In, "Abuse Of Power", we meet Rachel Simmons. Not a lawyer but a policewoman who witnesses a fellow officer planting false evidence.

Almost as if in a tug of war with her conscience and her job expectations, Rachel progresses to show what happens when it is truly one against the world, her world.

I found alot of characters to keep up with, but a good read for non-graphic legal thrillers.

Thanks--CDS

Lily decides to get a fresh start when she asks her husband for a divorce and move out to a new apartment. Her life is irrevocably changed when an intruder storms into her home and rapes both her and her daughter, Shana. Lily believes she recognizes her assailant as one of the case files she brought home from work. Without thinking it over she decides to go kill him. She tracks the suspect and shoots him dead without even flinching. She then erases all traces of evidence she can think of that might identify her. She will now try to continue her life and help her daughter.

Unfortunately, things do not go as planned. Both Lily and Shana are still traumatized by the events and they both disagree as to who raped them. Lily wonders if she has made a mistake now that there is a relentless cop investigating the case.

Nancy Taylor Rosenberg does a good job in applying what she knows in this novel. She has worked in law enforcement for many years and has dealt with sexual offenders. The victims and situations felt real as well as the emotional trauma Lily feels for her action. The novel reads like a Lifetime movie but it kept my interest.

As Joanne becomes involved in the case she finds secrets are being kept, and when her main suspect disappears, she realizes their are people willing to stop at nothing to silence anyone that gets in the way.

While the pieces of the puzzle fall into place, Joanne makes the ultimate discovery...not only about the case she is working on, but her own life as well.

'Conflict Of Interest' is a very boring book; the plot moves along at a snail pace, and when the story finally develops it is not interesting, and it makes no sense. Nancy Taylor Rosenberg has been one of my favorite authors in the legal thriller genre, but in her new novel she has lost her edge. Instead of keeping speed with her main plot, Ms. Rosenberg juggles various sub-plots that are confusing, and tiresome.

Fans of Nancy Taylor Rosenberg's previous novels will be disappointed, as will any fan of legal thrillers.

Nick Gonnella

Joanne Kuhlman, a feisty & dedicated District Attorney is assigned the task of bringing to book three defendants accused of robbery, Tom & Gary Rubinsky & the developmentally disabled, Ian Decker. Decker's attorney Arnold Dreiser, & his mother insist that Ian was a victim of exploitation by the Rubinsky brothers, & that he did not know that he was committing a crime. Kuhlman is sympathetic towards Decker but cannot bring herself to believe that he should be absolved from liability. A couple of days later Decker disappears & it is feared that he might have been done away with by the Rubinsky brothers. A mysterious telephone call that Decker has been killed prompts Kuhlman to investigate more into the matter & what follows is a suspense-filled adventure where the attorney finds the half-truths & the full truths.

Conflict of Interest, like other Rosenberg works is action- & plot-packed. However, readers looking for legal drama or courtroom action concerning the nature of liability that can be fixed upon a developmentally disabled person are bound to be disappointed, as the work does not delve much into this aspect, though the author acknowledges that the issue is of great significance.

On a side-track, there is the story of Kuhlman's troubles with her former husband, there is also a flashback of the life of Eli Connors, a former CIA Agent who keeps a watch on Joanne from any possible attack from her former husband. However these sub plots & stories scantily help in character building or in plot building in the final scheme of things.

Personally, I feel that an ideal ending for the work should have been a courtroom drama where the issue of the developmentally disabled are brought to light, as John Grisham did with The Chamber when he brought to fore the justifiability of the death penalty; or, the rights & privileges of gays & AIDS patients as Ron Nyswaner did with Philadelphia (yes, the Tom Hanks movie!); & the reader be given the opportunity to delve more into the legal issue & form his own opinion.

The author missed a golden opportunity to deal in the same manner to bring to fore legal issues of the nature of liability of developmentally disabled persons.

As an ordinary thriller the book is engrossing, but for the devotees of Rosenberg novels, Conflict of Interest is a disappointment. The blurb promises a lot, but in the end it's just not up to the Rosenberg standard.

In the Acknowledgements section of this book, the author states: "I would like to express my gratitude to the many people, angels, family members, doctors and heaven-sent muses for providing me with the strength and inspiration to tell this particular story...The underlying issue in this novel -- the plight of the mentally disabled within the criminal justice system -- seemed to be of such great significance that the majority of this book was written in tremendous pain. I am almost now completely recovered, and eager to begin my next project."

CONFLICT OF INTEREST is, at its core, the story of Ian Decker a mentally challenged man who becomes involved in the California judicial system, with disastrous results.

Nancy Taylor Rosenberg knows her way around a courtroom and her main character, Assistant District Attorney Joanne Kulhman, is one tough cookie. Joanne has survived losing her children for two years after her ex-husband kidnapped them and went on the lam. Now reunited with the children, Leah and Mike, Joanne is trying to put the pieces of her life back together.

She is assigned the case against Ian and his two running buddies, but she sees something in the young man's eyes that connects with her softer side and she winds up walking a very fine line between her job as an ADA and her desire to get to the bottom of Ian's disappearance.

There are several sub-plots and a very interesting "private investigator" named Eli, but this book is ultimately the story of a young man's travails and triumphs despite his shortcomings.

Enjoy!

"Buried Evidence" is a very flawed book, starting with the fact that none of the characters are particularly sympathetic, even though the main character, Lily and her daughter, Shana, have experienced a horrible tragedy that no person should have to go through. But Lily comes across as a shrill bully, and Shana is portrayed as a narcissistic brat. Lily's nemesis, her ex-husband John, is written as such a one-dimensional villain, that when he meets his demise, the reader is left wondering "What took so long?" Equally underwritten is Lily's lover, Richard, who is still pining for her even though six years have passed, and he has been living with another woman for three of them. It makes no sense. Rosenberg simply asks the reader to accept that Lily and Richard are madly in love, and that Richard would do anything for Lily. although there is nothing about Lily's neurotic personality that would back Richard's feelings up.

Rosenberg is a talented writer, and I know because I've read better books by her, "Interests of Justice" and "Mitigating Circumstances" being two of them. I like the fact that her heroines aren't conventional rich, flawless skinned heiresses who don't have a problem in the world except for a stalker/in love with another man/can't have a baby/etc. Her main characters struggle with overwhelming problems, like coping with a convicted rapist being on the loose, along with the mundane ones, like not being able to pay the car note or the credit card bills. These types of characters are Rosenberg's trademark, and one can only hope that she returns back to them soon, along with a better plot and more compelling storyline.

Lily's ex husband, John, has been accused of a horrible crime, and to escape criminal charges he will use Lily's secret as leverage to get him out of this situation.

As Lily helps her ex husband (much against her will), her daughter, Shana, will be thrown into the middle of the police investigation...as a suspect, and to make matters worse-a rapist that Lily prosecuted 6 years earlier is now out on the streets, and he is looking to settle his score with both Lily, and her daughter.

"Buried Evidence" is a fast moving thriller, that will have readers eagerly turning pages to discover if Lily will triumph over her battles.

Nancy Taylor Rosenberg has not written a novel in far too many years, and this anticipated new book was well worth the wait. She has returned with a page turner that thrills and excites, and readers of her novels will welcome the return of Lily, from her bestseller "Mitigating Circumstances".

BRAVO to Ms. Rosenberg for giving legal thriller fans exactly what they crave...a gripping novel from start to finish.

A MUST read!

Nick Gonnella

When Lily's ex-husband is arrested for vehicular homicide, her life teeters on the brink of disaster. He threatens to reveal what he thinks he knows about that crime she committed six years ago if she does not bail him out and obtain a reputable representative to defend him. To add to her confusion, the man she loves, defense attorney Richard Fowler, is back in her life demanding a future together. Even when her former spouse squeals on her to cut a deal on his charges, Richard remains by her side.

It has been too long a time since Nancy Taylor Rosenberg has had a book published, but anyone who loves a terse legal thriller will know she has not lost her magic touch. BURIED EVIDENCE stars a beleaguered heroine in an action-packed story line that starts on page one and never eases on the throttle until the last page is done. Readers will never be sure they know the outcome because the subplots take the audience to and from the central theme with an ease that will leave the audience wondering how the novel will end. Her latest novel has plenty of evidence proving that Ms. Rosenberg remains one of the sub-genre's top maestros.

Harriet Klausner