Wearing the Spider (A Suspense Novel) (Legal Thriller)

by Susan Schaab

A female lawyer's identity is hijacked and misused by a ruthless partner of her Manhattan law firm who engages in email impersonation, political gamesmanship and electronic forgery to set her up in a scheme that ultimately leads to murder. She embarks on a clandestine investigation while dodging the FBI, risking her life as well as her career.***It starts with a simple unwanted kiss…and evolves into a labyrinthine trail of forgery and illusion…a hijacked identity, a corruption scandal involving a U.S. Senator accused of channeling illegal benefits to a shady South American firm…even kidnapping and murder. Wearing the Spider, the award-winning debut novel by Susan Schaab, may be the only novel to combine elements of sexual harassment, identity theft, and political scandal into one sophisticated plot set in the hard-driving corporate culture. Evie Sullivan, a rising legal star on the fast track to partnership at her respected New York law firm, is being set up for a fall…a BIG fall. Besieged initially with seemingly innocuous recordkeeping errors, she overhears portions of a shocking telephone conversation. Then, she is blindsided by discoveries that are much more impersonation of her email username and unmistakable sabotage of one of her client projects causing a groundswell of doubt within the firm about her competence. Once her name is linked to a deal containing a questionable, and possibly illegal, arrangement, she has no choice but to conduct her own clandestine investigation to clear her name. An FBI agent confronts her with tough questions about murder and fraud for which she has no answers. As she searches for the truth, the electronic evidence shifts and transforms behind a dynamic veil of security””and certain pieces of the puzzle simply disappear. How will she gather tangible evidence to prove her innocence among the elusive clues and carefully woven traps? At not only her professional reputation and her future with the firm, not only a commission worth $25 million””but several lives. In this intricately plotted and memorable thriller, attorney and former computer consultant Susan Schaab draws on her expertise in intellectual property and technology law as well as computer systems design to create a fast-paced and thoroughly believable journey through corruption and intrigue…an exhilarating joyride that explores the complex relationships in a big-city law firm, where sexual harassment and manipulation may be more common than any statistics suggest. “The Devil Wears Prada in legal technicolor. A smart, thoroughly enjoyable tale.”� ”“Liz Smith, New York Post“Wow…a high-tech thriller that cracks open the inner workings of a large law firm and leaves one wondering just how often sexual harassment and hostile work environments are tolerated in the corporate world…I highly recommend Wearing the Spider.”� ”¨”“Heather Froeschl, Book Review Journal “Imaginative, suspenseful and well thought out, Wearing the Spider is a mystery thriller that readers will find hard to put down.”� ”“Shirley Roe, Allbooks Review “…confronts us with some of the horrifying truths of our computer age world.”�”¨”“Ross Malde, TCM Reviews “...The characters are memorable and the vicarious technological insights are very interesting…Thrilling read…”�”“Jill Stovall, Armchair Interviews “It is one of those novels that one finds impossible to put down…If I could have given it a higher score than five stars, I would have…It will keep you on edge until you find

Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Fiction, Legal Thriller, New York, Crime, Suspense

396 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 15, 2007

About the author

(Author Photograph by Pamela Einarsen)

Susan Schaab is a New York attorney who, for more than eight years, practiced technology and intellectual property law with various firms and as in-house counsel in New York, Texas and California.

She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1985 and established herself as a systems designer and consultant in Dallas, Texas, writing software in a variety of programming languages. In 1989, she moved to California to attend law school. While a law student, she participated in a “study abroad” program in London and clerked as an unpaid stagiaire in a small international French firm. She graduated from law school in 1992. She has licenses to practice law in New York, Texas, California and D.C.

She began developing material for a novel in 1998. In 2002, she attended a workshop for lawyers writing legal fiction. She was also accepted into the 2002 Summer Seminar for Writers at Sarah Lawrence College, but was not able to attend due to unexpected obligations. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime and Authors’ Coalition.

Reviews

[Sally Beaudean · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read several legal thrillers over the years, but this is the first one in which the main character is a corporate lawyer rather than a criminal lawyer. I was intrigued immediately by the strength of the character as well as her perseverance as she fought to save her reputation while at the same time maintain her integrity. The events portrayed in the novel were believable. At times I was annoyed by seemingly unimportant description, but overall the book is very well written. I appreciate that the romantic aspects of the story did not invade the suspense and the author did not feel obliged to fill the story with unnecessary sexual description. How refreshing! Anyway, I highly recommend this book. It's fun, a fast read, and truly interesting.

[Doris Jaynes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Suspense and intrigue

Hard to take a break from reading this most interesting novel. Fast paced, legal issues and believable. Well written mystery with a love interest to boot.

[Melissa Herman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read!!

[Peg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is Evie Sullivan, a hard-working, rising star in a prestigious New York law firm, going mad? Is she incompetent, or much worse, corrupt? Or is she simply delusional? As this tantalizing tale of suspense, intrigue, and danger unfolds, Evie first discovers what appears to be a simple error in bookkeeping. Soon she finds that clients are receiving emails from her that she hasn't sent, and is electronically related to cases she is not involved in. What is happening and who is responsible? These elements of Identity theft, electronic skullduggery and character assassination increasingly appear to be the work of an unscrupulous colleague. Why is he trying to destroy Evie and her career?

This first novel by Susan Schaab is tightly constructed with believeable characters, engaging dialogue, and a fast moving plot that kept me totally engaged throughout the book. I look forward to more work by this talented new author.

[Valerie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was good but ended before the story was finished. I really hate that! All kinds of storylines still up in the air.....did Alan to to jail, and if so, what for? how did it play out? what was the future of Evie and Joe? It wasn't just one minor storyline that was left dangling, these were major parts of the book.

[Carolyn Zeller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another legal suspense novel where the entangled lawyer heroine gets out of the web and goes on to bigger and better things.... There is a bit too much legal jargon and the computer technology involved in the international thievery was over my head. The scope is narrow and deep. The dispicable villian gets his just dues so I give the book 3 stars. Tops.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably would have given 4 stars except for two things: (1) the beginning was very slow ... hard to get into it because it was so tedious; (2) the ending lacked "umph" ... too much left undone or unexplained. That said, the majority of the book had a good story with a nice pace and overall, I enjoyed it.

[Lillie · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting take on identity theft. Instead of simply stealing an identify to defraud the victim, this identity theft was created to discredit the victim and destroy her reputation. The plot was very sophisticated with a lot of high-tech activity set in a law firm. The ending was a little vague--there was still a lot of unsolved issues.

[Jami · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this legal thriller. It showed the inner workings of a law firm, and reminded me exactly why I chose never to go into private practice. It started out a little slow, but once it picked up, it kept me interested. The ending was sort of abrupt and maybe could have been handled a little differently. Overall, a good, interesting plot line.

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

This legal thriller by an author who is new to me was well plotted and well written. The protagonist is a female attorney working for a business firm who is being set up. There is lots of action and angst. All in all, it is well written and well worth reading if you like the genre.

[Patty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned alot about the law reading this! Plus now I am a bit more careful about what I do on the Internet. Eeeeek. I did think some of the characters were a bit unbelievable. Overall tho a good read.

[Marsha · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay. There were no real surprises in the end, except that one of the leads could have been followed and built on but was not. I enjoyed the book, but I don't know that I'd specifically recommend it per se, but I wouldn't specifically NOT recommend it.

[Marjie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book

Well written, edited, proofread, spell checked. Story was exciting, cleanly romantic and mysteriously thrilling. The main character was a lawyer and she was likeable, that in itself took a good writer.

[Mizbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Library book.

Good thriller.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book even tho I did not think I would

[Hope R · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little too expansive in the legal details of the story, especially in the beginning.

[Neeraj Sharma · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book had decent build up but the ending was expected and a bit disappointing...

[Shirley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good legal premise,corporate law and government misconduct. Greed has no bounds.