Judgment

Juliana Brody, the happily married heroine of this entertaining if flawed thriller from bestseller Finder (The Switch), enjoys serving as a judge on the Superior Court of Massachusetts. In “a rare error of judgment,” she has a one-night stand at a legal conference in Chicago with Matías Sanchez, who claims he’s a businessman from Buenos Aires. About a week after returning home to Boston, she’s surprised to see Matías, who’s in fact a lawyer, sitting at the defense table in a high-profile sex discrimination case she’s presiding over. Matías, who has a video of their encounter, threatens blackmail unless she rules in the case in the defendant’s favor. Juliana decides to fight back, but when she discovers that her adversaries include powerful and ruthless criminals who will kill anyone who stands in their way, she must decide how far she’s willing to go to protect her family—and herself. Some readers may wish Finder had delved more into the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace in what is otherwise a satisfying if predictable page-turner. Five-city author tour. Agent: Dan Conaway, Writers House. (Jan.)