Show No Fear: A Nina Reilly Novel (Hardcover)

by Perri O'Shaughnessy (Author)

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.)
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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

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Pocket; 1st Printing edition (December 16, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416544399
• ISBN-13: 978-1416544395
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #68,533 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars www.booksandchat.com says - wait for the paperback , December 7, 2008

By	Dianne S. Tetro "at www.booksandchat.com" (Shelton, CT) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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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.

12 of 15 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 (REAL NAME)

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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.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars below par, April 21, 2009

By	M. S. Butch (Katonah, New York USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I agree with the other reviewers that this book is not up to the authors' usual standard. There does not seem to be a "main" plot; the focus of the story is giving backstory to the other Nina Reilly books. It's like one long chapter in a book-to-come. It did make for a pleasant evening's reading, though.

I agree with the reviewer who could not recognize Nina. Usually I find her a little too cold and hard for my taste; here she exhibits superhuman stamina, but way too much emotion. It's a little harsh to say she acts like she's in heat, but she does seem surprisingly interested in sex for someone as exhausted as she must be.

More importantly, I cannot believe that a woman as intelligent as Nina could "accidentally" become pregnant in the 1990s. Affordable, efficient birth control has been easy to come by for DECADES; I do not think the accidental pregnancy plot is acceptable any more without a pretty strong story explaining how it could happen -- like maybe a poor teenager from a fiercely religious background and a weak self-image. But NINA?? No way. And we're supposed to think that she carried on a relationship with Filsen and others with no birth control? uh-uh.

I wouldn't mind another episode from Nina's past, but I hope for a deeper story.