cover image Until Death Do Us Part

Until Death Do Us Part

Christine McGuire. Pocket Books, $6.5 (352pp) ISBN 978-0-671-53618-3

McGuire's third thriller (after Until Proven Guilty and Until Justice Is Done) starts with a bang-literally-and never lets up. Someone is incinerating men during bondage sex, someone who may also be linked to a bomb that goes off in a courtroom. Deputy district attorney Kathryn Mackay is shocked when the blast seriously injures a colleague, but must proceed with the prosecution of a high-profile case against a man accused of deliberately infecting women with HIV. The investigation into the ongoing series of sex murders is paralleled by the tension of the courtroom scenes, and by Kathryn's own anxiety when she discovers a lump in her breast. McGuire, an experienced criminal prosecutor, provides fascinating forensic details and juggles her plotlines skillfully, never sacrificing clarity, as the book speeds to its conclusion. (Jan.)