Book Review: Absolute Certainty

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Absolute Certainty     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Rose Connors
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Thriller   Woman Main Character
Series: Marty Nickerson # 1
Scribner, August 2002, $24.00, 304 pp.

The assistant district attorney for Barnstable County on Cape Cod believes heart and soul that Manuel Rodriguez is guilty of murdering Michael Scott, a bright college student with his whole future ahead of him. She is so convincing that a jury eventually finds Manuel guilty of murder in the first degree.

One year after Michael’s death on Memorial Day, a second person is murdered, a nineteen-Navy man home on leave. A roman numeral II is carved on his chest just as the number I was carved on Michael’s chest. Assistant DA Marty Nickerson thinks the same killer murdered both men, but her superiors dismiss her concerns until a third person is murdered and the Roman numeral III is carved on his client. Marty knows she must do something to trap the serial killer before anyone else gets killed.

ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY is an absolutely fantastic legal thriller. Readers get an up close and personal look at the judicial system as seen through the eyes of the protagonist, a woman who goes from being an idealistic to a cynic over the course of the novel. The perpetrator is hiding in plain sight but readers won’t be able to recognize the essence of evil hiding behind a well-liked and respected person. Rose Connors is clearly a gifted storyteller.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner