SUBVERSION
T. A. Alderson, SUBVERSIONT.A. Alderson
Long on charm and short on story, Alderson's debut novel charts the rough-and-tumble journey of Rosalind Wilcox, a brash, lusty young attorney who gets ensnarled in an international money-laundering scheme. Wilcox, who disdains legal work but loves the big paycheck, works for Rigel Associates, a small investment house in Washington, D.C. She puts together deals that she only vaguely understands—financing contracts for diamond mines in South Africa, power plants in Eastern Europe. The seed money always seems to originate in Switzerland or the Cayman Islands. Wilcox suspects something is shady, but she's not very curious, and besides, she's having a fun little fling with one of the firm's partners, Marshall Waverly. But then Waverly is shot dead. The cops say it's suicide, but neither Rosalind nor the FBI believes that. Wilcox soon learns that her lover was informing on his own firm and that Rigel, in fact, is little more than a way station for dirty money. What's more, it turns out that Wilcox's father, who went into hiding six years ago on the eve of his sentencing for major white-collar crimes, is part of the Rigel operation. Because of her relationship with Waverly, Wilcox soon finds herself in danger from the same people who killed him. Alderson, the author of the short story collection Michelson in the Desert , has created a charismatic, well-rounded character in Wilcox. On the outside, she's a sassy tease, but on the inside, she's a woman of introspection and humility. Alderson's writing style comes across a little heavy on the Gen-X vernacular, but it's forceful and fresh. It doesn't compensate, however, for a skeletal and predictable plot (with echoes of The Firm
), peopled by flat secondary characters. (Mar. 6)
Forecast: A dust jacket with a woman's open lips and, underneath them, a gun; browsers will pick up this novel with the provocative title from the shelves, but will they buy? Yes.
closeDetailsReviewed on: 03/05/2001
Genre: Fiction
Long on charm and short on story, Alderson's debut novel charts the rough-and-tumble journey of Rosalind Wilcox, a brash, lusty young attorney who gets ensnarled in an international money-laundering scheme. Wilcox, who disdains legal work but loves the big paycheck, works for Rigel Associates, a small investment house in Washington, D.C. She puts together deals that she only vaguely understands—financing contracts for diamond mines in South Africa, power plants in Eastern Europe. The seed money always seems to originate in Switzerland or the Cayman Islands. Wilcox suspects something is shady, but she's not very curious, and besides, she's having a fun little fling with one of the firm's partners, Marshall Waverly. But then Waverly is shot dead. The cops say it's suicide, but neither Rosalind nor the FBI believes that. Wilcox soon learns that her lover was informing on his own firm and that Rigel, in fact, is little more than a way station for dirty money. What's more, it turns out that Wilcox's father, who went into hiding six years ago on the eve of his sentencing for major white-collar crimes, is part of the Rigel operation. Because of her relationship with Waverly, Wilcox soon finds herself in danger from the same people who killed him. Alderson, the author of the short story collection
Reviewed on: 03/05/2001
Genre: Fiction
