canada_matt's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
After discovering a short story by Lisa Scottoline, I became highly curious about the series to which it relates. Diving in, I have devoured seven of the novels in a week and the binge addiction is real. This is a series that mixes great legal topics with a strong thriller foundation, allowing characters to grow and present all sides of themselves for attentive readers. This novel presents another associate at the law firm of Rosario and Associates, complete with her dark backstory. Anne Murphy developed a stalker during one of the cases that helped put her on the map. When the man was incarcerated, Anne was sure that was the end to her troubles. However, a friend is killed in her home while Anne is away and everyone is sure it’s Anne who met her demise. Who wants her dead and how will Anne get to the bottom of it? She will have to reach out to her colleagues and boss to get answers, while staying off the radar, as she could be next, with a killer on the loose. Scottoline presents another unique case with legal implications that will have the reader highly impressed.
Anne Murphy is a great attorney, willing to bend the rules to get convictions, even if that means raising some eyebrows. However, one of her cases leaves a stalker to follow her, even after he is placed in custody for a long time. Moving to Philadelphia, Anne joins the law firm of Rosato and Associates, when Bennie Rosato welcomes her to the all-woman firm. When a friend of Anne’s is murdered while house sitting, it soon becomes clear that it was a case of mistaken identity. Laying low, Anne lets everything think she’s still dead, though she is determined to discover the truth. Reaching out to Bennie and her colleagues, Mary DiNunzio, as well as Judy Carrier, Anne will have to sneak under the radar to get answers.
Sure that this is her stalker back on the loose, Anne begins laying a trap, only to discover that a prison break in California leaves Anne’s ideas a distinct possibility. Fear and determination help Anne continue to work the awe, though she will have to be sure the actual victim’s family is aware of their horrible loss. Bennie, Mary, and Judy work hard to help, all while trying not to leave any crumbs in a case that is sure to garner many headlines, once the vultures of the press discover what’s going on.
All this, while a high-profile case is on the horizon and Anne has high hopes of winning in the courtroom. Anne thought dodging her stalker was enough, but the budding romance with the opposing counsel as well keeps things form getting boring. Forced to juggle it all at once, Anne will have to make her moves succinctly as she skirts danger at every turn. However, something will have to give if Anne is going to come out on top and live to tell the story. Scottoline does it again with a legal thriller that has teeth.
There is a great sense of excitement and interest that comes across me when I read the novels in this series. Lisa Scottoline does a masterful job offering up a great narrative, filling the books with details of the law, as well as a peppering of humour. There is so much action to follow and a significant amount of backstory for those characters who have already graced the pages of the series, particularly the female protagonists. Adding Anne Murphy to the group will create new flavourings and perspectives to enrich the larger story arcs of the series. Plot lines in this novel work well with some of the past sentiments and directions, but new ideas pop up in the best places. There is a richness to the series that emerges with each book and I cannot wait to see how things progress. As this portion of the series is almost done, I will have to devour the last few books before pushing into new and exciting ones to keep me entertained.
Kudos, Madam Scottoline, for never failing to impress!
Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
dhilderbrand's review against another edition
4.0
I loved this. It was a great beach read. I read a few pages last night before bed and finished the whole thing today. FUN!
leonore_book's review against another edition
2.0
This wasn't a bad book, but it was predictable. It at least grabs your curiosity and keeps you reading.
susanatwestofmars's review against another edition
2.0
Wow. This turned into a dumpster fire.
First off, I want to know how someone with student loans for years and years to come can afford multiple pairs of Blahniks. And to rent a car and a house for the holiday weekend at the last minute. And live alone. And open her wallet at every turn, even though she makes a comment early on about debt.
I mean, yeah, sure, it's easy to see how she wound up in so much debt (although other than her credit card and those school loans, which iirc don't even come up until the end, making them feel tacked on and not something organic to the character at the start of the book), but it's kind of a Shopaholic series mindset, and it's totally not one I get. I don't have a lot of patience or sympathy for people who spend their way out of financial trouble.
If only Anne had stopped with the foolish behavior with the money stuff. But she doesn't, although it did lead to an interesting discussion between me and another editor about two tropes in fiction that feature prominently in this book.
The first is "The cops told me not to do it but I'm going to do it anyway and just not tell them." There are SO many problems embedded in this idea.
And yet Anne doesn't just thumb her nose at the cops, she thumbs her nose at her boss and her coworkers, who she quickly decides aren't just coworkers but are her girlfriends, too. This isn't how you treat a friend, Anne! (How quickly we go from liking a spunky heroine with a fun voice to absolutely loathing her.)
The second trope is "I'm going to confront the killer but not tell anyone what I'm doing or who the killer is." And... okay, we sort of have a pass for Anne here because she did tell people who the killer was...
HELLO. THE MAN IS A KILLER. HIS GOAL IS TO KILL YOU. ARE YOU TOO STUPID TO LIVE?
(Apparently. Or would be, in real life.)
So Anne runs off half-cocked, in her Blahniks, and thinks she's smarter than everyone. Ugh. Shudder.
And the men? Her client's a lech, her ex is a killer, her romantic lead joins her in doing stupid things that should really get them both in deep shit, the plaintiff's husband is physically abusive without a care, the cops initially don't want to do their jobs and don't do anything to help, the deputy or assistant or whatever police commissioner is passive and ineffective but glad to soak in the glory the women engineer, the doorman stares at everyone's breasts.
Is there a male in this book who ISN'T a loser?
Just... UGH.
Mary's parents are stereotypes thrown in because... WHY?
Was there really a safe house, or was that thrown in as a convenient last-minute plot device that got pulled out of thin air? Because that's how it felt.
And the ending goes on WAY too long. Again UGH. Those last 25 pages got skimmed and still bored me. End it already. Put me out of my misery. Oh, and don't open the door to healing in a toxic relationship at the very very tip of the Are We Finally There Yet? end. This does so much harm to anyone involved in a real-life toxic relationship with a parent who is pushed and pushed to fix things and make it right. That's an entire other rant for another time, but suffice it to say that it's not the heartwarming second chance authors want it to be. Toxic is toxic and an epiphany about how bad you acted for years and years may be real and it may not be real, but the person who suffered because of your bad behavior doesn't need to open themselves up to further hurt in the name of a heartwarming reconciliation engineered by others. An epiphany doesn't mean the toxic person has done the heavy lifting to change -- if they are even capable of it. It just means they're saying the words that people around them want to hear, and they only want to hear them out of hope to make things okay, not because they understand the situation.
UGH.
This is one of those books that makes me mourn for the time I spent reading it. Lost time. Time I can't get back. Time I can't spend on something as good as the early pages of this were.
First off, I want to know how someone with student loans for years and years to come can afford multiple pairs of Blahniks. And to rent a car and a house for the holiday weekend at the last minute. And live alone. And open her wallet at every turn, even though she makes a comment early on about debt.
I mean, yeah, sure, it's easy to see how she wound up in so much debt (although other than her credit card and those school loans, which iirc don't even come up until the end, making them feel tacked on and not something organic to the character at the start of the book), but it's kind of a Shopaholic series mindset, and it's totally not one I get. I don't have a lot of patience or sympathy for people who spend their way out of financial trouble.
If only Anne had stopped with the foolish behavior with the money stuff. But she doesn't, although it did lead to an interesting discussion between me and another editor about two tropes in fiction that feature prominently in this book.
The first is "The cops told me not to do it but I'm going to do it anyway and just not tell them." There are SO many problems embedded in this idea.
And yet Anne doesn't just thumb her nose at the cops, she thumbs her nose at her boss and her coworkers, who she quickly decides aren't just coworkers but are her girlfriends, too. This isn't how you treat a friend, Anne! (How quickly we go from liking a spunky heroine with a fun voice to absolutely loathing her.)
The second trope is "I'm going to confront the killer but not tell anyone what I'm doing or who the killer is." And... okay, we sort of have a pass for Anne here because she did tell people who the killer was...
HELLO. THE MAN IS A KILLER. HIS GOAL IS TO KILL YOU. ARE YOU TOO STUPID TO LIVE?
(Apparently. Or would be, in real life.)
So Anne runs off half-cocked, in her Blahniks, and thinks she's smarter than everyone. Ugh. Shudder.
And the men? Her client's a lech, her ex is a killer, her romantic lead joins her in doing stupid things that should really get them both in deep shit, the plaintiff's husband is physically abusive without a care, the cops initially don't want to do their jobs and don't do anything to help, the deputy or assistant or whatever police commissioner is passive and ineffective but glad to soak in the glory the women engineer, the doorman stares at everyone's breasts.
Is there a male in this book who ISN'T a loser?
Just... UGH.
Mary's parents are stereotypes thrown in because... WHY?
Was there really a safe house, or was that thrown in as a convenient last-minute plot device that got pulled out of thin air? Because that's how it felt.
And the ending goes on WAY too long. Again UGH. Those last 25 pages got skimmed and still bored me. End it already. Put me out of my misery. Oh, and don't open the door to healing in a toxic relationship at the very very tip of the Are We Finally There Yet? end. This does so much harm to anyone involved in a real-life toxic relationship with a parent who is pushed and pushed to fix things and make it right. That's an entire other rant for another time, but suffice it to say that it's not the heartwarming second chance authors want it to be. Toxic is toxic and an epiphany about how bad you acted for years and years may be real and it may not be real, but the person who suffered because of your bad behavior doesn't need to open themselves up to further hurt in the name of a heartwarming reconciliation engineered by others. An epiphany doesn't mean the toxic person has done the heavy lifting to change -- if they are even capable of it. It just means they're saying the words that people around them want to hear, and they only want to hear them out of hope to make things okay, not because they understand the situation.
UGH.
This is one of those books that makes me mourn for the time I spent reading it. Lost time. Time I can't get back. Time I can't spend on something as good as the early pages of this were.
itschristinapowell's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
bheadley's review against another edition
3.0
New character, young lawyer Anne is in the middle of her own murder investigation. Didn’t see that one coming!
hellkitty915's review against another edition
4.0
The book was good. I hated the narrator. She was so deadpan that she could have been reading the stock reports instead of a good mystery novel. The ending took me completely by surprise.
kmrose's review against another edition
1.0
I definately wasn't a fan of this one. The story really wasn't that believable and the dialogue was not realistic. A friend gave me a few more of hers to read, hopefully they are better.
eleigh83's review against another edition
3.0
It was an ok mystery and I didn't figure out that the main suspect was a red herring at all but Anne Murphy was beyond stupid.