Eyes of a child

We are in San Francisco: Ricardo Arias is found dead in his apartment, the gun that killed him wedged in his mouth. The physical evidence might confirm suicide, but there is no doubt that it strongly suggests murder. The police investigation quickly uncovers a maze of emotion and conflict that surrounded the dead man in the last months of his life: an estranged wife, Terri Peralta; an ugly custody fight over their six-year-old daughter, Elena; threats of extortion; accusations of adultery; and sexual abuse of the child. And then the police uncover a murder suspect. He's Terri's new lover, Christopher Paget, a man of wealth and prominence, an extremely high-profile San Francisco defense attorney. Paget has motive - it's his son accused of abusing Elena, his personal and political plans for the future put at risk by the dead man's accusations - and his alibi is dangerously threadbare. Now, defense attorney becomes defendant. Now Paget's defense attorney, Caroline Masters - an equally high-powered lawyer and former judge - works desperately to raise reasonable doubt in the minds of the jury, even as Paget and Terri struggle to preserve their future and that of their cherished children. But as the trial progresses, we begin to see that what comes to light in the courtroom may be fatefully intertwined with what threatens to remain hidden: by Paget's refusal to testify on his own behalf, by Elena's tangled loyalties, and by Terri's inability - or unwillingness - to recall the details of her own childhood trauma.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Fiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.