Customer Reviews

Devil's Corner

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3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(3)
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The kind folks over at HarperCollins sent me an advance reader copy of Lisa Scottoline's newest novel Devil's Corner. This is another author that I haven't read before, but will probably end up doing catch-up reading on her titles...

Vicki Allegretti is an Assistant U.S. Attorney, and she's due to interview a confidential informant on a case related to an illegal gun sale. But things go horribly wrong when she arrives at the meeting house only to find two guys who have broken into the house and murdered the informant. During the confrontation, her partner is killed and she almost joins him in death before the killers decide to flee. In the process of interviewing leads on the killing, she assaults a prisoner and is suspended from her job. But instead of just taking the safe road, she decides to conduct her own investigation so that the case doesn't get dropped. To get into the parts of the city where the crime occurred, she has to team up with the person she assaulted, and thus starts an unlikely personality pairing that will either pay off or get them both killed...

Scottoline was formerly a trial lawyer and apparently now watches court cases for entertainment (and potential story ideas). Her in-depth knowledge of the legal system and how things actually work shows through in this novel, as I got the feeling that she has been here before. Watching Allegretti try and balance her work and personal life is interesting, as her romantic interest may or may not be all he's cracked up to be. And I really liked the interplay between her and Reheema, the girl she assaulted. Matching up an urban black street-smart girl with a suburban Harvard grad leads to rather sticky situations that neither can relate to but that both have to work through.

Solid writing, good pacing, a story with some meat, and a few plot twists to boot... Can't ask for much more in a recreational crime thriller read.

Vicki Allegretti, Asst. U.S. atty. goes to an informant's home and runs into two men who have just killed the informant. Vicki's associate is also killed before the killers escape.

Raheema Bristow is the person the CI claimed to have evidence about and she is freed after the CI is murdered.

Vicki goes to Raheema's home thinking that she might get evidence against her before the case is dismissed and is surprised to find that Raheema's mother is a crack addict. Eventually, Raheema and Vicki agree to an uneasy truce and decide to work together in attempt to find those guilty of Vicki's partner's murder and another death. These two women with nothing in common begin spying on an inner city crack house.

If the reader can put logic aside and experience the story as a work of fiction, it is a fun read. Vicki is a Harvard educated attorney attempting to be undercover in the slums. I picture Reese Witherspoon of "Legally Blond" in this setting and wonder how Vicki could go undetected and survive.

Scottoline did a professional job creating suspense and maintaining the dramatic flow of the novel, adding a well placed plot twist to keep the reader guessing and make the story more interesting.

Scottoline experiments with a new heroine and a new type of crime. But fans will recognize Scottoline's writing touches, as individual as a fingerprint.

From the beginning, we get Scottoline's delicious combination of girl-think with violent crime. Staring down the barrel of a gun, Assistant DA Vicki Allegretti wonders if a black gun "makes you look thinner." It's just the kind of combination of gritty suspense and girl talk that we have come to expect from this author -- and she delivers magnificently.

Other surprises surface. Allegretti, product of upperclass parents and good schools, teams up with an accused criminal to solve a crime. Along the way, she takes risks, gets suspended from her job, and finds an unlikely criminal.

As with Scottoline, the heroine begins to seem like an old friend -- someone we admire and want to follow. And as always, we get a suspenseful page-turner that superbly paced, with not a word wasted.

Like many fans, I miss Scottoline's traditional characters: Mary, Judy, Bennie and Anne. Scottoline takes a big jump here with a character whose parents are both lawyers -- someone from the upper echelons of Philadelphia society. She seems most comfortable when dealing with scrappy up-from-nothing women like Bennie and Mary,

But I wouldn't be surprised to seem them all come together in a future novel (Scottoline has a way of doing that). Let me guess: Bennie's law firm would be defending a client, Allegretti would be prosecuting, and they'd all unite on the side of justice -- and the pleasure of their loyal readers.

Ms. Scottoline's latest thriller is indeed a superb example of what a fast-paced well told story could offer the fans of this genre. This story starts off with a bang and ends just as dramatically with an ending that will surprise readers.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Vicki Allegretti has an appointment with a confidential informant on a case that she is currently working but instead walks into a nightmare that ends with the death of one pregnant woman and her partner Bob "Morty" Morton. What should be a cut and dry case turns into something that Vicki could not even dream up in her most outrageous imagining. She will have her faith tested in friends, and co-workers, question the integrity of the one man she loves but doesn't think will ever be hers and risks bringing a scandal to the office that she holds. She also will join forces with a very a very driven woman named Reheema in the quest for truth about the death of her mother. Could these cases be linked to a drug circle and what will be the implications once the dust has settled and the players have all been unveiled? Will Vicki be able to untangle the lies and find the truth, and more importantly will she be able to handle the truth once she faces it? Or will the truth destroy all that she has worked towards?

Again this was a high-octane read that will totally engross the reader. Ms. Scottoline is a highly talented author and her twelfth effort aptly demonstrates why she is on the New York Times best-selling author's list. This is one read that you won't want to miss.

We're Scottoline fans, having read all her prior books, featuring the all-woman Philadelphia law firm of Ms. Bennie Rosato. These stories usually offer a provocative premise and legal derring-do, coupled with some Evanovich-like humor between the zany characters and the sometimes madcap action.

In "Corner", these same elements comprise a story sharply different from its eleven predecessors. This novel takes us from an early and shocking slaying through the solving of that crime, as well as a few others that crop up, through the eyes and actions of an assistant US Attorney (prosecutor), Vicki Alegretti. When her ATF colleague is murdered during a very routine call on a confidential informant, the plot burns at a torrid pace as Vicki outraces the cops and defies her boss's orders to get off the case, pairing up with a young black woman to chase clues in bad neighborhood, West Philly crack havens. The investigation twists through many subtle changes in suspects and motives, before a very surprise ending sets the record straight and makes a superhero out of our leading lady. Shacking up with a newly separated guy with whom love had flamed but never been acted on added some romance and sexual tension to various sub-plots; indeed boyfriend Dan looked a lot like a suspect for a while!

Despite a tale with somewhat more violence and grit than in her other works, Scottoline still tosses in enough catchy dialogue and funny events to take the hard edge off the storyline. Vicki's interaction with her new black "girlfriend" was handled well -- the relationship seemed real, the banter authentic, and the obvious societal differences handled smoothly. Our only gripe is that to our thinking no prosecutor would ever get involved in dangerous detective work clearly outside her scope of responsibility like this. Set aside that implausibility, and you have another fine Scottoline effort -- interesting characters, an entertaining plot with a suspenseful outcome, and plenty of reality thrown in to win us over. We easily enjoyed Lisa's latest!

Lisa Scottoline has written a well-researched thriller whose scary subject matter is thankfully relieved by some well-placed comedic touches. The heroine, as indeed she is, is Vicky Allegretti, an Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA), who has also been a D.A. in the plot's location of Philadelphia. Vicki is a veritable dynamo when going after what she wants. In this case, the tale opens with Vicki and her ATF agent partner, Morty, coming into an apartment building to interview a Confidential Informant for a case about a woman caught reselling guns. Before they can meet with the CI, they hear shots fired, a young teenager comes down the stairs, and more shots are fired killing Morty. Vicki is also threatened by the gunman but the young teenager tells the shooter that she is a "cop" and to hurry and leave. The informant, a young black woman who was 8 months pregnant, is also found brutally murdered.

Vicki feels that her office and police are not doing enough so she starts doing her own police work including re-interviewing the young woman accused of re-selling guns, Reheema Bristow. Vicki is suspended for a week as she gets too angry with Reheema during the interview and thus begins some free time for Vicki - maybe too much time to think and analyze the case.

Vicki starts down a trail beginning with interviewing Reheema's mother, watching and taking notes about drug trafficking in the neighborhood, Devil's Corner, and ending up pairing up with Reheema who is released with charges dropped. Vicki's persistence in spite of pressure from her boss, his boss and her boyfriend and in spite of very serious danger makes for some very exciting chases and scenes.

Vicki has amazing and sometimes frightening perseverance and drive. She is also great at analyzing and coming to the correct conclusions and bringing in law enforcement when needed.

This thriller was very hard to put down as you never knew what might happen next and with the side story of Vicki's best friend/boyfriend Dan Malloy as well to add some romance it made the whole book a great read!!

Very highly recommended!

Is it only me that did not care much for this book?? I loved all the others by Lisa Scottoline. But this one I found the character to be really dumb. So many things she did were not bright.

I was wishing for Bennie and her girls to return. I don't care to see more of this new one

This is the first book I've read by Lisa Scottoline but it sure will not be the last. She really knows how to breathe life into characters that are so often flat in books like this. Set in and around the legendary row house slums of Philly, Scottoline's hero is Assistant U.S. Attorney Vicky Allegretti. Vicky is new to to the U.S. attorney's office and finds herself inheriting a case left behind by the previous Assistant DA. She's investigating an illegal gun sale operation and along with her partner, an ATF agent named Morty, they visit an apartment complex to speak to an informant. Their visit interrupts a robbery, or so it seems and both Morty and the informant are shot dead.

Vicky is determined to find the killer but she's stonewalled by her her boss as well as wrangling by various departments over who will handle the case. She comes in contact with a woman who may have been involved in the shootings. Certainly she was invloved in the sale of the illegal guns. Vicky attacks the woman after she won't cooperate and gets suspended from her job. Yet shortly later this woman, Reheema decides to help Vicky after he mother is killed. The two make for a typical odd-couple pairing but Scottoline handles the characters with such skill that it comes across very fresh and with a good deal of humor to boot. The pair take their investigation to the grimy and dangerous city streets to uncover a plot filled with unexpected twits and sub-plots involving the local drug traffickers in the area where Reheema's mother was killed.

Devils' Corner takes full advantage of Scottolines legal expertise and knowledge of Philadelphia to write a story with plots and characters that are so true to life. Great book!

As is true for several other early reviewers of this new suspense novel, I got my copy free from the publisher, no strings attached. Unlike some of the other critics, I have read several other books by Scottoline, and enjoyed each of them. She specializes in spunky single female lawyers in Philadelphia, who have job troubles, relationship deficits, weird family issues, and self-esteem gaps. In other words, she writes about real people, caught up in situations which become more dangerous than expected. Her new heroine, Vicki Allegretti, is an assistant U.S. attorney, pretty much a rookie, who gets in way over her head in the opening chapter. How she survives entanglement with killer drug dealers on the meanest of streets is the core of the tale. I was hooked early and stayed interested all the way through. If you like crime thrillers with likeable protagonists, this one's sure to suit you.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Vicki Allegretti expects to meet a confidential informant on a 'straw purchase' case (where a person with a good record buys weapons and provides them to criminals). Instead, she runs into a couple of teenaged criminals who panic and shoot her partner and the pregnant CI. Vicki becomes obsessed with the case--to the point of attacking the woman the CI had fingered. But when the suspect's mother is killed, Vicki feels responsible. Together with Reheema, the suspect who Vicki now believes was innocent and set up, Vicki breaks her department's rules and her boss's orders to investigate.

What Vicki and Reheema find is a crack cocaine operation on Reheema's street--the 'Devil's Corner.' The Devil's Corner happens to be where Vicki's father grew up, creating a social entanglement. What they can't find is a connection between the cocaine sales and Reheema's framing. Vicki gets in more trouble at work and is suspended without pay. Adding to her problems, her relationship with her married co-worker, Dan, escalates.

Author Lisa Scottoline combines a solid feel for the streets of Philadelphia with some exciting girl-sleuth action. The evolving relationship between Reheema and Vicki propels the story forward as the two put themselves in danger and learn to understand and respect one another. Vicki's interaction with Dan, in contrast, is obviously unhealthy for her--although she remains in denial about this throughout. I found this distanced me from Vicki--I wanted her to get it.

Scottoline relies too heavily on coincidence, from the setup of the mystery through the tracking down of the killers to the ultimate resolution of the mystery. But her strong writing, interesting female characters, and the backdrop of the war against crack cocaine in the central city, DEVIL'S CORNER definitely held my interest.