Rating: 
Summary: No ordinary legal thriller!
Review: Act of God is a compelling, richly detailed legal thriller with a bit of an edge. As such it stands in a class by itself, apart from other formulaic courtroom dramas.The crime--a horrible act of violence and destruction at a Seattle health clinic. The alleged perpetrator--Corey Dean Latham, a young clean-cut naval officer. The defense attorney--prestigious law firm partner Dana McAuliffe, who comes across like a modern-day Superwoman with her solid, upwardly moving law career and her loving, supportive husband and young daughter. The jury--a group of interesting and unique individuals faced with the daunting task of condemning a man to death for his supposed actions--if he's guilty. The verdict--in the court of public opinion, Corey Latham has already been tried and convicted before the case even goes to trial. Proving her client's innocence will be the most difficult case Dana has ever had, but despite her initial misgivings, she thinks she's ready for the challenge. From the lawyers on opposing sides, to the members of the jury, to Corey's friends and family, to the victims and survivors of the incident at Hill House, everyone believes they know the truth. But Sloan's neatly unfolding story proves that the truth is never as simple as it might seem. Susan R. Sloan has created a very real, very human cast of characters in a a story that just may change the way you think--about the American justice system and the explosive issues of abortion, violence in the name of religion and morality, and making difficult and possibly deadly choices. Act of God is full of plausible twists and surprises, from the beginning to the last startling sentence over 500 fascinating pages later.
Rating:
Summary: Three for three
Review: Act of God is the author's third novel and like the previous two is a five star read. Once again, Ms. Sloan has produced a fast paced novel about a contemporary social problem which attracts the reader's attention and requires the reader to examine preconceived assumptions. While the plot concerns the bombing of a medical clinic, which performs abortions as part of its services, and while the book scrupulously examines both sides of the abortion debate, the book is not about abortion. Instead it is an examination of the consequences when both sides loss all sense of civility and proportion and resort to extra-legal measures and extreme rhetoric. My only criticism is that Ms. Sloan is so successful in creating her characters, in describing the ripple effects of the act of terror which is at the core of the novel and in recreating the trial the that I was let down by the ending.
Rating: 
Summary: An Explosive, Psychological Courtroom Thriller!
Review: At 2:00 PM on a chilly, overcast afternoon, the first Tuesday in February, The Seattle Family Services Center shuddered on its foundation and exploded with a sound that shook the city. An extremist's bomb had killed almost 200 men, women and children. For more than half a century the Seattle clinic had provided full family services to the community, including multilevel family counseling, obstetric and gynecological services, and comprehensive day care facilities. The media had dubbed the Center an abortion clinic, and it had become the focus for pro-choice and pro-life extremists as a rallying point to further their causes. The local citizenry, the entire nation, are horrified and tremendous pressure is put on the police and FBI to capture, try, and execute the perpetrator. A young, clean-cut Naval officer is finally arrested for the crime, and high powered defense attorney Dana McAuliffe, a partner at the prestigious Seattle firm of Cotter Boland and Grace is persuaded to take the case. Dana is brilliant, confident, successful, and has made her way in a primarily man's world. As she becomes more acquainted with her client and the facts of the case, she begins to seriously doubt his guilt. Organizations on both side of the abortion issue have a political hay-day over the trial. It is a presidential election year and the leading candidate has promised to do everything in his power to repeal Rowe vs. Wade. A friend of Cotter Boland and Grace's senior partner, who wishes to remain anonymous, is paying for the defense. Confidential details of Dana's private life begin to appear in the tabloids as the trial commences, and evidence of possible jury tampering surfaces - from a very surprising source. Nothing is what it appears to be, and the twists and turns keep on coming, as the trial reaches a climax. The aftermath will knock your socks off!! This is a fast-paced, light read that you won't be able to put down. Susan Sloan's plot is tight and filled with suspense, her characters are believable. Ms. Sloan doesn't take sides in the debate over abortion rights, but she does suggest, rather strongly, that the political wars over this issue are very deadly.
JANA
Rating:
Summary: fast-paced and well written issues tale
Review: For over five decades the Family Services Center have provided health service to many of Seattle's unwanted or poor. However, someone takes exception to the facility providing abortion services among its medical practices and sets a bomb to destroy "Hill House" as the locals call the place resulting in over two hundred dead or severely injured. The city is shocked to its basic core especially when the bomb experts conclude that the culprit timed this deadly event for maximum destruction and death.
The police arrest Corey Dean Latham as the only immediate suspect with means, motive, and opportunity. The naval officer has never let go that his wife aborted their child without talking with him. Attorney Dana McAuliffe agrees to defend Corey Dean. However, the circus begins when the outsiders (media and extremists from both sides) try to take control of the issue for personal gain disregarding the legal and ethical rights of the dead, the family members, and the accused.
In ACT OF GOD the author shows why the abortion issue is loaded with emotional minefields so that both sides go to extreme measures to make their point, sometimes with tragic consequences. The story line is fast-paced and well written as Susan R. Sloan avoids preaching while furnishing a strong tale. However, Dana's own abortion a few years earlier reduces some of the strength of the story with unnecessary baggage. Still readers who want a potent legal thriller focusing on an fervent yet mangled social issue will want to read Susan R. Sloan's strong novel that the zealots on both sides will hate for providing a complete picture. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: A well- crafted and engrossing thriller
Review: Former Attorney & author of An Isolated Incident & Guilt by Association, Susan Sloan explores in this superb courtroom drama Act of God, an area that doesn&3146;t often become the theme of a legal thriller - the question of abortion rights vis-Â-vis the rights of the unborn. Corey Latham, a young naval officer has been accused of bombing the Seattle Family Service Center - a clinic that provided health services to the poor & homeless, as well as legal abortions. The bomb has killed more than a 100 people, most of them women & children. Gritty & determined attorney, Dana McAuliffe is assigned the task of defending Corey. She gears up for action, but finds herself in the midst of a media frenzy, where the pro-choice & the anti-abortionists have decided to use the trial as an epitome of their agenda. Corey, it seems had every reason to feel hatred towards the Center, for it was in there that Corey-s wife had an abortion without his consent. With evidence loaded against Corey, a chance for acquittal seems almost nil. McAuliffe hires her own investigator & begins to probe into the State-s case, slowly finding some points in favor of Corey. The highlight of the work is the balance the author maintains in the courtroom action, & the "legalese" that is strong & steady for both sides, culminating in an exciting & even-sided battle in the courtroom. Often we have seen courtroom drams dissolve into mere courtroom antics. Act of God is a noble exception, as Sloan maintains the sobriety of the issue throughout. The question of pro-choice & pro-life have rarely made its presence so strongly felt in the legal thriller arena - save for a Robert Shapiro's Misconception or Richard North Patterson's Protect and Defend. Act of God also poses another important question of whether abortion should remain exclusively within the zone of individual privacy or whether, & if so, to what extent, the law or State can exercise control over such actions of a person. Act of God is sure to excite the connoisseur of good legal-fiction. It makes a thrilling &, at the same time, poignant & savory read.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring
Review: I think I am going to be in the minority but I found this book rather dull. I was completely unsurprised by the ending and the plot twists within the story seemed too predictable. I could not understand what the accused wife's affair had to do with the plot at all. Maybe I have read too many books like this and I am beginning to think like the authors! I did think Sloan did a good job of showing the complete picture - the grief of the survivors and families, the need for the police to catch someone, the political climate, etc.
Rating: 
Summary: Not as GOOD as her first one (Guilt by Association)
Review: If this is the first book of Susan Sloan's that you read, this would be an interesting reading. If you had read every books of hers like I did, I have to say "enough is enough". Although not a bad book, the author rely too much on the same last minute twist for the surprise. Although I still think that her first book (Guilt by Association) is one of the greatest legal thriller of ninieties, this book coudn't lived up to the expectation. I thought her second book was finished about 50 pages short to fully explain the ending. This one is total nonsense. The ending has almost nothing to do with the story line and it almost felt like she put it there just to finish the book abd told us who the criminal was. After two consecutive disappointment from her (Isolated incident, and this), I am not sure I will buy another book of hers. Well I probably will, but my expectation won't be that high this time around. Only I hope that she will prove me wrong.
Rating:
Summary: Courtroom fiction, just like all the others
Review: Someone else reviewed this book as "dull". A very good description. It wasn't a bad read, just dull. There are a zillion legal and/or courtroom fiction books these days, and this is just another one of them.
I don't need to describe the gist of this story, many other people already did.
Susan Sloan does much better than this with her other books.
Rating:
Summary: Another winner for Susan R. Sloan
Review: Susan Sloan comes through again with another page-turner. She is one of the country's best-kept secrets. As with her first two books, she keeps the reader on edge. As a reader, you know there is going to be a twist, but it is always beyond comprehension what that twist will be. The most difficult thing about a Sloan novel is resisting the urge to turn to the back and see "who did it." Susan, as one of your greatest fans, please do not make us wait as long for the next thriller.
Rating:
Summary: Another winner for Susan R. Sloan
Review: Susan Sloan comes through again with another page-turner. She is one of the country's best-kept secrets. As with her first two books, she keeps the reader on edge. As a reader, you know there is going to be a twist, but it is always beyond comprehension what that twist will be. The most difficult thing about a Sloan novel is resisting the urge to turn to the back and see "who did it." Susan, as one of your greatest fans, please do not make us wait as long for the next thriller.
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