The Associate

July 30, 2001
Another year, another young-attorney-in-peril story from Margolin (Wild Justice). This time, the attorney is Daniel Ames, an earnest, pink-cheeked associate at Portland's most prestigious law firm. Ames gets fired for a paperwork blunder that may force the firm's biggest client out of business. The client, Geller Pharmaceuticals, is being sued for its diabetes drug Insufort, which is believed to cause severe birth defects, much like thalidomide in the 1950s. Set up to take the fall by another lawyer in his firm, Ames mistakenly gives the plaintiff's attorney the results of a secret medical study documenting Insufort's shortcomings. Ames, however, suspects the story is a fake. To get his job back, he knows he has to prove that not only he, but also Geller Pharmaceuticals, has been scapegoated and hung out to dry. But who would do such a thing? The likely suspect is rich-but-sleazy attorney Aaron Flynn, who filed the lawsuit against Geller and has a history of backhanded tactics. Aided by legal investigator and love interest Kate Ross, Ames traces the case's roots back to a mysterious murder and disappearance in the Arizona desert nearly a decade earlier. Margolin's writing for the most part is unremarkable, his plot won't stand up to serious scrutiny and his characters engage only on a surface level. Yet the author of seven previous handsomely selling thrillers deserves credit. While his latest is eminently forgettable, the whole package—light intrigue, good-looking, wealthy people under stress, a couple of ghoulish murders and a scattering of clever plot twists—is undeniably entertaining and enjoyable if you don't think about it too hard. Major ad/promo; 25-city national radio campaign; 12-city author tour.

May 15, 2001
Another thriller from the author of Gone but Not Forgotten; no word on the plot.

Copyright 2001 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2001
This eighth novel by the Portland, Oregon, criminal defense attorney has all the elements of a classic legal thriller: a rippedfromtheheadlines subject, an underdog hero, an assortment of shady characters, a suspicious death, the disappearance of a vital witness, and one very surprising plot twist. Daniel Ames is an associate at a large law firm; tricked into processing some paperwork in a case about a prescription drug that may be responsible for birth defects, he's then set up as a scapegoat to take the heat for a mistake he didn't make. Trying to clear his name (and, perhaps, get his job back), he discovers that the drug case is far more complicated, even deadly, than he suspected. Can he get to the truth before a killer gets to him? And is someone close to him not who he or she seems to be? Margolin's fans will be thrilled to discover that, like his previous novels, this one is intelligent, stylishly written, and exciting. Its only drawback--and this is a somewhat unusual criticism--is that the book is not quite long enough. The characters seem, at times, a little slick, as though they were in a particular scene merely to advance the plot. Some scenes, too, seem truncated, cut off just when they were picking up steam. A longer book would have allowed for fleshier characters and for more detailed examination of the prescriptiondrugs theme. This is a fine novel, and fans of legal thrillers won't be disappointed, but there are depths left unexplored.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)