Bob Service, the protagonist of this deft and chilling novel of contemporary ambition and greed, is a thirty-two-year-old crack lawyer with blood as cold and clear as a five-dollar martini. Bob's god is power and his morals are ever tempered by expediency. His goals far exceed an imminent partnership in a big New York law firm.Bob's "perfect'' marriage to the graceful and intelligent Alice is no match for the ardor of his corporate drive. And it certainly pales beside his explosive affair with Sylvia, whose naked ambition matches his own and whose social connections provide the ultimate bridge to the pinnacles of success.How Bob Service marches toward his fate while trampling on his associates and crippling his marriage forms the plot of this fast-paced novel about modern mores and life on the fast track of the big law firms. Office intrigue and duels for power rival anything that Machiavelli could have conjured up. And in Louis Auchincloss's hands, it all has an unnerv-ingly authentic ring.Louis Auchincloss began his law career at a Wall Street firm after attending Yale and the University of Virginia Law School. He is a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters and president of the Museum of the City of New York. This is his thirty-eighth book, the most recent being The Book Class and Honorable Men.