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Anonymous
Posted February 18, 2008
A reviewer
After reading her latest, 'The Fault Tree,' I knew I had to read Louise Ure's first novel,'Forcing Amaryllis.' Both stories were very well written, with strong characters and kept me guessing until the end. Read both, you won't be disappointed.
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Anonymous
Posted June 20, 2005
A remarkable first effort
It seems that, amongst diligent readers at least, everyone knows someone who simply insists that 'you must read this - it's that good'. Well, okay we say - thinking all the while that we're going to be doing them a polite favor. In this case with Louise Ure's first novel, Forcing Amaryllis, the friend we thought we were indulging did us an enormous favor. The scene is set in the Tuscon, AZ area with it's roadhouses and courthouses, saguaros and sagebrush, and a kind of hazy heat that tends to bend lots of things. The truth is one of those. Calla Gentry is a kind of grunt-work dispatch for Marley & Partners Trial Consultants. She keeps her head down and does what she's paid for, which is help identify that constituancy within a jury pool that will best serve the firms client win their case. A clause in her contract stipulates that she not be required to work on criminal trials, but a wrench is thrown in the works when her employer, Jessica Marley demands that she look into the case of one Raymond Cates. Cates, the scion of an old Arizona ranching family has been accused of the visciously brutal rape and murder of a young woman, and the realization that there are striking similarities between his case and that of her younger sister who was raped and left for dead seven years before drive her to pursue her own clandestine and very dangerous investigation to find surcease from the torment of her private demons. This book is gritty in its graphic description of horrific acts but it insinuates these without gratuity. They are absolutely necessary to the narrative and Ms. Ure's ability to bring these to context is well tempered with a natural sense of the language, landscape and culture of the southwest that can only be imbued by someone who has been born and raised there. It's a scary and facinating study of the legal system in the United States as well as a beautiful document of what it's like to find justice through guts and perserverance. Does the end twist? Of course - it's a mystery.
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An awesome legal thriller
In Tucson, Arizona, Jessica Marley, owner of Marley & Partners Trial Consultant informs employee Calla Gentry she will consult on a criminal case since one of their associates did the unfathomed misdeed of giving birth three weeks early. Calla objects as she only does civil matters, but Jessica overrules her. Calla needs this job to pay for the care of her comatose sister Amaryllis, a victim of rape and assault seven years ago; her sibling¿s attack is why Calla detests criminal cases................................ Attorney Kevin McCullough explains to Calla that the state accuses his client wealthy Raymond Cates of sexually assaulting and killing Lydia Chavez; but he has an alibi, a family ranch hand Salsispuedes affirms they were drinking at the time of the attack. Calla thinks the Chavez rape-murder is similar to that of her sibling; when she meets Cates, he wonders if they met before and she notices his cut off finger. She ponders could he have confused her for her sister and the finger fits the little her sibling mentioned before going into a coma. Though there is a conflict of interest, Calla makes inquiries with private investigator Anthony Strike who ishelping her.................... FORCING AMARYLLIS is an awesome legal thriller that showcases how the rich can afford a high priced specialized defense team (think of the OJ case) as specialists like Strike, Gentry, and a DNA expert are not cheap; attorneys are not enough. The story line digs deep into what goes on behind the scenes of a defense team while also following Calla¿s amateur sleuth investigation. Reminiscent of Rankin Fitch's squad in RUNAWAY JURY, FORCING AMARYLLIS is a fabulous look at the cost of American justice that like most things can be bought.................... Harriet Klausner
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