The Bad Witness

Publishers Weekly

Van Wormer's patented blend of romance and courtroom drama wears a little thin in her 11th novel, her fourth featuring broadcast journalist Sally Harrington (The Last Lover; Expos ; Trouble Becomes Her). Sally is a headstrong, risk-taking, sexy woman who thrives on fast action, danger and press attention. On temporary hiatus from New York, she's in Los Angeles, where she's the key defense witness for Hollywood producer Jonathan Small, accused of killing East Coast mobster Nick Arlenetta, who once tried to kill Sally herself. Because she wrote a documentary miniseries about the war between East Coast crime families, her testimony is crucial in the California case, so the Santa Monica police department assigns Paul Fitzwilliam as round-the-clock protection for Sally. Although he's six years her junior, the sexual attraction between them is palpable, but their budding romance is interrupted when a hit-and-run motorist slams into their motorcycle and they end up in the hospital. Subplots involving Hollywood stars and trendy issues like bisexuality abound, but the primary narrative proceeds with Sally on the witness stand in a cast. A shocking revelation from another witness livens up the mix, but as the trial increasingly takes over the story, the dull, repetitive testimony makes the second half of the novel read more like a court transcript than fiction. This isn't one of Van Wormer's better efforts, but as a Sally Harrington vehicle, it should satisfy diehard fans. (Nov. 4) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Sally Harrington again, in and out of the witness box. Van Wormer serves up an exhausted, scraped-together hash of the last titles featuring TV producer Harrington (Trouble Becomes Her, 2001, etc.). For those new to the story: mob goons muscled in on a national media union, triggering a mob family feud and several murders. Egged on by her publicity-hungry boss, Harrington reported on the case while stepping over the bodies and dodging bullets right and left. Now on the stand in a Los Angeles court, she explains in numbing detail exactly what happened in the Presario/Arlenetta/Small murder case. Wearisome stretches of court-transcript-style dialogue are interspersed with recaps and seemingly random resolutions of previous subplots featuring Harrington's long-suffering mother, dead father, even her cute mutt. But the intrepid and relentlessly talkative sleuth has acquired a new pet: a sexy cop assigned to protect her from the thugs out to shut her up forever (readers will sympathize). Paul Fitzwilliam is a stud with a conscience, and he too dithers on and on, mostly over the morality of bedding Sally, who has a few qualms of her own about the arrangement. It just doesn't seem fair that Paul should end up in the hospital because someone's gunning for her, though he does look even more delectable with a few bandages. He doesn't think it's fair that an aggressive attorney is insinuating a lesbian involvement between Sally and the famous actress at the heart of the case. Alexandra Waring, her boss at DBS Broadcasting, doesn't much care what Sally does behind closed doors-she's preoccupied by her own clandestine affair with an English noblewoman. Ultimately, Alexandra hopes to get photogenicSally on the air in a big way, perhaps as a talk-show host or an anchor. Etcetera, etcetera. The trial inches toward a not-exactly-surprising verdict-a scoop that Sally gets to deliver to the waiting world. Enough already.

Publisher's Weekly

"Sally is a headstrong, risk-taking, sexy woman who thrives on fast action, danger and press attention...Subplots involving Hollywood stars and trendy issues like bisexuality abound, but the primary narrative proceeds with Sally on the witness stand... A shocking revelation from another witness livens up the mix"