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This Case Is Gonna Kill Me [Paperback]

Phillipa Bornikova
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)

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Book Description

September 4, 2012

What happens when The Firm meets Anita Blake? You get the Halls of Power—our modern world, but twisted. Law, finance, the military, and politics are under the sway of long-lived vampires, werewolves, and the elven Alfar. Humans make the best of rule by “the Spooks,” and contend among themselves to affiliate with the powers-that-be, in order to avoid becoming their prey. Very loyal humans are rewarded with power over other women and men. Very lucky humans are selected to join the vampires, werewolves, and elves—or, on occasion, to live at the Seelie Court.

 

Linnet Ellery is the offspring of an affluent Connecticut family dating back to Colonial times. Fresh out of law school, she’s beginning her career in a powerful New York “white fang” law firm. She has high hopes of eventually making partner.

 

But strange things keep happening to her. In a workplace where some humans will eventually achieve immense power and centuries of extra lifespan, office politics can be vicious beyond belief. After some initial missteps, she finds herself sidelined and assigned to unpromising cases. Then, for no reason she can see, she becomes the target of repeated, apparently random violent attacks, escaping injury each time through increasingly improbable circumstances. However, there’s apparently more to Linnet Ellery than a little old-money human privilege. More than even she knows. And as she comes to understand this, she’s going to shake up the system like you wouldn’t believe….


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Product Details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Tor Books; First Edition; First Printing edition (September 4, 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0765326825
  • ISBN-13: 978-0765326829
  • Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,261,135 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

A legal spin perks up an otherwise standard urban fantasy in this first volume in a new series. The Powers—vampires, werewolves, and Alfar (fairies)—run the world’s governments, and the only way for humans to prosper is to ally with them. Linnet Ellery’s legal career starts off well when she’s hired at a prestigious vampire-run firm, but her first case, a tedious probate battle between a werewolf’s human family and the werewolf he sired, has been stuck in arbitration for years. But the more she delves into the case, the more she realizes how thorny it is—and, after a violent attack, how dangerous. Soon, her boss is dead, and the firm’s partners want her to clam up, but Linnet didn’t become a lawyer just to toe the line. Linnet is quick and resourceful, with almost preternatural luck and admirable dedication to the law. The plot is messy, with abrupt developments, including the escalating romance between Linnet and the Alfar PI John and his sudden kidnapping, but Linnet’s determination to rescue John by harnessing her lawyerly skills promises a clever sequel. --Krista Hutley

Review

Praise for This Case Is Gonna Kill Me:

 

“Phillipa is a great writer and she has the inside scoop on the world she’s writing about. I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.”

—Carrie Vaughn, bestselling author of the Kitty Norville series


Product Details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Tor Books; First Edition; First Printing edition (September 4, 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0765326825
  • ISBN-13: 978-0765326829
  • Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,261,135 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

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Customer Reviews

Not that this is a bad thing. Dr. Barton  |  3 reviewers made a similar statement
I really enjoyed this fun, unusual urban fantasy! MyBookishWays  |  4 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting world, characters that don't come alive. September 8, 2012
Format:Paperback
Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy.

It is clear that THIS CASE IS GONNA KILL ME is just the beginning for Linnet Ellery. A quirky mix of privilege and loneliness, I had a hard time bonding with her as more than just the narrator describing a great world. Still, Linnet is the sort of person who listens to that inner voice that tells to do the right thing (even when that means going head to head with a murderous werewolf with nothing more than hairspray), and I like her and her world well enough to be eager for more.

Linnet's point of view makes for a unique reading experience. Her pedantic descriptions of how things work would have turned me off if it weren't so intriguing to try and figure out what was going on beneath the surface. As a vampire fosterling, the way Linnet sees the world is definitely not the whole story. It's clear that she has the potential to shake things up in future books, and I'm looking forward to reading more about Vampires, Hunters, and the Linnet's mysterious luck.

While the plot and world building were top notch, they definitely outperformed the heroine for me. Despite some great external dialogue, Linnet's point of view remains pretty stiff and flat throughout. Despite efforts to give her a well rounded personality, something about her was missing. For every scene where I warmed up to her, there would be a digression that took me back to square one. Her relationships, both good and bad, don't really click for me. I'm not sure if it was intentional to keep her and her prospective hero a little out of step with each other, but that detracted from my interest in their future.

THIS CASE IS GONNA KILL ME establishes a very interesting open world where male-only vampires and werewolves live among us.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: Paranormal legal urban fantasy set in a richly detailed world but with a character that is hard to connect with and many questions left unanswered this novel may not appeal to all.

Opening Sentence: "This case is gonna kill me."

The Review:

Fresh out of college, Linnet Ellory gets the opportunity to work for one of the best law firms in New York City. She is given the worst job as a lawyer, working on a case that has been in and out of court for over seventeen years. The Abercrombie case is a dispute over who legally inherits a multi-million dollar company. Then Chip, Linnet's mentor and the lawyer that has been on the case since the beginning, is brutally killed one night leaving Linnet as the sole heir to working on this case. Linnet takes it upon herself to solve the mystery of why Chip was killed. She begins to investigate the cases that Chip was working on at the time of his death, although she is pretty sure that the Abercrombie case is behind his untimely demise.

This Case is Gonna Kill Me is one novel that I can't really decide how much I enjoyed the novel. There was nothing I really hated about this novel but at the same time there wasn't anything that really stood out and made me say "wow!" The novel is less an urban fantasy and more a paranormal legal mystery. There are a few instances of action scenes that break up all the legal jargon and slow case work. There were parts of the novel that completely engrossed me but then there were other scenes that I felt should have been trimmed down. Miss Bornikova is very detailed with the legal work and the horse training/riding really show a love for the sport.

The world that is built up is richly detailed but also quite sexist.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Not to be missed Paranormal mystery September 5, 2012
By YodaWay
Format:Paperback
Linnet Ellery a young female human lawyer at a male vampire law firm tackles more than just the good ole' boy club. She faces, werewolves, Elves, catty women, back stabbing co-workers, sneaky lawyers, liars and bad sex. She was taken/given as a child to live in a vampire home, fostering and is comfortable in their world. Well she thought she was, everything is about to get tangled and twisted. She is stuck in a non-ending case with one of the law firm lessor lawyers. Well, it was non-ending till a new bit of information surfaced. Then death comes drooling up to her office. This is the beginning of everything changing. Oh, and there is one sexy Elf.

I loved the world and the fantastic characters created by this author. The heroine was strong, smart and able to accept her stupid choices with humble face palming. Linette rocks ! The romance was there,nicely timed,a light feather dusting of a tease, perfect timing for my taste. There were a few bumps, I didn't understand the need for so much "horse' time in the book. It just seemed thrown in out of love for them. The plot seemed a bit rushed towards the end. Minor bumps really. It is a first novel and even with the bumps it was an excellent reading vacation for me.

I am putting this author on my 'Not to be missed list" Some of my favorite authors first books are not as good as this one.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars but the Book Won't September 13, 2012
Format:Paperback
This book has managed to carve out yet another niche in the urban supernatural field - vampire lawyers. If you're looking for in-depth legal thrills you won't find them here. Ms. Bornikova knows more about law than I do (maybe a lot more) but she actually shows more knowledge of horses and english equestrianism than law. Not that this is a bad thing. More legality would probably have dragged the book down. As it is, I found it just interesting enough to induce me to read the whole book instead of skipping through it as I might have. She sticks far more to the bite-throat politics of a vampiric law office than to legal precedents which, because she is exploring a different culture, has its interesting points.

If I remember to look for the next book in the series (who knows when it will come out), then I'll pick it up. I'm interested in her take on Alfheim. Her Faerie Realm overlaps the Human Realm (Midgard, I presume) but, while Alfar can travel back and forth, humans (for the most part) cannot. Thus we have a situation where the Seelie and Unseelie Courts are a sovereign nation (or nations) which existed before the U.S. formed and which currently exists "within" the boundaries of the U.S. but not quite. It's a situation that has to be driving members of the U.S. government and military nuts and it presents some very intriguing legal issues.

Of course there are the (so far) sub-plots of the Hunters, the enemy of the vampires that the Hunters were bred to fight, why there are no female vampires or werewolves allowed, what other supernatural beings exist out there, and why Linnet Ellery is so damned good at staying alive to fuel at least a few more books.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Hope to read more
Having read though most of the other reviews, I must say I can see most of the points of view except it wasn't boring, it didn't drag, and at no point were the characters lacking. Read more
Published 1 month ago by GJ
5.0 out of 5 stars An absolutely fantastic new author
A human child fostered out into a vampire household,the heroine is intelligent , honest and what I love most has true grit, she is also so very human with her foibles, and as such... Read more
Published 1 month ago by monifa
3.0 out of 5 stars Somewhat Annoying Main Character
Linnet was a little annoying in spots (how many 20-somethings still refer to their parents as "Mommy" and "Daddy? Read more
Published 3 months ago by bookfanatic1979
3.0 out of 5 stars Nice first book
This Case Is Gonna Kill Me by Phillipa Bornikova is a pleasant enough little read for a bad case of the flu, otherwise I would probably not have picked it up. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Lane N Copley
4.0 out of 5 stars Nicely Done!
It is hard to write a book about lawyers and vampires without going down some well worn paths of stupidity. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Charles H. Rose III
5.0 out of 5 stars A little dash of awesome.
This is an awesome story. Linnett goes to work at a White Fang (read vampire) law firm after one of the partners recommends her. Read more
Published 6 months ago by QuietNoise
4.0 out of 5 stars Great first novel.
Great first novel can't wait for the next one. Different look at vampires. Liked the combination of paranormal and legal thriller. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Tina L. Slover
2.0 out of 5 stars This book is gonna bore me
This book is gonna bore me should have been the title of this book. It wasn't awful but I had to force myself to finish.
Published 7 months ago by janet
4.0 out of 5 stars Hopefully a series
While an expensive Kindle download, this was still very enjoyable. This urban fantasy takes on semi familiar ground of a post reveal world where the. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Gilly
4.0 out of 5 stars I gave it 3.5 stars
THIS CASE IS GONNA KILL ME was a book full of Vampires, Lawyers, and a sexy PI. When Linnet Ellery joins the white fang law group of a "family" friend she is treated like crap. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Urban Fantasy Investigations
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