A Season in Purgatory

That the rich clearly are different is a tenet often espoused by society chronicler Dunne, though never more cogently than in this riveting saga about the Bradley clan of Scarborough Hill, Conn. When young Harrison Burns becomes an accessory to a crime of passion committed by his friend and prep school classmate Constant Bradley, his silence is bought by patriarch Gerald. All efforts at a solution are mysteriously stifled; 20 years later Burns, now a successful journalist, decides to unburden himself of his torturous secret. Dunne plunges readers instantly into the thick of things with the book's opening lines: ``The jury is in its third day of deliberation''--and, with the exception of a mildly disappointing excursion to Arizona, never relaxes his firm grip. The unforgettable Bradley family, their skeletons (e.g., Agnes, the mad, institutionalized daughter) and peccadillos offer an allure similar to a sidelong glance at tabloid headlines, though here told with wit and skill. Their machinations prove both fascinating and appalling--and always hypnotically readable. In addition to his potent characterization and deftly crafted plotting, Dunne again provides an insider's glimpse of this rarified stratum--a world where the highest praise for a character might be ``he's marvelous at placement . . . he can seat a dinner party better than anyone I've ever known.'' This compulsive yarn might well be subtitled Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous--The Dark Side . (May)