The Emperor of Ocean Park (Vintage Contemporaries) - Softcover

Carter, Stephen L.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0307279936 ISBN 13: 9780307279934

Publisher: Vintage Books, 2007

Synopsis

After the death of his father, the accomplished, flamboyant, and controversial Judge Oliver Garland, his son Talcott, a law professor, must unravel the truth about his father's life, a quest that brings him face to face with old scandals, family secrets, and justice gone wrong. By the author of The Culture of Disbelief. A first novel. Reprint.

About this title

Review:

A complex, smart mystery filled with intrigue, drama, and more than a little danger awaits readers in Stephen L Carter's engaging debut novel, The Emperor of Ocean Park.

After the funeral of his powerful father (a federal judge whose nomination to the US Supreme Court became a public scandal), Talcott Garland, an African-American law professor at an Ivy League university, is left to unravel the meaning of a cryptic note and carry out "the arrangements" his father left behind. Armed with fortitude and familial devotion--though paranoid of his wife's fidelity--Talcott soon finds himself in an investigation that entangles him with a number of questionable Washington DC denizens, including lawyers and government officials, law professors, the FBI, shady underworld figures, chess masters, and friends and family. All the while Talcott tries not to hurt his lawyer wife's chance for a judicial nomination--and their fragile marriage--but the closer he comes to unravelling his father's dark secrets, the more dangerous things become.

Clocking in at over 650 pages, the novel could easily have been streamlined; many of Talcott's thoughts are unnecessarily repeated. But Carter's storytelling skills are adept: tension builds, surprises are genuine and clues are not handed out freely. The prose, while somewhat meandering, can be crisp and insightful, as demonstrated in Carter's description of the misguided paths of young lawyers who sacrifice, "all on the altar of career... at last arriving... at their cherished career goals, partnerships, professorships, judgeships, whatever kind of ships they dream of sailing, and then looking around at the angry, empty waters and realizing that they have arrived with nothing, absolutely nothing, and wondering what to do with the rest of their wretched lives". --Michael Ferch

Review:

'A melodrama with brains and heart to match its killer plot. . . . Irresistible.' -- Kirkus

'Beautifully written and cleverly plotted. The Emperor of Ocean Park is a rich, complex family saga, one deftly woven through a fine legal thriller.' -- John Grisham

‘Spellbinding... a truly literary thriller - a masterly amalgam of suspense and sensibility’ -- Henry Louis Gates

About this edition

• Publisher: Vintage Books
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0307279936
• ISBN 13: 9780307279934
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 827