Uninvited

On the affluent Long Island Gold Coast, socially prominent housewife Patricia Carver, 27, and her two small children are found dead in their baronial home, apparently victims of a multiple murder/suicide that ended with her husband, 56, firing a bullet into his temple. Six months later, Tony McMahon, a pathetic young loner from a nearby rundown township is arrested and--based upon highly circumstantial evidence--charged with the killings. The motherless son of an alcoholic, Tony, as we learn through flashbacks, had in adolescence launched a worshipful and unrequited relationship with Patricia. Now the sensational crime has attracted a swarm of hotshot attorneys. Tony, friendless and broke, chooses as his defender Ralph Barolo, a flamboyant and streetwise lawyer who regards pleading before a jury as a wily game of sexual seduction. As the disturbing pathology of Tony's obsession is subtly revealed, the suspense builds regarding his guilt or innocence. As much a study in abnormal psychology as a telling look at social discrimination in the criminal justice system, this impressive--if at times slightly less than polished--tale is compelling to the end. 25,000 first printing. (May)