Book Review: Bearing Witness

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Bearing Witness     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Michael A. Kahn
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Legal Setting   Woman Main Character   Amateur Sleuth
Series: Rachel Gold # 7
Forge, Sep 2000, $23.95, 316 pp.

Perhaps the toughest area of anti-discrimination law to prove is age discrimination. However, St. Louis lawyer Rachel Gold accepts the case of Ruth Alpert, a sixty-three year old secretary, suing her employer the Goliath, Beckman Engineering. Rachel finds a strong witness with plenty of evidence in Gloria Muller, former wife of a construction company CEO doing business with Beckman Engineering. However, in front of her eyes, gunmen kill Gloria.

Rather than dropping the now dangerous litigation, Rachel, with assistance, begins to review boxes of information on Beckman Engineering. She soon sees a link back to a World War II cabal, Jewish activism, and an anti-Semite group. How that all ties together with a modern day Neo-Nazi group requires more library research and persuading a judge who prefers the rich and famous to the common masses.

BEARING WITNESS is a pleasant surprise to anyone who has had to do extensive library research on a project. The astonishment is how exciting author Michael A. Kahn makes this tedious work seem. The story line is exciting and the tie-in between St. Louis' history and the present is cleverly constructed. Rachel and her boyfriend provide an insightful glimpse of the conflict between the assimilation of the Jewish people vs. the Orthodox tradition. Although the support cast never quite develops enough to propel the plot forward fast enough, Michael A. Kahn provides an entertaining novel that makes even paper research seem fun.

Harriet Klausner

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