A former judge and Washington insider, Sullivan fails to make the most of an intriguing premise in his second political thriller (after The Majority Rules
). When Chief Justice Simmons of the U.S. Supreme Court tumbles off the bench while hearing a case, witnesses in the courtroom at first fear he's been “shot by a silenced weapon.” Associate justice Oscar Moorman, an African-American and Vietnam War hero, rushes to help Simmons, who turns out to be dead of a brain aneurysm. When the president nominates the associate justice to succeed Simmons, Moorman reluctantly accepts, knowing the process will uncover aspects of his background that will upset his beloved white wife, Debby. Numerous bad guys, including an evil billionaire and a backstabbing fellow Supreme Court justice, scheme to stop Moorman from becoming chief justice. While the promo copy invokes Othello
, readers may also be reminded of Romeo and Juliet
after a surprising but ill-advised plot twist toward the end of an otherwise predictable story weighed down by pedestrian prose. (May)
