The Majority Rules

In Sullivan's straightforward political thriller, the first of a new series, lawyer Tim Quinn finds himself dropped into a maelstrom of betrayal, conspiracy and murder. Soon after Quinn is named to the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., with the assistance of his longtime colleague Harry Winston (the court's chief justice), Quinn discovers that Winston and some of his fellow judges have been fixing the cases on which they rule. To bring the miscreants to justice, he must enlist the aid of federal prosecutor Vicky Hauser, with whom he had a past relationship that ended badly. When Quinn begins to see that Winston's schemes involve far more than simple bribery, he realizes that not merely his career but his very life may be at risk. The author, a retired federal judge who served as a White House lawyer and general counsel for the U.S. Air Force, knows his material; the background information is fascinating yet never overwhelms the narrative. Despite the book's by-the-numbers feel, Sullivan creates characters interesting enough to hold readers' attention, and he keeps things moving fast enough so that many won't notice (or mind) some unlikely plot twists. Agent, Frank Weiman of the Literary Group.