Until the Bough Breaks [Mass Market Paperback]

McGuire's latest novel (after Until Death Do Us Part) starring Kathryn Mackay, a senior prosecuting trial attorney in the DA's office, is a provocative story examining the ugly twists of domestic violence. As an activist for battered women herself, Kate's determined to sift through murder evidence to find the truth when the defense poses BWS, Battered Women's Syndrome. No happy endings here; a subplot entangles Dave Granz, an inspector in the DA's office, and Kathryn's love interest, with Julia Soto, a woman who turns to crazed violent revenge after her rape and family disgrace. Statistics and the law, doled out in dialogue, form a running commentary on a high prevalence of domestic abuse. Despite occasional irregular and jarring scene transitions, early colorful forensics provide explicit, cogent detail in this sharp legal thriller.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Best-selling McGuire's new heroine, Kathryn MacKay, is a hardworking young woman struggling to maintain the job focus and dedication to justice needed as an assistant district attorney in Santa Rita County, California, but her ability to balance her career with her family and love life is put to the test when she and her boyfriend, police detective Dave Grantz, are called away from their Fourth of July holiday for a murder/arson emergency. As the investigation develops, what appears to be a straightforward case becomes complicated: Kathryn finds herself prosecuting against a surprise defense of battered wife syndrome, while Dave gets romantically (and nearly fatally) involved with an informant--who just so happens to be a passionate yet deranged ex-girlfriend. Although McGuire's characters lack depth, her plot is full of the sort of twists and insider looks at a criminal investigation that fans of legal thrillers adore. Catherine Sias

Patricia Holt San Fransisco Chronicle McGuire brings the kind of inside knowledge...and sharp, observant writing...that makes for compulsive page turning.

New York Times bestselling author Christine McGuire, a real-life criminal prosecutor, packs her legal thrillers with authentic details and "human characters who...leap right off the pages" (The Pilot, Southern Pines, NC).

Now, in Until The Bough Breaks, McGuire's tenacious heroine, Assistant D.A. Kathryn Mackay, confronts a scorching controversy in the courtroom -- and a shattering revelation in her private life.

The Fourth of July is winding down, but in Santa Rita County the fireworks have just begun. A house in the well-to-do Mission Heights district has gone up in flames. Inside are the charred remains of Lawrence Lancaster, with a .22 caliber slug in his brain -- courtesy of his wife. Kathryn's convinced it's premeditated murder, but she's pitted against a high-profile, media-savvy attorney who's vowing to turn the trial into a referendum on Battered Women's Syndrome.

Kathryn's greatest challenge will be focusing on the defendant's love life...and not on her own. Her colleague and lover, David Granz, has also been accused of a crime -- the brutal rape of a former girlfriend -- and the evidence seems airtight. With her personal and professional worlds on a collision course, Kathryn races to uncover the truth -- and becomes the next target in a spiral of rage, recrimination, and explosive violence.