Richard North, Patterson Eclipse

Eclipse

Richard North Patterson

Holt, Jan 2009, $26.00

ISBN: 9780805087727

San Francisco law firm partner forty years old Damon Pierce is getting a divorce. The international litigation expert e-mails his college lover Marissa Brand to inform him that his marriage will be over by tomorrow although he knows she is married to oil rich Luandia reformist Bobby Okari whose country is run by a brutal despot.

While the foreign oil companies work closely with the government to rip off the oil deposits, everyone in Okari's village is murdered. However the government ignores the mass murders because they are the culprits; instead they arrest Bobby for the lynching of three foreign oil workers. Damon, out of love for Marissa, defends the accused in a kangaroo court that has already convicted him.

Few authors can hook an audience and maintain that grip throughout like Richard North Patterson does consistently. 'Eclipse' affirms that belief especially with the haunting working and environmental conditions in Luandia that is the main star; even Governor Palin will shout the manta wind baby wind if she spent fifteen minutes getting her hair fixed there. The storyline is fast-paced and filled with action that fans of legal thrillers in foreign nations in which the dictator makes the law will appreciate Mr. Patterson's latest exciting tale.

Harriet Klausner