Show No Fear: A Nina Reilly Novel [Hardcover]

Perri O'Shaughnessy (Author)

Book Description

Series: Nina Reilly | Publication Date: December 16, 2008

A brand-new Nina Reilly thriller takes readers back to Nina's first murder investigation, to the case that ignites her passionate commitment to fighting for justice. As a single mom working as a paralegal and attending law school at night, Nina has her hands full fighting for custody of her young son Bob and overseeing a medical malpractice lawsuit on behalf of her mother. But when a woman falls to her death off a bridge near Big Sur and witnesses disappear, Nina suspects there is more to the "accident" than the authorities are saying. With the help of homicide cop Paul van Wagoner, she rushes to uncover the truth. Show No Fear illumines what makes the brilliant Nina Reilly tick -- and, in this fascinating prequel to an illustrious career, begins a love affair for her fans and readers of complex, gripping thrillers everywhere!

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Set in 1990, O'Shaughnessy's intriguing 12th legal thriller to feature crusading lawyer Nina Reilly (after Case of Lies) takes a look at Nina's early career. An attractive single mom, Nina lives with her preschool-age son, Bob, in Carmel-by-the-Sea, Calif., where she works as a paralegal while pursuing a law degree. She worries about her mother, Ginny, who's struggling with a circulatory disease and recovery from a botched acupuncture treatment. When Nina's ex-lover, criminal defense attorney Richard Filsen, resurfaces after four years, demanding a paternity test and shared custody of Bob, Nina seeks help from her current crush, Jack McIntyre, and his sexy girlfriend, Remy Sorensen, who's angling for a judgeship. Everything explodes when first Richard and then Ginny are murdered. The pseudonymous O'Shaughnessy (Pamela and Mary O'Shaughnessy) offers some surprising twists involving the ambitious Remy. Nina's first brush with a future love, detective Paul van Wagoner, adds spice. (Dec.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

There’s a lot going on in the new Nina Reilly thriller (which takes us back to 1990, and the beginning of her career). Nina’s mother is having medical problems and is suing her doctor; the father of Nina’s young son has returned and is demanding joint custody; and a woman who has apparently committed suicide may actually be the victim of murder. It’s strange, though, that a book with so much happening in it turns out to be so dull. Despite its multiple story lines, the novel moves at a snail’s pace, crawling where it should be racing. This is a very successful series, with a popular heroine and a devoted group of fans, but O’Shaughnessy’s pedestrian writing, always a problem, is even worse here. This novel contains sentences—indeed, sometimes whole paragraphs—that cry out for a rewrite. In places, the novel reads like a first draft: the raw material is in place (engaging characters, intriguing plot), and all that’s left to do is the actual writing. Hardcore fans of the Reilly series may enjoy this one for its portrayal of a young, eager, and somewhat naive Nina, but the novel definitely won’t win over any new readers. --David Pitt

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Gallery Books; 1 edition (December 16, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416544399
• ISBN-13: 978-1416544395
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (72 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #855,961 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Wait for the Paperback, December 7, 2008

By 

Dianne E. Socci-Tetro "Books & Chat" (Connecticut, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Show No Fear: A Nina Reilly Novel (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

Show No Fear : A Nina Reilly Novel - by Perri O'Shaughnessy

This is a prequel novel that gives us a tremendous amount of back story for the 13 books in the Nina Reilly Series. We learn about Nina, her brother Matt, her son Bob and PI Paul van Wagoner and how they became what they are today. We find out why Nina becomes such a driven attorney, how her relationship with Paul started and so many other details. This book cleverly opens with a prologue and the death of a woman on Nov 26, then starts it's first chapter with a jump back in time to mid September and the events leading up to that death.

For people who have read the entire series and want this book because you think it will fill in gaps - wait - just save some money and wait for it to come out in paperback. It's not a horrible book, it's just not up to the usual standards of the O'Shaugnessy sisters normal writing, nor is it their normal style. The plot is thin, the characters, even the ones we know and love are, for the most part unlikable and whiney during this time period. I have to wonder why there was such a hiatus between Nina Reilly novels.

For anyone thinking to try this series by buying this book first - my advice is don't! If you want superb suspense and a good legal thriller with a butt-kicking female legal eagle then I suggest you dive right in with the first book in the series "Motion To Suppress" I don't think you'll be sorry.

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars What A Train Wreck!, December 3, 2008

By 

Brian Baker (Santa Clarita, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Show No Fear: A Nina Reilly Novel (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

I've been an O'Shaughnessy fan since the premiere Nina Reilly novel "Motion To Suppress". Imagine my anticipation when I read that "Show No Fear" was coming out, and it was a novel that would give us the backstory about Nina's evolution into the character we've come to know so well in the previous books.

Well, after finishing the book, I'm scratching my head in amazement at what a disaster this book is.

This book's promoted as a "legal thriller", but there are few thrills, and little legal maneuvering.

First of all, it's extremely unfocused. The story wanders all over the map, with no real rhyme or reason, going from murder mystery to soap opera to love triangles (multiple) to law firm politics to single-parenting to medical malpractice to child custody battles, with neither cohesion nor coherence. This book simply doesn't know WHAT it wants to be. A classic case of overreaching, trying to cover too many bases, and thereby failing at covering any of them adequately.

The Nina Reilly in this book is unrecognizable as the character we know from previous works. Granted, she's much younger, but would this woman who goes into heat any time any guy's within five feet of her turn into the legal eagle of Lake Tahoe? What is up with that?

The murder mystery itself is given very short shrift, and when the denouement finally arrived, I was astonished at how incompetently it was portrayed. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what Nina and the killer were doing. Why were they thrashing around in the surf? What happened to the killer's gun? Neither acted believably at all, nor did O'Shaughnessy regular Paul van Waggoner, a police detective in this novel working on the murders while not otherwise busy chasing every skirt in sight. I guess his preoccupation with sex must explain why he doesn't even notice the killer's car is missing when the killer leaves the scene of the final confrontation. Not much of a detective; just a hound.

Unfortunately, this was a terrific premise that failed in the execution.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Will likely be a welcome addition to the Nina Reilly series for many fans, January 26, 2009

By 

Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Show No Fear: A Nina Reilly Novel (Hardcover)

When a woman's body turns up off a bridge near Big Sur, Nina Reilly sets out to solve her first murder case. In this prequel to Perri O'Shaughnessy's bestselling series, readers learn about the events that lead Nina to pursue her illustrious career as a criminal lawyer and also get a glimpse into her early life. Despite its flaws, the 12th Nina Reilly thriller is an interesting read, primarily because of Nina's appeal as a tough, smart heroine who has a personal interest in discovering the identity of the killer.

At the outset of the novel, Nina is a single mother in her late 20s living in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. Working as a paralegal by day and attending law school at night, Nina already has her hands full when her ex-lover, Richard Filsen, shows up at her son's preschool and demands a paternity test. As the story progresses, she not only finds herself caught up in a fierce custody battle but also becomes embroiled in her mother's malpractice lawsuit against a corrupt acupuncturist.

To her dismay, Nina soon learns that Richard, a well-known attorney who is thoroughly unpleasant, is on the other side of that battle as well. Though she takes comfort in the fact that her firm's high-powered lawyer, Remy Sorensen, has agreed to represent her mother, events soon prove that even Sorensen's legal skills aren't enough to keep her mother safe. To make matters more complicated, Nina can't stop herself from falling for her boss, Jack McIntyre --- who just happens to be in love with the stunning Remy.

As a divorced mother, I found myself rooting for Nina as she struggled to balance work, school, motherhood --- and murder. There were, however, several problems with the plot that would lead me to believe that some readers might fare better with another book in the series. After the initial "kicker" scene, SHOW NO FEAR gets off to a slow start, and fans expecting the usual sort of legal thriller may be disappointed. At times it veers so far from its genre that it almost seems like a contemporary romance novel (not necessarily a bad thing, if that's what you're after). To be fair, the pace does pick up quite a bit during the book's second half. From that point on there were enough unexpected plot twists to keep me reading, and the identity of the murderer, though it did not come as a complete surprise, was clever and well concealed. The ending was satisfying, but I must admit its implausibility bothered me at times.

SHOW NO FEAR will likely be a welcome addition to the Nina Reilly series for many fans. Besides providing background information about Nina, O'Shaughnessy gives us the history of several characters who appear in later books, including her son Bob, her troubled brother Matt and skirt-chasing homicide detective Paul van Wagoner. For readers who want to learn more about O'Shaughnessy's intriguing protagonist --- or for those who simply like to commence at the beginning of a series --- this might be a good place to start.

--- Reviewed by Lori Lamothe