| AN EXTRAORDINARY fiction debut: a large, stir ring novel of suspense that is, at the same time, a work of brilliantly astute social observation. The Emperor of Ocean Park is set in two privileged worlds: thc upper crust African American society of the eastern seaboard--old families who summer on Martha s Vineyard and the inner circle of an Ivy League law school. It tells the story of a complex family with a single, seductive link to the shadow- lands of crime. The Emperor of the title, Judge Oliver Garland, has just died, suddenly. A brilliant legal mind, con- servative and famously controversial, Judge Garland made more enemies than friends. Many years be- fore, he d earned a judge shighest prize: a Supreme Court nomination. But in a scene of bitter humilia- tion, televised across the country, his nomination collapsed in scandal. The humbling defeat became a private agony, one from which he ncver recovered. But now the Judge s death raises more ques-tions and it seems to be leading to a second, evenmore terrible scandal. Could ()liver Garland havebeen murdered? He has left a strange message forhis son Talcott, a professor of law at a great univer-sity, entrusting him with "the arrangements"--amysterious puzzle that only "Tal can unlock, andonly by unearthing the ambiguities of his father spast. When another man is found dead, and thenanother, Talcott--wry, straight-arrow, almost tooself-aware to be a man of action--must risk hiscareer, his marriage, and even his life, following theclues his father left him. Intricate, superbly written, often scathinglyfunny,The Emperor of Ocea. Park is a triumphantwork of fiction, packed with character and inci-dent-a brilliantly crafted tapestry, of authition,family secrets, murder, integrity tested, and justicegone terribly wrong. |
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