Errors and Omissions

The bromide about writing what you know works well for Stanford law professor Goldstein, an expert in intellectual property jurisprudence who participated in a famous case involving ownership of the James Bond film franchise. In his intriguing debut novel, he tosses his burned-out litigator, Michael Seeley, into the middle of a movie studio's homicidal battle to continue to control the rights to a fabulously successful spy series. This adaptation, which dips back into Hollywood's blacklist era, is a pretty intellectual property itself, depending more on character and motivation and moral ambiguity than action and suspense. Keeler relies on shading and subtlety rather than broad vocal interpretation. He segues smoothly from lively descriptive passages to even livelier dialogue sequences. Goldstein enjoys writing scenes in which several people converse at a fast clip; Keeler has no trouble attaching identifying voices to each while matching the novel's snappy patter. The novel ends not with a bang but with a mild joke. As wryly interpreted by Keeler, that seems not only appropriate but completely satisfying for a thinking man's thriller. Simultaneous release with the Doubleday hardcover (Reviews, Mar. 13). (July)