Mitigating Circumstances

Unflinchingly brutal, this compulsively readable first novel grapples with ethically and psychologically insoluble issues. When California assistant DA Lily Forrester gets promoted to chief of the sex-crimes unit and finally separates from her weak husband, she sees the way clear to find new love and eventually achieves her goal of becoming a judge. Then a man bursts into her new house and forces her to watch as he rapes her daughter. Immediately afterward, Lily discovers his mug shot and address among some case files she has brought home; now she must choose between delivering the criminal to uncertain justice in court or avenging her child directly at the cost of the principles she has sworn to uphold. Addressing the subtleties of a personal tragedy within an intricate suspense format, former policewoman Rosenberg has crafted an assured novel firmly grounded in scenes of everyday life. It's possible to have retrospective qualms about the many plot convolutions, which seem designed only to give a beautiful redhead an airtight reason to kill an unknown Hispanic, but Rosenberg's overwhelming portrayal of the incendiary, universal emotions of vengeance and guilt definitely touch a raw nerve. Literary Guild main selection; film rights to Tri-Star; ad/promo; author tour. ( Jan .)