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Karen Kern's life path will be forever changed on December 22, 1962. She is a happy twenty-year-old junior at Cornell University engaged to be married. Before spending Christmas with her family in Rhode Island, she makes a stop in New York City to attend a Christmas party held by her closest friend. On that fateful night, she makes the acquaintance of a Harvard Law student named Bob who offers to hail her a cab after the party is over. When no taxi was approaching, he offers to escort her to her aunt's apartment at the other side of Central Park. Karen is reluctant at first, but sensing no danger from the Ivy Leaguer, she decides to go with him. He has other plans in mind and once they get to the park, he brutally assaults, rapes and leaves her for dead, thus ending her life as she knows it and starting a new one. Her recuperation is slow and there are factor that Karen never expected. Her mother refuses to accept her daughter's story fearing repercussions in her social standing; most of the police believe that Karen deserved what she got for leading the guy on; and her fiancée leaves her during her moment of need. For the next thirty years, her life will be defined by the past where she will miss the great things in life. The author casts a shade of the assault on Karen like a scarlet letter having her live in fear for the rest of her years. It will be through the people she meets and interacts that she slowly will reinvent her life and see new possibilities. She has a whole group of friends who have gone through a lot together during the three decades and whose support on Karen has been unconditional. It will be important because one night in 1990, while preparing dinner, she sees Robert Drayman Willmont, his party's candidate for the presidential elections. Bob. It will reawaken everything in Karen's past and bring forth her sense of rage. She has plans for him and she is going to get it done right. Susan R. Sloan's impressive debut novel is a story of revenge and delayed justice that surpasses anything currently available in modern fiction Things were handled much differently during the sixties where acquaintance rape was just two words strung together. The social stigma is cleverly portrayed and character development is amongst the strongest out there. It took almost thirty years for the protagonist of the novel to get justice. It would be nice to think that this is all an isolated incident, but unfortunately it is not. Women continue to be raped by people they know and are hesitant to press charges. Hopefully, the story will touch, move and inspire others to take a stand and not be let being taken advantage. GUILT BY ASSOCIATION is a powerful first novel and highly recommended. One of the most powerful endings you could find in a courtroom drama. The author has written two more novels after this one. She is batting three for three. It will be a crime if you do not try one of her books. It will make an impact that stays forever in reader's minds.
Reviewed by Angel L. Soto, April 2003
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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