SHERRY B. (Birdysgirl) reviewed on 6/23/2005 + 39 more book reviews

Double Life is a remarkable feat of investigative reporting about one of the most tragic and baffling crimes ever to shock American society. In November 1992, Sol Wachtler, Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals of the State of New York, was surounded by FBI agents, handcuffed, and charged with extortion. Wachtler had been harassing his former lover--Joy Silverman, a beautiful socialite and a member of the same powerful family that had given them both considerable, if different, advantages. The sixty-two-year-old married judge, a father of fourt had led an apparently umbelished life until he vented his rage at Joy in a torrent of obscene letters and phone calls--and threatened her young daughter as well.

Sol Wachtler was a judge appointed by Governor Mario Cuomo, touted as a possilble Republican candidate for president. What forces pushed him onto such a destructive course? Joy Silverman was his wife's stepcousin, a voluptuous, thrice-married Park Avenue socialite who became a favored guest at the Bush White House. What part did she play in reducing an esteemed public servant to a desperate suitor who made her the target of his fatal attraction? From hundreds of interviews and exclusive sources, acclaimed author LInda WOlfe constructs and absorbing saga of a wealthy and politically connected family, and a riveting portrait of a man driven to his downfall by sexual obssession.

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