Fall from Grace: A Noir Thriller

Strangers on BART, San Francisco's subway system, meet and make mayhem in this first novel by television writer/producer Clyde Phillips, who pays off on his debt to Alfred Hitchcock by updating the master and adding a few new twists. When lawyer David Perry blabs to his subway seatmate, a seedy mechanic named Barton Hubble, that he's about to be divorced by his rich wife, Hubble decides to do his new friend a favor by killing the offending wife. But then Perry refuses to acknowledge his share of the drunken bargain, and Hubble becomes a serious threat. There's a bright, attractive cop named Jane Candiotti and several exciting action scenes that take place far below and well above ground—even on the Golden Gate Bridge. — Dick Adler From Publishers Weekly An encounter on San Francisco's BART leads to murder in TV veteran Phillips's enthralling debut thriller. Depressed by his impending divorce from Pacific Heights heiress Jenna Maxwell Perry, 39-year-old lawyer David Perry confides in lowlife auto mechanic Barton Hubble, who takes it on himself to make Perry a rich man, even if it means killing Jenna. When Perry refuses to acknowledge the favor, Hubble stalks him and his teenage daughter, Lily. Detective Jane Candiotti, pushing 40, is put on the case. Coming off a fading romance of her own, Candiotti begins an amorous entanglement with Perry that compromises her investigation of Jenna's murder and puts her own life at risk. The debt to Hitchcock is obvious, and, like the master, Phillips makes maximum use of regional details?chief (maybe too chief) among them is the Golden Gate Bridge. Also in the Hitchcock manner, the end comes with a double surprise that provides a powerful resolution to the novel's tense action sequences and gathering suspense. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Kirkus Reviews A greedy killer hitches his wagon to an acquaintance's fat inheritance, in TV writer Phillips's TV-ish first novel. Like Barton Hubble, Phillips follows the moneythe $65 million fortune that San Francisco attorney Graham Maxwell's amassed over his career. When a fatal plane crash (secretly engineered by a perfidious mechanic) turns that fortune into a lavish estate that Maxwell's daughter, Jenna Perry, will share with her husband David, Phillips puts the screws to their marriage: David catches Jenna cheating and walks out; Jenna threatens to cut off his visitation rights to Lily, the 13-year-old daughter he adores; David accuses Jenna of using Lily to pressure him into a financial settlement. Enter Hubble, a car mechanic who insinuates himself into David's life, hears about the troubles David's having at home, then obligingly goes out and kills the little woman. Just a favor for a friend, he tells David when he phones to get his blackmail threat rolling: Unless David comes across with a cool $5 million, Hubble, who's obviously seen Strangers on a Train, will plant evidence on the murder scene that'll have the cops hot on David's trail. The plan is diabolical, but Hubble isn't, because his penny-dreadful threats (he'll tip off the cops, he'll find a way to get close to Lily) are constantly getting upstaged by the torrid romance David has kindled with Inspector Jane Candiotti, who prefers his embraces to those of her dependable, boring partner Kenny Marks. As Hubble fumes in the background, David and Jane enjoy romantic trysts overlooking great Bay Area sights and, from time to time, fret over the mounting body count. Knowledgeable fans of the psychokiller genre will see the single surprise in this familiar scenario a long way off; the target audience most likely to be surprised might just as well wait for the inevitable telemovie, which won't have any trouble condensing the story to two hours. Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. (An) enthralling debut thriller. — Publishers Weekly From the Publisher With his literary debut, FALL FROM GRACE, Clyde Phillips, veteran television writer and creator of such hits as Suddenly Susan and Parker Lewis Can't Lose, offers a fast-paced murder mystery that will keep readers riveted. The novel begins as David Perry, a successful, San Francisco lawyer, is about to divorce his adulterous wife, Pacific Heights heiress Jenna Maxwell Perry. An encounter with low-life car mechanic Barton Hubble on a subway ride downtown leads to an evening in which Perry drunkenly shares his grief with Hubble. Shortly afterwards, Perry's wife is found murdered, and Hubble reappears, claiming he is responsible and demanding payback for the job. When Perry refuses to cooperate, Hubble refuses to go away, stalking Perry and his daughter Lily. What ensues is a series of nail-biting episodes involving anyone who crosses Hubble's path. Assigned to the murder is Inspector Jane Candiotti, a smart, attractive woman on the verge of middle age whose loneliness triggers a personal interest in Perry. As the case progresses, the two grow more intimate, much to the dismay of Jane's partner and former boyfriend, Kenny, who is not only jealous but feels that the case and Jane's safety are being compromised. In a final plot twist worthy of Alfred Hitchcock, Inspector Candiotti finds herself clinging to life high atop one of the most famous landmarks in the world, while two men are desperately trying to get her. One to save her. The other to kill her. FALL FROM GRACE is filled with plot twists and troubled characters whose secrets and lies are intertwined. Phillips skillfully portrays everything from feminine vulnerability to reckless greed to psychotic behavior. Readers will be left guessing until the very last page of this masterful thriller. Read more