LIFELINES

A metropolitan murder mystery starring a high-powered attorney and her visions of Atlantis.

Burning heat surrounds her, and just as she is about to be engulfed by a wall of flames–Rhiannon, Manhattan attorney–wakes up. It’s an ominous beginning to a narrative that not only traverses the Byzantine machinations of New York’s elites, but time and space, as well. The story proper begins when Rhiannon’s friend, the dubiously named Allegra Smedley-Carr, opens the Met as the eponymous character in Alban Berg’s Lulu. During the performance, Allegra’s husband, Alexander, is shot dead in the audience during a convenient scene in the opera. All suspicions are on Allegra, and the ballistic report proves that the supposed prop-gun she wields in the opera is the same that fired the fatal bullets at her womanizing and generally dreadful husband. Rhiannon quite literally comes to Allegra’s defense, and so she must deal with a sniping press, mysterious conspirators, and the hard-nosed New York City Police Department. Daniel, the lead investigator, is fairly certain that it’s an open and shut case, but with Rhiannon as his main suspect’s attorney, a true conflict of interest develops–this murder mystery develops into a fun, dramatic romance. Amid the investigation, Rhiannon’s visions intensify, and her friend Jenny explains that it may have something to do with past lives. The protagonist gradually begins to solve her mystery as the intriguing murder plot unravels, but her vivid visions of a life on Atlantis don’t always jibe with the profane side of the novel. The final revelation, though life-affirming, exceeds the bounds of the non-metaphysical narrative with a messianic message that too easily dwarfs the consequences of Allegra’s tribulations and the genuinely romantic subplot between Rhiannon and Daniel. However, the intelligent prose and sheer scope make the novel consistently engaging, clever and enjoyable.

An ambitious multigenre novel.