Brothers and Sisters

Coyne's previous novels (among them The Legacy and The Piercing have had hefty sales as mass market paperbacks; this family saga is his most ambitiousand successfulendeavor yet. There are two brothers and two sisters in the DeLacey clan; they were raised on an Illinois farm by their mother, Caitlin, who came to the U.S. from Ireland in 1940. As the novel opens in 1982, an elderly Caitlin dies of a bullet shot from a gun owned by her son Emmett, the only child still living at home. The true circumstances of her death are revealed at the end of this fast-moving story, which builds in suspense as the relationships among the siblings become more and more intricate. At the root of the tale's intrigue is the secret of Caitlin's past, which involves the the Sinn Fein and the son of the Dublin family that once employed her. Skillfully managed plot twists give this novel strong commercial appeal. (April 29)