| Online version: Margolin, Phillip. Gone, but not forgotten. 1st ed. New York : Doubleday, ©1993 (OCoLC)756427166 |
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Library | Call Number | Material Type | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
Searching... State Library of Oregon | 813.54 MargoG | 4-Week Loan | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Darkness has fallen on the city of Portland, Oregon. One by one, the wives of affluent and respected men are vanishing from their homes. The only clues to their disappearance are a single black rose and a note that reads "Gone, But Not Forgotten." It is the rebirth of a horror that has already devastated a community at the opposite end of the country -- and, as it did then, terror and death will follow. Defense attorney Betsy Tannenbaum is trapped in a nightmare as the shadows of a killer darken her world. And she will soon be risking everything she has and everyone she loves to defend a cold, powerful, and manipulating client who may be a victim ... or a monster.
Author Notes
Philip Margolin was born in New York City in 1944. He received a bachelor's degree in government from The American University in 1965. From 1965 to 1967, he was a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia. He graduated from New York University School of Law in 1970. From 1972 until 1996, he was in private practice in Portland, Oregon, specializing in criminal defense. He has tried many high profile cases and has argued in the Supreme Court. He was the first attorney to use the battered woman's syndrome defense in a homicide case in Oregon.
His first novel, Heartstone, was published in 1978. He has been a full-time author since 1996. His other works include The Last Innocent Man; Gone, But Not Forgotten; After Dark; The Burning Man; The Undertaker's Widow; Wild Justice; The Associate; Sleeping Beauty; Capitol Murder and Sleight of Hand. He also writes short stories and non-fiction articles in magazines and law journals.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Summary:
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Images of gruesome violence pervade this gripping tale of abduction and serial murder. Affluent housewives in Portland, Ore., are disappearing without a trace. In each case the only clue is a black rose and a note reading, ``Gone, but Not Forgotten.'' Upstate New York police detective Nancy Gordon arrives to tell Portland's DA of a similar series of murders she had investigated back East. After implicating powerful local developer Martin Darius in the crimes, Gordon herself disappears. When several mutilated bodies are found at a construction site owned by Darius, police take him into custody. Darius's newly retained attorney, criminal lawyer Betsy Tannenbaum--a zealous advocate of women's rights and a successful defender of battered wives--begins her own search, which leaves her wondering if Darius is a psychotic killer on the loose, or the victim of a government cover-up involving the President's nominee for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Margolin ( The Last Innocent Man ) writes with breakneck pacing and just the right injection of lurid detail to make chills race down readers' spines. If his narrative is a bit choppy and some of the plot twists are telegraphed too clearly, he nonetheless delivers a top-notch whodunit with an explosive and satisfying conclusion. Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club selection; major ad/promo; author tour. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
A rash of grisly torture/murders of upscale Portland, Oregon, housewives--each kidnapped by someone who leaves behind a black rose and a note saying ``Gone, but not forgotten''--turns out to have unholy roots in an identical series of killings across the country a decade earlier. Martin Darius, the megalomaniac developer accused of the crimes, swears he's innocent. But Nancy Gordon, an ex-detective from Hunter's Point (New York) homicide, tells his lawyer, Betsy Tannenbaum, that he's Peter Lake, whom she's convinced was behind the Hunter's Point killings--including those of Lake's wife and young daughter. Betsy's own investigation points to a coverup nine years ago: Lake was pardoned by police and a governor desperate to find starving kidnap victims that Nancy Gordon never mentioned to Betsy. Now that that governor's nomination to the Supreme Court could be jeopardized by any whiff of the pardon, Darius admits to Betsy that, yes, he's Lake and that he did indeed kill those women back then--but not the current victims, whom he insists obsessive Gordon has murdered in order to frame him. Gordon, meanwhile, has disappeared, and a third suspect has surfaced: Samantha Reardon, a surviving Hunter's Point victim whose graphically detailed captivity may be fueling a psychotic thirst for revenge. ``Can you imagine a case you wouldn't take?'' a reporter asks Betsy about her repulsive client--but in fact Betsy's ethical dilemma is only the beginning of her troubles. Margolin's writing won't win any prizes (``Darius was in Betsy's soul''; he's ``not just a bad person, but pure evil'')--but this slick, pulpish first novel will keep an awful lot of people up until dawn.
Booklist Review
Betsy Tannenbaum is a defense attorney of growing reputation in Portland, Oregon. Her specialty is battered wives who've retaliated against their abusive husbands. Local multimillionaire contractor Martin Darius puts Betsy on retainer for crimes he "may" be charged with in the future. Wives of local businessmen are being kidnapped; the only clues are a black rose and a note saying "Gone, But Not Forgotten" left at each scene. A police detective arrives from New York with evidence that Darius is actually Peter Lake, a New York attorney who was a suspect in a series of similar incidents 10 years earlier. Darius admits to Betsy his involvement in the first set of crimes but insists he's being framed for the current Portland kidnappings. Betsy is put in the position of defending an admitted monster who has shown that he prefers to torture his victims before he disembowels them. This is an excellent thriller in the Silence of the Lambs mold, but what sets it apart from similar efforts is the use of choice as a plot device. Throughout, good people are forced by circumstance to choose between two evils. How can one live with a decision when the choice is between today's suffering victims versus tomorrow's potential victims? The characters agonize because the results--whatever the choice--are the seeds of nightmares. This topnotch thriller more than lives up to the "Not Forgotten" in its title. Expect the book to generate debate--as well as chills--among its readers. (Reviewed July 1993)0385470029Wes Lukowsky
Library Journal Review
Four women disappear from Hunter's Point, New York, before the murdered bodies of Sandra Lake and her six-year-old daughter are found. Next to Mrs. Lake are a black rose and a note that reads, ``Gone, but not forgotten.'' Ten years later women are vanishing from Portland, Oregon. In each of their homes is a black rose and a note identical to that found in Hunter's Point. After hearing about the New York case and its possible connection to his, Portland's district attorney, Alan Page, arrests wealthy Martin Darius for the torture and murder of the people whose bodies are found on his property. Meanwhile, Betsy Tannenbaum, a rising star in the legal profession and Darius's lawyer, discovers incriminating evidence against him. Margolin combines the riveting suspense of the traditional thriller with the current legal thriller to create a first-rate novel containing all the best elements of a mystery as well. The pat denouement is the only negative in this thoroughly enticing book. Essential for all fiction collections. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 6/1/93.-- Jo Ann Vicarel, Cleveland Heights-University Heights P.L., Ohio (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
