MISCONCEPTION

A gripping first legal suspenser by Shapiro (The Search for Justice, 1996, not reviewed) and Becker (the Crichtonesque Link, 1998).

Middle-aging, purehearted, respected Dr. Daniel Wyatt, father of three and husband to the ever-jealous Ellen, is nominated for the post of Surgeon-General and must go for a workover by the Senate. One senator, opposing him, has the FBI rake through Wyatt’s past on the lookout for smut. Wyatt is a partner of Claire Davis, herself a lawyer and the head of Women’s Advocacy Group, a pro-choice spearhead against the conservative Louisiana legal and medical establishments. While away in Baton Rouge, Wyatt has one night in bed with Sarah Corbett, his patient from Lafayette, and a month later Sarah phones that she’s pregnant. The authors have a fine time nailing down every tiny shred of Wyatt’s guilt. In the meantime, Wyatt asks his friend Dr. Magley to abort Sarah. But Sarah fails to show up for the procedure. The fetus acts like dope and fixates her on Wyatt, who now feels his life slipping down an oiled incline. Then Claire Davis intuits the situation, gives Wyatt a box of French abortion pills, tells him to take Sarah to a beach house for a calm weekend and have her take the pills. Sarah returns home without Wyatt but bleeding profusely, having a bad reaction to prostglandin. The D.A., who wants to run for senator, hears of this, knows that self-abortion is a crime in Louisiana, but even worse—well, the doctor has murdered a fetus. So the D.A. skillfully gets Sarah to implicate Wyatt, then arrests him for murder. Rise, Claire Davis, for the defense. Meanwhile, in a subplot, a serial terrorist who has murdered many doctors sets his sights on Dr. Magley and plans to blow up the courthouse should Wyatt be found innocent.

Writing that’s spare and strong, and characters who tattoo themselves onto the reader’s mind. Not to mention a trial that threatens Roe v. Wade.