The Trial

This clichéd legal thriller from Grisham wannabe Thompson (So Help Me God) opens with a prologue that undercuts rather than enhances suspense by revealing two major plot points: the bad news teenager Samantha Vaughn receives about her failing liver and the murder of a "young executive" in possession of some important computer disks. Samantha, the daughter of Luke Vaughn, a high-powered Houston lawyer who's relocated to the small town of San Marcos, Tex., becomes ill after participating in a trial for a new antibiotic. The drug is produced by an evil pharmaceutical magnate, Dr. Alfred Kingsbury, whose lust for obscene profits leads him to cartoonish acts of villainy. When Luke learns what caused his daughter's liver failure, he takes on Kingsbury's company in a product liability trial. Most readers will soon figure out the identity of the murder victim in the prologue, and find the improbable happy ending cloying. (Apr.)