Shadows of Doubt

Brown ( Presumption of Guilt ) pushes several topical hot buttons in this intricate courtroom thriller about an adopted lawyer who must defend her half-sister against the charge of murdering her callous, abusive husband. Kathleen Sullivan is the single, 37-year-old legal eagle who's caught in a tangled family web when her hitherto anonymous birth mother sends word that Kathleen may be carrying the gene for Huntington's disease, a degenerative nervous system disorder. Pursuing this information, Kathleen meets her half-sister, Deb, whose marriage to a hard-driving, ambitious state legislator is on the rocks. When Deb, who's newly pregnant, miscarries, her husband accuses her of having an ``induced abortion,'' leading to a fight in which Deb kills him. Kathleen is asked by Deb to handle her defense, but since she'll appear as a defense witness, she turns the case over to Tony Biviano, a slick but underqualified colleague with whom she's having an affair. The author, a retired Ohio Supreme Court justice, struggles with the family machinations while setting up his story, but once he gets the appropriate parties in front of a judge, the narrative takes off like a rocket, with the suspense approaching that of Turow and Grisham. Legal-thriller fans willing to wade through the thorny family ties will be amply rewarded for their patience. (Aug.)