Due Diligence

excellent legal tale with a timely theme at its center: how drugs are brought to market. a foreign takeover of a small pharmaceutical company offers insights into the origin and importance of trademarks and the fda approval process. smooth, confident narrative tone and engaging characters.

Upon reflection, Due Dilligence may be the best Rachel Gold story yet -- certainly it's the one with the most potential as a movie. In fact, it's a natural. Graphically, the opening scene is scary in reading and would be even moreso visually. The story is clever, intricately woven, with enough false leads to keep everyone guessing, and ends with a satisfying confrontation between Rachel and a surprising prime villain preceded by a life-and-death chase through the underground tunnels of old St. Louis -- again, something that would work even better darkly seen in a movie than a book. But the book works, oh, does it work. There is a sweet romance with a tragic ending for our heroine and, for a bit of lightness, a couple of memorable softball moments. The vallainy hinges on someone actually trying to do some good at its start, another ends-justify-the-means moral issue. And Rachel's closing confrontational comment: "You've destroyed enough universes for a lifetime" is the most satisfying resolution, morally and structurally. I can't wait for the movie, Mr. Kahn.

john grisham style with john. very tough to put this book down. keep up the rachel gold series.

Real life lawyer Kahn does a good job with his female lawyer character, Rachel Gold. Her raunchy friend, Benny, keeps Ms. Gold from taking herself too seriously. For people who know St. Louis, the book is full of local references...you always know where Rachel is about town. I had several good laughs in this book, in my opinion, the best of Kahn's Rachel Gold books.