From Publishers Weekly
Judging by this page-turner, Van Wormer (Any Given Moment) has put the time she recently spent serving on the sequestered jury of a Manhattan murder trial to good use: the novel is rife with salient details that only an insider could know. Ever wittily observant and not above some goodnatured self-mockery, Van Wormer centers the action on freshman juror and formerly successful novelist Libby Winslow, who, 19 months previously, "had been thirty-two and was planning to get married; now she was thirty-four, her book was returning from bookstores in droves, and she was a single woman with cats." Libby is at first intrigued by fellow juror Alex, a renovation contractor. Despite his "Marlboro Man" looks and pointed attentions, however, there is something off-putting about him, so she eventually finds herself drawn to the unassuming William, an investment banker with a heart of gold. As the trial heats up, so does Libby and William's relationship; similarly, juror Melissa, a recovering alcoholic, begins to come to terms with her attraction to a female advertising client. Racy heterosexual episodes and a soupcon of lesbian flirtation add headiness to an already satisfying brew, and readers will stay up late to devour the novel's final pages, in which the revelation of Alex's true colors combines with the jury's final deliberations to generate more than a little suspense.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
This cross between the movie Twelve Angry Men (1957) and a Danielle Steele-like novel results in a very readable tale. The thirtysomething heroine, Libby Winslow, looks forward to a break in her stalled writing career when she is summoned to jury duty. Her fellow jurors are diverse, the best and the worst of stereotypical New Yorkers-the wealthy matron, the computer nerd, the black CPA, the gay man whose lover is dying from AIDS. They are hearing the case of the murder of a beautiful model killed by a privileged but drug-addled young man. Subplots abound between Libby, handsome architect Alex, and Will, a Wall Street type. And we can't forget the dead woman's sister and husband and their story. Justice is served and love triumphs. Jury Duty offers good, light reading from the author of Any Given Moment (LJ 12/94). For popular collections.
Barbara Maslekoff, Ohioana Lib., ColumbusCopyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
