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Twist of Fate
Mary Jo Putney Book Review

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Plot Summary of Twist of Fate
"

Jove, Aug 2003, 7.50, 352 pp.
ISBN: 0515135453

In Baltimore, a close friend offers attorney Val Covington an opportunity to open her own practice that would include office space in a former church owned by Rob Smith. Val leaps at the chance and offers a job to her sometime paralegal assistant at her old firm. Kendra Brooks accepts on the condition that Val represents pro bono her former lover and father of her child, a death row inmate that the assistant insists is innocent.

Seventeen years ago Daniel Monroe was convicted of killing a cop. His appeals are running out and soon the state will execute him unless a miracle occurs. Though believing that Kendra is seeing her beloved through the rose colored glasses of love, Val agrees to work the case. Surprisingly, Rob has investigative experience and skills and assists Val as they seek a smoking gun to prove her client's innocence while falling in love with one another.

TWIST OF FATE is a powerful legal thriller that assaults the current capital punishment system that focuses on convictions not guilt or innocence in a due process in which the prosecutor is always right. The story line contains a romantic subplot, but is clearly a call for action, not against the death penalty, but to insure that the wrong person is never executed. Though Rob's skills are too convenient as the cost of an investigator is extremely high (a key prosecutor advantage), the cast is multi-dimensional especially the courageous lead couple and Kendra. Mary Jo Putney condemns a blind system that often fails to catch the guilty by expeditiously going after a convenient victim.

Harriet Klausner
"

Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of Twist of Fate
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 10%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20%




Tone of story - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
Time/era of story: - present (2000-2010)
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Legal Thriller Yes
Legal Plotlets - finding out whether someone is really guilty
Crime Thriller Yes
Crime plotlets: - wrongly convicted clearing his name
General Crime (including known murderer) Yes

Main Character
Gender - Female
Profession/status: - a lawyer creature
Age: - 20's-30's
How much violence does he/she use? - a little
Ethnicity/Race - White/American
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - very athletic

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status: - killer
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a moderate amount
Motive of antagonist - revenge
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged
Sense of humor - Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - Southeast

Style
Person - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
How many deaths? - 1
Amount of dialog - significantly more dialog than descript
Most similar books to Twist of Fate
Grudge Match by Jay Brandon
Bluebird Rising by John DeCure
Soul Circus by George P. Pelecanos
Good Morning, Killer by April Smith
The First Law by John Lescroart


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