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| Plot Summary of The Secret Hour |
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"
Bantam, Feb 2003, 22.95, 319 pp.
ISBN: 0553802240
In Connecticut, defense attorney John O'Rourke struggles with his moral dilemma of defending some of society's worst monsters to insure they have a fair trail and the requirements of a single dad raising two youngsters by himself. The townsfolk treat John like a pariah especially with his current case, defending Greg Merrill, the Breakwater Killer. The latest incident is a brick tossed threw his kitchen window that two cops blithely write it off as if John was the criminal.
Immediately following the brick incident, Kate Harris arrives at the O'Rourke residence. She wants John to ascertain whether his infamous client killed her sister, who vanished without the body recovered. As Kate helps the O'Rourkes heal from the loss of their mother, she falls in love with the trio. The kids welcome her into their lives, but John is reluctant as he feels guilt over his spouse's cheating while he overly worked on defending the dregs.
THE SECRET HOUR is a powerful legal romantic thriller that is at its best when John, living up to the Dershowitz credo that a “good lawyer should want to take the hardest cases, the most unpopular defendants”, must defend himself and his children from his neighbors. Readers will feel his strength from the start when John thinks back on an incident at an ice cream parlor with his young daughter involving the condemnation by a senior citizen. The story line is fast-paced yet obvious, but romantic suspense fans and legal thriller buffs will want to read this close look at the toll of defending death row convicts on the personal lives of an attorney and his family.
Harriet Klausner
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Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of The Secret Hour |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of story
- Present (2000-2010)
Action/suspense subplot?
Yes
Action:
- chased by/chasing kidnapper/killer
Main Male Character
Profession/status:
- lawyer creature
Age/status:
- 20's-30's
How sexual is this person?
- very picky
How romantic is this person?
- somewhat romantic
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 Female Character
Age/status:
- 20's-30's
Profession/status:
- business executive
How sexual is this person?
- very picky
How romantic is this person?
- somewhat romantic
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- very athletic
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- no torture/death
What % of story is romance related?
- 60%
Focus of story
- equally on him and her
How much dialog
- significantly more dialog than descript
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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