Clare Francis, Betrayal

Betrayal

Clare Francis

Berkley, Apr 2003, $14.00, 326 pp.

ISBN: 0425194256

Hugh Wellesley struggles with business decisions that could put a lot people out of work as a major corporation wants to buy the family glass company and shut it down by breaking it into pieces. However, Hugh's concentration on doing the right thing is deflected when he learns that the murdered corpse of his lover Sylvie was found ashore by the Dart.

Fearing how his ailing devoted spouse Ginny will react to his cheating on her, Hugh hides his sexual involvement with Sylvie from the police. His lies fail to keep the police from charging him with murder. Ginny provides a shaky alibi for her beloved, which make the police turn their attention to her as the prime suspect and soon arrest her for the killing. Feeling guilt and affection for his wife, Hugh knows the only way to prove Ginny's innocence is to uncover the identity of the real culprit.

This psychological suspense is built on the premise that everyone lies to cover betrayals that seem a way of life in the relationships that abound throughout this terse thriller. The story line hooks the audience as transgressions pile on transgressions whether it is legal, criminal, business or family. Clare Francis paints a cynical world of deceivers in which the audience will seek the real motive behind innocent actions as much as behind the lies. It is this realm of mendacity (not Washington this time) so deftly made real by a solid glib cast that makes the ending a so mockingly sugary final deception.

Harriet Klausner