm's most active lawyer on a strange deal: Associated Computer Research is selling its pathetic, money-losing subsidiary, Video Enterprises, to two ACR stockholders (who know the truth about Video's losses) for $37 million! Why are they buying? Ben--an only half-likable hero--is a bit suspicious but follows orders and carries through. Then, however, he is suddenly framed as a conspirator in the ACR's money-siphoning schemes, betrayed by his bosses. And when three of Ben's supposed co-conspirators turn up dead, he turns sleuth to get the goods on ACR's slimy head--and on another, mysterious villain who has joined in the ongoing lethal battle for the siphoned dough. So-so legal atmosphere, dollops of sex with Ben's new lawyer/lover, and a couple of engaging vignettes (one involving L.A. teen-hookers) along the way: a lively, uneven debut by a Beverly Hills attorney.