Customer Reviews

Show No Fear: A Nina Reilly Novel

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

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.

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.

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

When I saw the Nina Reilly prequel, I grabbed it! I looked forward to meeting the young Nina and reading about how she got started. What a total disappointment. The plot was wandering, the characters, including Nina, quite unloveable and annoying. I finally lost patience with it and jumped to the end to get it over with. If I didn't believe in destroying books, I would have tossed it in the trash. Please don't waste your money on this book.

First let me say that I am quite a fan of this series. I've read all of the Nina Reilly books to date and was thrilled to see this one come out. I was enthralled for most of the book. It answers many of the questions about her past that I have had in her previous books. The plot was intriguing, the characters as entertaining as ever. Unfortunately I had to detract a star for the somewhat weak ending. In my opinion it was wrapped up rather sloppily and not on par with the rest of the story. Still it was an overall good read and one I would happily recommend.

This is a quick paced mystery that begins with the murder of an elderly lady. A terrible "accident" that should have hid the body, but didn't quite. The murder was witnessed, but not the killer.

Nina Reilly is working as a paralegal working for a large law firm. She has an adorable son who is the delight of her life. Her time schedule is intense: to be at work, pick up her son and then go to law school. But, she is learning the law, and this leads her to an exciting, dangerous battle with the killer; the surprising person who murdered her mother.

The scenes are vivid. The deadly struggle in the cold ocean as she is determined to not let the murderer get away. Being rescued and discovering what hypothermia is doing to her. Every detail is well thought out and shows the story.

It has been several years since I read this book, but I still recall the opening and closing scenes as if it were the day when I finished the book. It is rare for a book to stay in the back of my mind for such a long time because I am a voracious reader.

This has all the elements of great fiction. Sexy men involved with Nina and others. The law, the importance of follow through, and watching for red flags with people you meet or work for.

I really enjoyed this book. I am sure you will too.

Victoria Tarrani

Show No Fear is apparently a prequel to a series that is new to me and which I now seriously doubt I will ever be reading. The book didn't pass the 100-page test - in fact, I could just barely stand to get even that far with it.

The multitude of characters wandering in and out all seemed scattered, self-fascinated, vacuous, flat types with little to redeem them and with absolutely nothing to create any empathy for or even the slightest curiosity in them. We have everything: ambitious lawyers, fashionista lawyers, nefarious lawyers, up and coming single mothers wanting to be lawyers, crippled mothers, drug addict brothers, fatherless sons and middle-aged fathers...

The double date scene, where the heroine meets the presumed hero, was the last straw and bad enough to make me put the book down and find something else to read. Note to authors: leave the Peace Corps alone, would you?

There may be a plot, though only the prologue gives any inkling as to what it might possibly be about.

I think when someone (or two) decides to write a prequel , it would be a super idea for them to read one of their later books. Because then , they might remember that Nina (in the arson book) is still upset at her father for marrying too soon after her mother died and that Angela is younger than Nina, not just a few years older. They could still have the love affair between Harlan and Angie, but there would be no marriage. And probably Bob would be younger than 4 , to coincide w/ his age in the later books.

But all that inconsistency aside, this is simply a dull, dull, dull book. Remy is dull, Jack is dull, Paul is dull. And Nina is the epitome of dull. But story lines are dropped, characters vanish-things happen that are never explained. Or maybe they were and I had plunged a fork into my eyes and missed it. But I doubt it, because I read every dull word and lost an hour and a half of my life.

Yes, I hated it. Can you give 0 stars?

Having never read a book from the Nina Reilly series before I was a bit apprehensive when I picked up this 12th book. But the writing team of O'Shaughnessy made it easy for me, this is really a prequel to the whole series. You meet Nina as a young 20-something mom of 4 year old Bob who is working as a paralegal by day and attending law school at night. But she is no superhero, she is just a woman trying to do what is best for her family.

When Nina's mother Ginny is disfigured by a rather shady acupuncturist Nina knows that someone should pay, and working in a law firm, she knows just who to call. But then things get even more complicated when ex-lover Richard Filsen appears and claims to be Bob's father, then Nina finds herself in the middle of a couple murder investigations and she suddenly finds her life in a tailspin.

Nina can't do this alone and with the help of some very interesting cohorts she is determined to do right by her son, and most importantly her mother; who has always been there for her and her brother. Who put her own pain and struggle on the back burner to give her children the best that she could; and in Ginny's last steps of independence - to leave them all with something- may have cost Nina more then she ever realized.

I really enjoyed this book and now look forward to going back to the beginning of this series to see where the lives of these characters lead. Nina is a solidly drawn character that I hope will entertain me for years to come.

I've had this book for months now and just finished it. I kept putting it aside in favor of other books. I don't exactly know what it was: Perhaps it's because I haven't read any other books in the series and I should have read the previous books first. The writing is competent to say the least. But it was extremely hard to feel sympathy for some of the characters. I liked Nina's mother but then if you read the book, you know what happened! Nina Reilly is likable and I'm sure she has lots of fans out there. I will try the first book in the series and see if that helps. But for now, this was just a decent read for me, not a great one.