The Bomb Maker’s Son: A Parker Stern Novel

The title of Rotstein’s third novel featuring attorney Parker Stern (after 2014’s Reckless Disregard) is fitting: it’s an explosive legal thriller set largely in Southern California that will keep readers guessing until the end. After being coerced by his estranged mother (who happens to be a cult leader) into representing one of her friends from the 1970s—an anti–Vietnam War radical accused of domestic terrorism who has been a fugitive from justice for almost four decades—Stern becomes entangled in a deadly mystery that revolves around the 1975 bombing of a Veterans Administration building in Playa Delta, Calif., which killed four people. As potential witnesses for the defense are murdered, Stern must also deal with life-changing revelations about himself and his rebel parents. Memorable characters and themes that are just as timely today as they were in the ’70s help make this a deeply satisfying page-turner. [em]Agent: Jill Marr, Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency. (June) [/em]