The Climbing Tree

This mystery debut is missing what should have been its most important element: suspense. An intriguing idea--that the sins of the mothers are visited upon the daughters--is lost in a far-fetched plot with too many villains and coincidences, in amateurish and sentimental writing and an anticlimactic conclusion. When beautiful prosecutor Kate Riley successfully convicts child molester ``Slick'' Carlson, he vows to get her. Soon, she discovers that someone is following her, rifling through her desk and altering her dictation tapes. Could this be her imagination? Is it Slick? Someone else? Further complicating her life and confusing the story are repeated marriage proposals from her boss; her troubled relationship with her father; her need to come to terms with her mother's death; and her growing love for her married psychiatrist. By the time Slick escapes from prison to take revenge, the real villain will be all too obvious to readers who have made it that far. (May)