"Discretion is the better part of valor." Shakespeare

When I received the thriller, "Discretion," for review, I was unsure of what to expect.

I was optimistic when I noted that the "Providence Journal hailed the author as the "female John Grisham." My anticipation was justly rewarded as I began this compulsively engaging story with many layers.

Consider the thrill of a young woman entering the U.S. Capital for an important appointment. Then, try to imagine what must have transpired in the few moments after she arrived at a U.S. Congressman's office and her falling to death from the balcony.

Assistant U.S. attorney Anna Curtis arrives at the scene and contemplates the difficulties she will have investigating a U.S. Congressman and information in his office.

Not only must she have a judge permit investigators to have access to the legislative office but she must put a hold on a relationship with a leading homicide investigator. The Congressman is undergoing a re-election campaign and his opponent is said to favor making an appointment which would affect Anna's lover. She must look at the whole picture and ask her lover to step away because of the fear of being inappropriate.

There is also a strong message in the story about the escort business and the effects on women's lives.
Anna was shocked when she found that the woman who fell from the Congressman's office was one of Washington's top escorts. This might make the reader think of the woman as just a glorified call girl while in fact, she was a good person, kind to her roommate and paying her own way through Georgetown University.

At the other realm of the escort business, there is a character who develops a dependency on drugs and it almost destroys her.

The pacing and dialogue are to perfection as the author has been a federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C. for 12 years.

All totaled, this is a heck of a read, don't miss it.