cover image Hung Jury

Hung Jury

Rankin Davis, Rankin Davic. Berkley Trade Pub, $6.99 (336pp) ISBN 978-0-425-16674-1

In a London court, the evidence against Dr. Jennifer Fox, accused of murdering a fellow research scientist, is staggering, and Geoffrey Haversham, the attorney general and brother of England's prime minister, fully expects the jury to return a guilty verdict. But before jury deliberations begin, Haversham is kidnapped by ecoterrorists. The militant environmentalists claim Fox was framed after she had uncovered an incriminating conspiracy between the government and pesticide companies, and they demand the jury return a verdict of not guilty in exchange for the attorney general's life. Haversham's fate lies in the hands of the jury, but neither prosecutor nor defendant is aware that the jury foreman, a retired watchmaker nicknamed ""Uncle Bob,"" is hell-bent on securing a guilty verdict by any means necessary. Davis's (Abuse of Process) sense of timing and ability to move smoothly between the story lines creates tension in his latest legal thriller. (Jan.)