The Juror

Single mother and struggling sculptress Annie Laird makes a huge mistake when she joins the jury at the Westchester murder trial of mob boss Louie Buffano. Immediately, Annie is contacted by ``the Teacher,'' the sleek, Lao Tse-quoting eminence grise behind Buffano, who makes it clear that life, and that of her son Oliver, depend on her saying two words: ``Not guilty.'' And so begins Green's (The Caveman's Valentine) masterfully manipulative thriller, a gem of deft plotting given added lustre through its rich, if not wholly cohesive, characterizations. Annie is an especially fine creation, victimized by her whipsawing emotions as she panics, rebels, crosses her conscience and plots to trap the Teacher. The Teacher is equally complex, an utterly logical madman whose portrait is flawed only by his unlikely romantic obsession with Annie (Buffano alone is a throwaway character, too clearly modeled on John Gotti). The plot, jittering from one brutal, clever twist to the next, will keep readers in a cold sweat. Green pushes buttons without remorse, always keeping his finger poised above the one marked ``Oliver's death''-and as it descends at book's end, the tension is nearly unbearable. 200,000 first printing; major ad/promo; Literary Guild and Doubleday Main Selection; audio rights to Time Warner AudioBooks. (Jan.)