Scottoline’s women (Mistaken Identity, 1999, etc.)—well-crafted and appealing—have always been an unfailing strength. Not...
An unpersuasive legal thriller about a man crying mea culpa everywhere and getting the same response as Chicken Little.
Jack Newlin, a prominent Philadelphia corporation lawyer, arrives home late, discovers his wife stabbed to death, and decides on the spot that his 16-year-old daughter is the killer. Wife and daughter (adolescent daughter, to boot)have not been getting along. Imagine that. Well, a dad’s got to do what a dad’s got to do, he tells himself, and wastes no time putting himself in the frame. He smears his hands with blood, adds a few other authenticating touches to the crime scene, and plans his bogus confession. Having turned himself in, he finds the cops don’t really believe him, yet they arrest him anyway. After all, it’s not every day they get that much perp cooperation. In custody now, his next step is to hire a callow, untried criminal lawyer, because a hotshot might get him off. Enter Mary DiNunzio. Working late, she just happens to be near a phone when Jack’s call comes in to her law firm, and within ten minutes he hires her. At first glance, Mary seems the ideal choice: She is genuinely callow—her criminal-law experience is negligible to nonexistent. But soon enough Jack realizes she has grit, gumption, and the innate busybody quality of a born gumshoe. Further to his consternation, Mary doesn’t believe his story either. In fact, nobody does, which means Jack has a very hard time staying in jail. That proves to be a good thing, though, since when Mary finally solves the crime, the killer turns out not to have been Jack’s daughter after all. Imagine that.
Scottoline’s women (Mistaken Identity, 1999, etc.)—well-crafted and appealing—have always been an unfailing strength. Not here, though. Mary seems mailed in, a stick figure who isn’t much help in making unlikely things credible.Pub Date: March 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-06-019609-2
Page Count: 368
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2000
This one has it all: sexual predation, financial skulduggery, reluctant heroism, even the power of social media.
A compelling, complex thriller as modern as tomorrow.
Mina (The Long Drop, 2017, etc.) leaves historical Glasgow and sets this crackling tale in the very moment. Sophie Bukaran is living as Anna McDonald; she's hidden herself in Glasgow, in marriage to a lawyer, in being mother to two girls. Then one November morning, between episodes of a true-crime podcast called Death and the Dana, her life "explode[s]." Her best friend, Estelle, is at the door, and Anna's husband reveals that he and Estelle are lovers and they're leaving with the girls. Anna considers suicide, but the podcast distracts her. Leon Parker and his family have died aboard the Dana, and the ship's cook has been convicted. The podcast asserts that the cook could not be guilty and the deaths were the result of a murder-suicide committed by Parker. But Anna knew Leon Parker and feels he could not be the culprit, so she decides to try to learn more about his fate. When Estelle's anorexic and feckless husband, Fin, a minor rock-and-roll celebrity, appears at her door, he is caught up in her decision, and they eventually create a companion podcast that details their explorations. But in the process Anna and Fin are photographed and the pictures posted online, so Anna's quest becomes entwined with threats to Sophie Bukaran's life. Years earlier Sophie was raped by members of a beloved football team, and her accusations threatened the team's reputation and value. When the only corroborator of her testimony was silenced, Sophie was discredited in the usual manner: Her morals were questionable, she was possibly drunk, she was seeking money. Dismissed and subjected to public vilification, Sophie disappeared. But a new witness has come forward and could confirm Sophie's accusations, and her reappearance again threatens a financial empire. As Fin's podcast becomes wildly popular and he and Anna begin to unravel the mystery of Leon Parker's death, the assassins seeking Sophie close in.
This one has it all: sexual predation, financial skulduggery, reluctant heroism, even the power of social media.Pub Date: June 25, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-316-52850-4
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Mulholland Books/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
Determined to shield her family from violence, a woman becomes a fierce freelance crime fighter in this mostly satisfying...
In the aftermath of a horrific crime, a woman makes herself over into a powerful protector—or perhaps an avenger.
Pinter (The Castle, 2019, etc.) already has the Henry Parker thriller series under his belt. In this book he introduces another potential series character, Rachel Marin. The story opens with a warm domestic scene of a young woman making dinner for her husband and two kids when a shattering (but undescribed) discovery intervenes. Jump ahead seven years, and single mom Rachel is living in another town several states away. When a mugger jumps her as she’s walking home from work, she leaves him bleeding in the street and hurries home to her bookish son, Eric, and sweet little daughter, Megan. Keeping them safe is her mission in life. But when she sees a news report about a body found on the ice beneath a nearby bridge, she’s riveted. The cops assigned to the case, detectives John Serrano and Leslie Tally, are shocked to discover the body is that of the town’s disgraced former mayor, Constance Wright. They’re even more shocked when Rachel, whom they don’t know, sends Serrano a message that the death was no suicide: “Constance Wright was murdered. And I can prove it.” When Serrano and Tally go to question Wright’s sketchy ex-husband, Rachel shows up at the same time, and they don’t know whether to order her away or be grateful for her help. Pinter builds a complex plot on the dual mysteries of Constance’s murder and Rachel’s transformation from suburban mom to crack investigator and lethal streetfighter. But the story has so many subplots and timelines that it can feel overstuffed, and some crucial questions asked early on are answered so late the reader might be surprised to be reminded of them. Pinter creates engaging characters, though, and keeps the suspense taut.
Determined to shield her family from violence, a woman becomes a fierce freelance crime fighter in this mostly satisfying thriller.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5420-0590-6
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
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