Guilt by Association

Anticipation of the inevitable provides the compelling hook in Sloan's solidly crafted debut, as readers wait for date-rape victim Karen Kern to turn the tables on her attacker. In 1962, the attractive collegian is brutally assaulted in N.Y.C.'s Central Park by a Harvard Law student she has just met at a Christmas party. Subsequently spurned by her fiance-and in a sense by police and her parents, who assume she provoked the assault-Karen slowly carves a professional niche for herself but shuns any romantic attachments. Sloan juxtaposes Karen's uneasy maturation during the ensuing 30 years with the professional triumphs and behind-the-scenes shenanigans of California political aspirant Robert Willmont, Karen's erstwhile rapist. Both story lines occasionally become weighted down by domestic melodrama, though Sloan's array of colorful and credible supporting characters-and her keen observations of the passing decades-generally overcome any hurdles. And, when her protagonists finally reconnect, any shortcomings are forgiven, as the book's final third rushes headlong towards a taut and thoroughly satisfying finale. 75,000 first printing; major ad/promo. (Feb.)