Lou Mason was hired as a partner a mere three months before this happened. His experience had been limited to personal injury trial work, and he had quit his old firm when he was backstabbed by one of the partners. Figuring the nice dull trial work of a firm devoted to corporate law would not be too stressful, he had accepted the invitation to join from his old law school friend Scott Daniels.

The rainmaker in the firm, Richard Sullivan, is responsible for the O'Malley account. The story begins at a Friday luncheon when Sullivan discloses the grand jury subpoena for all the O'Malley records to Mason, asks Mason to represent the client,and to destroy some of the documents, which would ultimately convict O'Malley.

Lou refuses and realizes that he now has no alternative but to resign on Monday, but decides to suffer through the law firm's "retreat" that weekend at a Missouri lakeside resort. On Sunday morning he is the most senior person around and Sheriff Kelly Holt finds him and asks him to identify the body of Sullivan that has been found in the lake. An investigation turns up a note from Sullivan claiming that Lou wanted to destroy the O'Malley evidence and that Sullivan was going to fire him on Monday.

But Monday turns out differently. Lou is run off the road on the trip home and nearly killed, and arrives at the firm mindful that Sullivan was setting him up. Instead of quitting, he agrees to take the point in the O'Malley defense matter and the protection of the firm and its assets from the Feds. The other founding partner Harlan and his friend Scott jointly convince him to assume the responsibility.

Goldman clearly is either an attorney or an FBI agent as the story is replete with insider information about scrambling before a grand jury appearance. . The plot is complex and gradually reveals corruption, organized crime, and sexual misconduct. The ending is a surprise but in retrospect not unexpected. It is masterfully presented, and happily lacks the easy contrivances often relied upon by a debuting writer.

The pace is fast and the dialogue varies from pert to sarcastic, but is generally crisp. The weakest element of the story is the character development. But in defense of the writer, there is so much going on in this story that it might have added too many more pages. The book ended with the possibility that Lou Mason may be back in another novel. This reviewer hopes so.

--Thea Davis