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Book Review By BethG
The Associate by Phillip Margolin

Daniel Ames is an attorney with the Reed, Briggs firm in Portland, Oregon. He feels lucky to have the job since the partners mainly hire only graduates of ivy league schools and he had to work his way through college. His firm is representing Geller Pharmaceuticals, a company being blamed for birth defects in children whose mothers took a drug called Insufort. Daniel messes up a piece of evidence and soon finds himself fired. He feels like he was set up, but his problems are only just beginning. His former boss asks him to meet him at his house, but when he arrives someone has killed him. Now Daniel is being blamed for the murder. But then across town, a lab owned by Geller is mysteriously burned down with a dead body inside. Is Geller really trying to cover up real blame in the Insufort case? Or is someone else setting them up too? After getting bailed out of jail, Daniel has to prove his innocence in the murder and find out if Geller is really to blame for the birth defects. Kate Ross, his former firm's investigator helps him uncover the mystery and finds ties to a ten year old murder in Arizona.


Plot & Themes
Tone of story - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
How difficult to spot villain? - Very difficult--no foreshadowing/clues
Time/era of story:
What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 70%
Special suspect? - investigator him/herself
Murder of certain profession?
Misc. Murder Plotlets - local police w/ IQ of a houseplant - solving long-past murder - Proving innocence of very obvious suspect
Kind of investigator
Any non-mystery subplot?
Legal Plotlets
descript. of violence and chases - 60 %
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 20 %
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 10 %
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10 %
Crime Thriller Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status:
Age: - 20's-30's
Ethnicity/Race

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status:
Motive of antagonist - power
The antagonists are: - big business leader(s)
How sensitive is this character?
Sense of humor - Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - Pacific NW
City? Yes
City: - dangerous

Writing Style
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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