Great read. This guy can write! When young Harrison Burns becomes an accessory to a crime of passion committed by his friend and prep school classmate Constant Bradley, his silence is bought by patriarch Gerald. All efforts at a solution are mysteriously stifled; 20 years later Burns, now a successful journalist, decides to unburden himself of his torturous secret. Dunne plunges readers instantly into the thick of things with the book's opening lines: "The jury is in its third day of deliberation"--and, with the exception of a mildly disappointing excursion to Arizona, never relaxes his firm grip. The unforgettable Bradley family, their skeletons (e.g., Agnes, the mad, institutionalized daughter) and peccadillos offer an allure similar to a sidelong glance at tabloid headlines, though here told with wit and skill. Their machinations prove both fascinating and appalling--and always hypnotically readable. In addition to his potent characterization and deftly crafted plotting, Dunne again provides an insider's glimpse of this rarified stratum--a world where the highest praise for a character might be "he's marvelous at placement . . . he can seat a dinner party better than anyone I've ever known." This compulsive yarn might well be subtitled Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous--The Dark Side . ( )