Legal thrillers involving corrupt lawyers and lowly associates who learn too much inevitably invoke comparisons to John Grisham's The Firm, but Kopp's fifth intrigue (after Final Justice) falls well short of that mark. When multi-millionaire Oak Greythorne dies of a drug overdose, Louis Brisbane, the executor for Greythorne's estate, taps attorney Emma Davis to work on Greythorne's trust. At first, Emma, a newcomer to the Chicago firm of Franklin & Holland, puzzles over the plum assignment, but she quickly becomes caught up in preparing Greythorne's property for sale. Meanwhile, Emma and her well-connected neighbor search for "Mr. Right." A chance meeting pairs Emma with handsome architect Flynn Fielding, and together the two expose the unholy alliance between Brisbane and building contractor Tommy Corona, a stereotypical Mob thug. Predictable plotting and insipid prose ("He was about six three, slender but well built. Wearing dark jeans and a black T-shirt, he was very nice looking") tarnish this tepid thriller, and an excess of inessential plot details make it slow going at times. Though a spark-free romantic subplot fails to shed light on Kopp's protagonists and their motivations, readers will likely see the book's weak suspense thread through to its elaborate and improbable end. (Apr. 1)
