The Deal

By Sabin Willett
Random House, $23

ISBN 0679448527

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ISBN 0679451625

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The legal thriller gets a new voice

Review by Paul A. Gillan

John Shepard, a lawyer with the whiteshoe Boston firm of Freer Motley, has masterminded the deal of the century. The deal is huge, a billion-dollar affair embodied in 269 seperate documents, secured by 30-odd mortgages, drafted and reviewed by whole fleets of associates, all in the space of eight days. But soon after closing the deal goes bad, to the tune of $829 million, and Shepard is suspected of foul play. Trickery soon turns to treachery when the senior partner of Freer is found dead, and Shepard, now accused of murder, gives his life into the hands of his former colleague and Freer partner, Ed Mulcahy.

This plot engine, a high profile first-degree murder trial, drives the story admirably, replete with surprise witnesses, hidden evidence, a temperamental (but fair) judge, and several gleefully devastating cross-examinations. Into this action-rich setting, author Sabin Willett (himself an attorney) weaves betrayals and sacrafices, mysterious disappearances, and a love story.

Willett's style is broad, descriptive but never too revealing as to rob the scenes of their suspense. The presentation is enjoyably frustrating, showing pieces of a picture that obviously belong to the same puzzle but only fit together mysteriously.

Inevitably Willett will be compared to Grisham and Turow, for the field of attorneys-turned-author is small and its inhabitants well known. But the intrigue of the law and its practice, a realm as diverse and bizarre as life itself, promises a wealth of plots before tiring, and there is plenty of room for an author of Willett's command

--Paul A. Gillan

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