Move to Strike [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Perri O'Shaughnessy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2000

MOVE TO STRIKE
New York Times bestselling author Perri O'Shaughnessy takes the courtroom thriller to breathtaking new heights in Move to Strike, a page-turning masterpiece of suspense. Featuring Nina Reilly, hailed by critics as "one of the most interesting heroines in legal thrillers today," * Move to Strike is a spellbinding tale of stolen treasure and twisted revenge set in the high desert of Nevada and the mountains of Lake Tahoe.
An attorney and single mother, Nina Reilly runs her one-woman law practice in South Lake Tahoe, balancing compassion and cunning with a passion for justice. But Nina is wholly unprepared for her latest client--sixteen-year-old Nicole Zack, a rebel, a thief, and the best friend of Nina's teenage son, Bob. Did Nikki steal something from her uncle, a prominent plastic surgeon, and then kill him with an ancient samurai sword? The district attorney is trying Nikki as an adult and the charge is first degree murder.
With the stakes this high, Nina calls in private investigator Paul Van Wagoner, her ex-lover and constant ally, whose bravado conceals a troubling personal secret. As Paul investigates the eerily coincidental death of the surgeon's son--killed in a plane crash the same night his father was murdered--Nina sorts through the twisting lies surrounding Nikki, uncovering a bitter struggle over a mining claim, enraged former patients, and two old crimes. Finally, Nina must confront the central question she
needs to answer in order to save her client: What did Nikki really see the night of her uncle's murder?

Taut, thought-provoking, and utterly gripping, Move to Strike grapples with the profound question of what to do when the law does not suffice. It is a novel you won't want to put down until the last twist is unraveled and the last satisfying page is turned.
* San Jose Mercury News

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Defense attorney Nina Reilly has bad luck with men: one marriage ended abruptly, and another ended in tragedy. Still, her misfortunes with the opposite sex are nothing compared to the trouble she has finding a decent client. In her sixth outing, Move to Strike, Nina's defending a minor who's a major pain: Nikki Zack, a mouthy, rebellious teenager who's being tried as an adult in the murder of her uncle, a wealthy plastic surgeon. Like a lot of people in Lake Tahoe, Nikki disliked Bill Sykes, who showed both greed and snobbery to Nikki and her scatterbrained mother, Daria. He discouraged their familial overtures except when he cheated them in a land deal. Nevertheless, Nikki claims she didn't kill him, even though she was spotted sneaking around his pool on the night of the murder, and the prosecution's case against her is based on a blood sample that indicates she wielded the murder weapon. Nina is particularly struck by two strange facts: Sykes's son Chris was killed in a plane crash at almost the same time Sykes died, and Sykes's widow, Beth, is almost abnormally quick to front the money for her niece's defense, no questions asked.

Nina knows Nikki saw something or someone at Sykes's house, but she's not sure whether Nikki's protecting her sleazy, housebreaking boyfriend or Daria, whose vagueness is almost too extreme to believe. Nikki is placed under house arrest, but that's not enough to keep her--or Nina and her son Bob--safe when a stranger starts calling. When the treasure trove of unimpressive-looking rocks that Nikki took from Sykes's underwater hiding place turns out to be something completely unexpected, the ring of suspects widens and danger creeps closer. Nina teams with Paul van Wagoner, the investigator (familiar from Acts of Malice and previous Nina Reilly mysteries) she can't quite seem to disentangle herself from, to help sort the loose ends from the dead ends. And there are plenty of both.

The O'Shaughnessy sisters (Perri is a pen name for Pamela and Mary) are taking new risks and increasing the stakes with every book, and Move to Strike shows they can pull it off. The characters are deftly drawn and the plotting masterfully complex. The pacing falls a bit short of heart-stopping; the courtroom scenes serve to up the stakes for Nikki, yet don't really add much tension. But this series is still young and keeps getting better and better. Grisham and Turow, check your rear-view mirrors: there's a new writer in the fast lane. --Barrie Trinkle --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Crime knocks at lawyer Nina Reilly's door once again in this breathy legal drama, the sixth in a series, set in the resort community of Lake Tahoe, Nev. This time it is single mother Reilly's 13-year-old son, Bob, who steers her toward a new case, begging her to defend his friend, 16-year-old Nikki Zack. Nikki is accused of killing her rich uncle, plastic surgeon Bill Sykes, with a 16th-century samurai sword. She says she didn't do it, but the evidence suggests otherwise. Nikki was on the scene at the time of the killing and was known to hold a grudge against her selfish and stingy uncle. Even Reilly, a softie for the underdog, has to admit it doesn't look good for Nikki, until several other suspects pop upAdisgruntled patients of Sykes, a lecherous business partner, other bitter family members. The case is confused by the death of Sykes's 19-year-old son the same day in a plane crash while returning to Lake Tahoe from L.A. Complicating matters further is a mining claim in northern Nevada that's yielding lots of high-grade opals. The claim used to belong to Nikki's family until Sykes convinced Nikki's ditzy mom, Daria, to sell it to him at a steep discount. O'Shaughnessy, the pseudonym for sisters Mary and Pamela O'Shaughnessy, splits the action between Reilly's courtroom maneuvering and the detective work of her longtime investigator, Paul van Wagoner, whose role is greatly expanded this time around. Van Wagoner lacks the requisite magnetism for co-star status, and the plot swivels in a few unlikely directions, leading up to a far-fetched finale. Nevertheless, Reilly fans should enjoy this latest entry in a thriving series. Agent, Nancy Yost. Major ad/promo; BOMC and Mystery Guild main selections; Doubleday Book Club and Literary Guild alternates. (Aug.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 540 pages
• Publisher: Wheeler Publishing (December 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568959885
• ISBN-13: 978-1568959887
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,927,464 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another best-seller!, August 13, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Move to Strike (Hardcover)

In my community, among us avid mystery readers, the release of the the "latest" book in Perri O'Shaughnessy's Nina Reilly series is an eagerly anticipated event. This annual reunion with Nina Reilly, Paul van Wagoner, Sandy Whitefeather, Bob Reilly and Nina's brother, Matt, and sister-in-law, Andrea, is much like spending time with "old friends" and catching up on their latest trials, tribulations and exploits. Even so, this sixth book, MOVE TO STRIKE, is far more than a welcome visit with people we've come to know and love. It's a fast-moving story shot through with action, suspense and psychological turmoil.

Nikki Zack may have murdered her uncle, Bill Sykes; she may have caused a plane crash that killed two people; and she may be mixed up in a mysterious mining claim. But when Nina Reilly's son, Bob, insists his friend, Nikki, is innocent, intrepid defense attorney, Nina, takes on Nikki's problem-ridden defense.

Masterful both at making minor characters memorable and major characters unforgettable, O'Shaughnessy brilliantly draws the reader into Nikki Zack's nightmare by making this stubborn, smart-alecky and rebellious teenager both likable and sympathetic and then spices up an already delicious plot by mixing in Paul van Wagoner's struggle to deal with his prior act of vigilantism. A satisfying "read" that's sure to please both long-time devotees and newcomers alike, MOVE TO STRIKE is yet another tour de force that will undoubtedly insure Perri O'Shaughnessy's preeminence among today's mystery writers.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another triumph for O'Shaughnessy, August 22, 2000

By 

D. Bell "Imzadi" (Olney, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Move to Strike (Hardcover)

Move to Strike is a worthy successor to Perri O'Shaughnessy's previous books. Nina is at the top of her form as she struggles to defend Nikki, a friend of her son's. Nikki, although a sympathetic character, is not a terribly likeable one, but her mother Daria, a total airhead, has driven her to take over the household. Uncle Bill, the victim, is a totally reprehensible character; his widow Beth, Daria's sister, appears to have some sort of hidden agenda. I found Paul's investigation of the plane crash which killed Beth & Bill's only child, Chris, one of the most fascinating aspects of this book. The killer and the motive did surprise me. I wish there had been a little more of the courtroom action. I couldn't put it down.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent work in this series, August 8, 2000

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Move to Strike (Hardcover)

Nina Reilly remains grieving the loss of her husband seven months ago and though she feels the killer may return, she knows she and her son Ben must get on with their lives. Insomnia plagues her so she heads into the desert seeking peace. One night while wandering out there, she sees a plane followed by a flash of light as the aircraft obviously exploded.

At approximately the same time as the crash, someone murders plastic surgeon Bill Sykes using a sword from the doctor's collection. The police arrest the victim's niece teenager Nikki Zack, a friend of Ben, for the killing. Ben persuades his mother to represent Nikki in court. Nikki was near her uncle when an unknown person killed him. She hid in the bushes by the nearby swimming pool until it was safe to leave. However, she left her blood at the scene. Nikki's cousin died in the plane incident, leaving Nina believing a tie exists between the two events.

Perri O'Shaugnessy is a fantastic writer of action-packed legal thrillers that allows the non-attorney to understand the legalese while enjoying an exciting tale. In MOVE TO STRIKE, the suspects seem endless as each one has a powerful reason for killing the doctor. Nina is a superb character whose basic honesty and goodness make for a strong individual, but whose flaws make for a real and likable person. Fans of Nancy Taylor Rosenberg will not want to miss this winner.

Harriet Klausner