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Summary
Author Notes
Richard North Patterson was born in Berkeley, California on February 22, 1947. He graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1968 and Case Western Reserve University's School of Law in 1971. He has served as an assistant attorney general for the state of Ohio; a trial attorney for the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco; and was the SEC's liaison to the Watergate special prosecutor. He retired from the practice of law in 1993 to become a full-time writer. He studied creative writing with Jesse Hill Ford at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
His first novel, The Lasko Tangent, won an Edgar Allen Poe Award in 1979. His other works include Private Screening, Eyes of a Child, Silent Witness, No Safe Place, Exile, Eclipse, The Devil's Light, and Fall from Grace. He has received several awards of his work including the French Grand Prix de Litterature Policiere in 1995 for Degree of Guilt and a Maggie Award from Planned Parenthood for Protect and Defend.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Patterson's latest legal thrillerfeaturing many of the same characters as his previous Degree of Guiltspent 10 weeks on PW's bestseller list. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Patterson's Degree of Guilt (1992) was a runaway best-seller, so it's a good bet his latest will generate reader enthusiasm, big sales, and media hype, too. There's no doubt it's a page-turner. Despite the shallow morality and severe case of yuppie-itis affecting the main characters, the book has all the right stuff for commercial success: illicit affairs, sex and lust, murder, child molestation, a cute kid, and a gripping courtroom scene. Terri Peralta and Richie Arias have been married for six years, but the only good thing they have to show for the union is their daughter, Elena. Now Terri has left Richie and fallen in love with her lawyer-boss, Chris Paget; meanwhile, Richie, a manipulative slimeball capable of deceptive charm, convinces the judge he's a caring father who should have custody of Elena. Terri, devastated, goes off to Italy with Chris to decide if they really love each other. When they return, Richie is dead, supposedly a suicide. Of course, the police have doubts, and the ensuing trial, where Chris must defend himself against murder charges, is the book's main event. Wicked crossfire in the courtroom and a surprise ending make this one entertaining, but by no means great literature. Of course, with a 250,000-copy first printing and a national advertising campaign, who needs literature? (Reviewed November 1, 1994)0679429883Emily Melton
Kirkus Review
About the only trauma San Francisco superlawyer Christopher Paget was spared in his previous appearance (Degree of Guilt, 1993) was being put on trial for murder himself--an omission Patterson rectifies here when Chris is charged with killing the estranged husband of his associate and lover, Teresa Peralta. It hasn't been easy for Terri to leave Richie Arias, despite his manipulative irresponsibility. As the child of an abusive marriage herself, she worries that she'll never really be free of him, especially since he's ready to use threats about their five- year-old daughter, Elena, to force her to give up Chris. As Terri stumbles through Elena's custody hearings, charming, sociopathic Richie polishes his image for the psychologists and judges, extorts spiraling alimony and child support payments, sells his story to a scummy tabloid, and finally sues Chris's adored son, Carlo, for molesting Elena. Desperate Terri, watching the deadline for Carlo's hearing loom, wishes Richie were dead--and then suddenly he is, leaving her and Chris in even hotter water. The police have Chris's fingerprints at Richie's apartment, an eyewitness who saw him leaving the scene, and what looks like a clumsy attempt to stage an alibi. Chris's lawyer, Caroline Masters (the judge in the Carelli trial in Degree of Guilt), has to make do with a wacky suicide theory nobody believes, Chris's refusal to take the stand himself, and a killer instinct for the weak spots in each witness's testimony. The trial is a tour de force that will keep you holding your breath for 200 pages, but the most cunningly prepared surprises--foreshadowed by a psychologist's persistent therapy with an unresponsive Elena--don't come until after the verdict is in. Patterson's new thriller is a miracle of agonizingly focused suspense. The adversarial nature of American criminal justice has never been more brilliantly dramatized. (First printing of 250,000; Literary Guild main selection; author tour)
Library Journal Review
Lawyer Patterson's bloated sequel to his best-selling courtroom novel, Degree of Guilt (LJ 12/92), is already slated for television. His new work could have been cut in half by any diligent editor-30 pages of jury selection, for instance, is enough to glaze the eyes of the most dedicated crime reader. The intense dialog and plot, however, will grab fans of Scott Turow and John Grisham, and Patterson gives readers a convincing look at San Francisco's corrupt politics. The plot concerns the death of ne'er-do-well Ricardo Arias, who may or may not have committed suicide. Because of the widely publicized custody battle waged with Arias by his ex-wife and her lover, Christopher Paget (hero of Degree of Guilt), both are investigated and Paget indicted. The author's deeply felt antiviolence theme is smoothly integrated into the narrative. Expect demand. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 9/15/94.]-Joyce Smothers, Monmouth Cty. Lib., Manalapan, N.J. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Excerpts
Excerpts
One Ricardo Arias's face filled with fear and disbelief. "If you're going to kill yourself," the intruder repeated softly, "you must leave a note." Richie's eyes would not move from the gun. Pulled from damp and darkness, it had not been fired for years; the intruder wondered if it would fire now. But Richie Arias did not know this. Sitting at his desk, Richie began groping for a pen. His movements were sluggish, like those of a man struggling under water. Fixated on the gun, he seemed blind to the darkened living room: the worn couch and armchair, the cheap coffee table, the computer on the desk, the answering machine he used to screen creditors, the faded posters. A chrome standing lamp cast a pall on his skin. His face was thin, with black eyes that shifted from softness to anger, as suited his needs, and yet never quite lost the alert, almost fevered expression of a bright graduate student running on too much coffee and too little sleep. Blood had begun to trickle from one nostril. "I never write." His head twitched toward the computer. "Everyone knows I use that." "Suicide is different." The intruder's voice was strained now. "The handwriting must be yours." Richie's face looked drawn. Slowly, he picked up the pen, holding it gingerly. "'I am ending my life'"--the intruder spoke for him--"'because I have faced what I am.'" An instant's pause, the instinct to resist. Then Richie's pen began to inch across the paper. The effort was awkward and hesitant, that of a child learning to write, pausing in the middle of letters. Heavier on some than others, spidery at the end. "'What I am,'" the voice instructed him, "'is selfish and pathetic.'" Richie stopped writing. His eyes filled with resentment. "Do it," the intruder ordered. Wiping the blood from his nose, Richie stared at the paper. It was a moment before his hand moved, and when it did, there was a red smear on the back of his fingers. The word "pathetic" took too long to write. "'My only business is extortion. I have used my wife and child, out of greed and shamelessness, because I myself am nothing.'" Richie flushed with anger. He stopped, staring at the words he had already written. His hand would not move. The intruder hesitated, irresolute. Then saw, on the bookshelf next to Richie, a photograph. Gun aimed at Richie, the intruder retrieved the picture and placed it carefully on the desk. A dark-haired girl, her solemn brown eyes gazing at Richie Arias. It was far better than a note, the intruder realized: a last expression of cheap sentiment would seem so very like him. A shrine to his own suicide. Turning from the picture, Richie's face showed that he understood the rest. "You see," the intruder said softly, "I know who you are." As if by instinct, Richie stood, backing from the chair. "Wait," he cried out. "No one commits suicide from across a room." Their eyes met. The intruder did not speak. "You can just leave." Richie's tone became a shrill wheedle. "I won't tell anyone. We just let it go, okay?" All at once, staging a suicide did not matter. "Only you," the intruder said quietly, "would think that I could 'let it go.' Only you." Richie's gaze darted to the gun. Slowly, the intruder started toward him. Five feet, then four. Richie's face was taut with fear and calculation. Backing toward the coffee table, he seemed to have forgotten it was there: his eyes flickered toward the bedroom hallway, searching for a way out. His throat worked. "Shoot me now, and it's murder." The intruder stopped, raising the gun. Richie's eyes changed. In that moment, he seemed to accept--despite his deepest instincts--that one person could truly love another. "I'll give her up," he whispered. In silent answer, the intruder's head moved from side to side. Richie turned to run. The gun jerked up at his first panicky step. As he stretched forward, straining for the hallway, Richie's leg slammed into the coffee table. There was a sharp sudden scream of pain. The next few seconds were like freeze-frames. Richie snapping at the waist, arms flailing. Sprawling forward in a face-first dive, head bobbing like a rag doll. Temple hitting the corner of the table. Another sound: a sickening crack. And then Ricardo Arias rolled sideways, flopping onto the carpet, and was still. He lay on his back, staring at the ceiling. The lamp bathed him in a circle of light. Gun hand trembling, the intruder knelt beside him. There was a red gash on his temple. Blood dribbled from his nose. The luminous wristwatch on his arm read 10:36. Tentatively, almost gently, the intruder pushed open Richie's lips with the barrel of the gun. It did not require much room. As the barrel slipped into his throat, Richie's mouth clamped down, the reflex of choking. The only sounds were Richie's shallow breathing, the whir of air-conditioning. Eyes shut, the intruder took one breath and pulled the trigger. A metallic snap. It was only an instant later that the intruder, forced to look at Richie's face, knew the ancient gun had not discharged. Richie blinked, the first tremor of consciousness. Watching him taste the black metal, then discover it in some state of half awakening, the intruder prayed that the gun would fire. Four more bullets. Richie's eyes widened in terrible comprehension. His head rose, twisting feebly. His mouth opened around the barrel to form a single word. "Please..." The child shuddered. It was dark. She was damp from the struggle to escape: her legs could not move, and her voice could not cry out. Knees drawn up tight against her stomach, she lay there, waiting. The banging on her door grew louder. As the door burst open, the little girl awakened with a soundless scream, torn from her nightmare. She did not know where she was. But in her dream, she had imagined what would break down the door: a savage dog, with bright teeth and black curly hair, eyes searching the room for her. A shadow moved toward her. The girl shivered, stifling her scream, hugging herself so tightly that her fingers dug into her skin. And then her grandmother spoke softly, in Spanish, and Elena Arias stopped trembling. "It was only your dream," her grandmother repeated, and swept Elena into her arms. "You're safe now." Elena held her tight, tears of relief springing to her eyes, face buried in her grandmother's neck. She would know the smell of Grandma Rosa anywhere, sweet skin and perfume, the scent of cut flowers. As her grandmother gently lowered her head onto the pillow, Elena shut her eyes. Elena felt Rosa's fingertips gently touch her forehead: in her mind, she saw her grandmother's jet-black hair, the slender face still almost as pretty as that of Elena's own mother, Teresa, whose room this once had been. The sounds of Dolores Street came to her then: Latin voices on the sidewalk; the squeal of cars at a stop sign. Outside, the streets were not safe, and Dolores Park, where Elena could not play, was filled with men who sold drugs at night. The window that her mother once could open wide was nailed to the frame. But here, with her grandmother, there was no black dog. "Where is Mommy?" Elena asked. To night, before bedtime, her grandmother had taken her mother's old world globe and traced a line with her finger from San Francisco, showing the route that her mother would fly tomorrow. But now Rosa repeated the words like a favorite story. "Your mother is still here, at her house. Tomorrow she's flying to a place called Italy. But she'll be back in ten more days. And in the morning, when you get up, we'll find Italy on the map again." Elena was silent for a moment. "But Daddy's not with her, is he? Mommy's going with Chris." "Yes." Her grandmother's voice was quieter still. "Mommy's going with Chris." Elena opened her eyes. In the faint glow of the night-light, her grandmother's gaze looked tired and sad. Turning to the window, Elena listened for the sounds of the world outside. "Will I see Daddy tomorrow?" she asked in a tentative voice. "After Chris and Mommy leave?" Her grandmother watched her, fingers still resting on her forehead. "No, Elena. Not tomorrow." Tomorrow was as far ahead as Elena wished to think. She turned back to Rosa. "Please, Grandma, sleep with me. I'm afraid of being alone." In the dim light, her grandmother started to shake her head and then stopped at the look in Elena's eyes. "Remember what I told you, Grandma? About being scared?" Her grandmother looked into her eyes. "Yes," she said gently. "I remember." Neither spoke again. Her grandmother rose slowly from the bed and then, pulling her dress over her head, slid into the bed next to Elena, wearing only her slip. Nestled in her grandmother's arms, Elena felt the rise and fall of Rosa's wakeful breathing as the caress of love and safety, until she fell asleep. EYES OF A CHILD Copyright (c) 1998 by Richard North Patterson. Excerpted from Eyes of a Child by Richard North Patterson All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
