Review: 'The Darkest Place,' by Phillip Margolin

What happens when a surrogate mother changes her mind about giving up her baby?

This is only one of the many plot lines in this fifth installment of Phillip Margolin's Robin Lockwood series. Robin is an up-and-coming defense attorney in Portland, Ore., who has suffered a tremendous loss and heads home to the Midwest for a break from the stress and memories.

But rest is elusive as she's quickly recruited by a friend and fellow attorney to work on a touchy case.

A once-wealthy woman, Marjorie Loman, is living in Robin's hometown under an assumed name. In her new place, Marjorie decides to serve as a surrogate for a young couple who cannot conceive. But the hospital messes up and lets the unstable Marjorie hold the baby for hours after the delivery, a grave violation of the surrogacy contract. Marjorie bonds deeply with the infant and is appalled to learn that a nurse has spirited the tiny boy away to his new parents as she slept.

Marjorie decides to steal back the boy she has named and loved, and she assaults the young mother in the process. Naturally, she's thrown in jail.

Robin agrees to be second seat on the case and is soon neck-deep in deception, shady figures and conflicting medical testimony. But she helps her friend win the case, and Marjorie goes free on the assault and kidnapping charges.

Yet the case is far from over. Detectives from Oregon arrive and rearrest Marjorie, this time on charges that she murdered her rich husband. Robin is stunned by this news and starts digging deeper into her client's past. She finds out much more than she wanted to know.

Margolin holds your attention with characters flawed by greed and corruption, in unsettling contrast with the trusting nature of Robin and her lawyer friend. The end holds some intriguing twists and promises more from the likable Robin Lockwood character.

Ginny Greene is a copy editor at the Star Tribune.

The Darkest Place

By: Phillip Margolin.

Publisher: Minotaur, 304 pages, $27.99.