Customer Reviews

Unfit to Practice (Nina Reilly)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Here's a star sister act that plays not at your neighborhood theater but at the local bookstore. To date the sisters O'Shaughnessy, Pamela (a Harvard Law School graduate) and Mary (a former editor), have co-authored seven popular legal thrillers. Two of their fast-paced dramas were "Writ of Execution" and "Malice." Brace yourselves for a suspenseful ride in "Unfit To Practice."

Facing the worst fear of any attorney, Nina Reilly is looking at a disciplinary hearing before the California State Bar Court and possible disbarment. Lawyer Reilly's unlocked truck, which held pertinent case files and revealing notes she had taken, is stolen. That's not the worst case scenario: soon, information that could only be found in her notes surfaces, and is revealed in ways that are most damaging to her client.

So, Reilly finds herself before the State Bar in a battle for her license. You can tell she's in dire straits when she turns to her ex-husband to lead her defense. He and her off/on boyfriend PI Paul van Wagoner don't see eye to eye nor do they try.

Malice becomes murder in this drama that shifts from tension filled courtroom to the secret recesses of a woman's heart.

- Gail Cooke

Perri O'Shaughnessy, the entertaining sister team of writers, serve up an especially interesting plot for their Lake Tahoe lawyer-heroine, Nina Reilly. Nina's confronted with a situation that could ruin her for life, and three client cases are commingled with her own downfall, when the client files are stolen.

Nina's love life with her investigator is more settled in this outing, although briefly challenged by her ex-husband. Her three clients are diverse, and the reaction and chain events set off by the loss of the files follow widely divergent paths, as well. It's obvious that Nina is someone's target, but who is her enemy?

4 stars due to the complex and interesting plot, and the unique ending, which leaves the reader guessing what direction the series will take in the future. Not nearly as good in characterization or plot fulfillment as previous Nina Reilly episodes, but the O'Shaughnessy novels are heads and shoulders above most courtroom fiction, and I eagerly await the next one!

I usually relish the chance to read a new Perri O'Shaughnessy.

I thought the main plot line was somewhat unbelievable. If Nina is such a hot shot lawyer, and of course we know she is from the previous books, she would not leave her briefcase containing such
important files, in her car overnight.

The female police officer and the female prosecuting attorney are just totally unbelievable in their language and approach to Nina. Very stereotypical, we don't like beautiful smart women.<P...

As a practicing attorney I savored the idea of being able to endure a long flight and read a novel written about an area of law that receives scant attention in the popular press: professional responsibility. Unfortunately, I think I picked the wrong book and ended up with a dimestore "chick-flip."

The authors spend so much time trying to make women identify with the needs of the female main character that her rather interesting legal problems sound like a voice-over from a tampon commercial. Since one of the authors is a lawyer, she puts in just enough law to give it some credibility. Unfortunately, either they do not think their readers would be interested in a serious litigation novel or they want to push what appears to be an improbable plot line on the readers, so people who would be genuinely interested in the plot details are left hanging, angry, and thinking the whole story is improbable!

"Unfit to Practice" is either a bold and brilliant move by the O'Shaughnessy sisters to keep their Nina Reilly series alive, or a rush-to-deadline departure from the series' usual content. I think it must be the former.

Nina, the stubborn, beautiful, competent and courageous Lake Tahoe attorney who is central to every book, is a very different woman as this one begins. First of all, she is inexplicably in love with Paul, the private eye who helps her with each case, and who has been her on-again, off-again lover as Nina's mood and marital circumstances dictate. In the last book, "Writ of Execution," they were on again. But nothing prepared this reader for the romantic, almost desperate intensity with which Nina now loves Paul. Where did this come from? For those of us who have been rooting for Paul all along, it's a happy circumstance, but the one-sentence explanation for this turn of events doesn't quite make it.

The plot, however, is a good one. Nina finds herself on the other side of the law as she is called before the California State Bar in a disciplinary action that could cost her everything she holds dear. One careless but very human action--leaving her keys behind in the courtroom--has led to a series of nightmarish disasters. Her car is stolen, and so are the three highly confidential client files she carelessly left in the back seat. Each of the files contains materials that could prove extremely damaging to Nina's clients, and as the plot unfolds, that's exactly what happens.

Struggling to clear her good name, hold on to her career, and also undo the terrible damage done to her clients, Nina enlists not only the help of the stalwart Paul, but also her ex-husband Jack, whom we've heard about but never met. A high-powered California attorney, Jack specalizes in defending his fellow attorneys before the Bar. Can he save Nina? Or will his still-personal feelings for her get in the way?

Throughout the tense ordeal, Nina still has to deal with her son Bob, who, now 14, has turned from the sweet child of previous books to an all-too-typical sullen teenager. I won't give away the truly surprising end of the book, but I will say that Nina, and therefore the series, will never be the same again.

I don't think this book quite pulled it off for regular readers like me, since the major changes in Nina constantly had me thinking about previous books, diverting me from the plot-at-hand. But I have to applaud the O'Shaughnessys for a truly bold and brave move. Not many authors have the guts to change a popular series in mid-stream, and this is what they have definitely done. I look forward to the next book to see how they tie up the loose ends!

Nina Reilly, attorney and single mom, is in the middle of an ugly custody battle when an unspeakable crime is committed against her. A crime every lawyer fears, very sensitive case files are stolen.

During a powerful storm, Nina forgets to lock her truck, in the morning her truck is gone and so are the files of clients she is currently working on. Among the files is that of Kevin and Lisa Cruz, a custody battle that holds many secrets, some of which lurk in Nina's past.

As Nina prepares for her cases she can't help but fear the worst...her clients inner-most secrets being revealed.

Nina's fears become reality as her clients reputations start being destroyed, and before long people begin to die.

With the help of her ex-husband Jack, and her current boyfriend, private investigator, Paul Wagoner, Nina must defend her reputation and the chance of disbarment, while trying to stop a madman set out to destroy Nina's clients, as well as Nina herself.

`Unfit To Practice' is another great entry in the Nina Reilly series. The carefully constructed plot centers around the missing files but various sub-plots are thrown in to keep readers turning the pages. The plot never becomes confusing or boring, and Nina Reilly is such a genuine character the reader can't help but to feel for her. With never a dull moment `Unfit To Practice' is a tense page-turner that deserves to be read in one sitting.

Perri O'Shaughnessy (a pen name for two sisters) have been churning out best-sellers for years, and this series just gets stronger with each new novel. While many authors have a hard time juggling various plots in their novels O'Shaughnessy handles it with a steady hand, keeping everything interesting and boiling until you reach the explosive climax.

Fans of fast paced legal thrillers should dive into this one, and then go back and read any of the previous in the series they may have missed.

Nick Gonnella

For the reader who's followed Nina Reilly through her trials (pun intended) and adversities in the previous seven books, this eighth installment is a must read. However, it's a hinge on Nina's character arc, and as such, it's not a book to win her new fans. It's a book to accomplish another end altogether.

In this story, Nina is enduring the ultimate (for a lawyer) judicial ironical experience: standing trial herself. Of course, our resident Girl Scout committed no felonious act (although she's not so pure as to have avoided FLIRTING with the law a time or two), but in this chronicle, the State of California reviews Nina's right to retain her license in the face of the disappearance of some highly confidential and sensitive client files.

The disappearance of the files isn't enough for a problem in and of itself, but confidential information suddenly materializes publically in ways that harm her clients' welfare... information that could have come only from those missing files. An insidious, unknown "someone" is out to damage Nina's reputation and ultimately destroy her career.

For help, Nina turns to private investigator and sometime-lover Paul van Wagoner, and he in turn engages for her defense his former best friend, her own ex-husband Jack (a state bar attorney). For other means of support, Nina relies on the familiar figures of Sandy Whitefeather, her legal assistant; Sandy's son Wish, a private invesigator in training; and her brother and sister-in-law.

The cases in which the files disappeared, all three provoking and complicated scenarios ranging from a nasty custody battle to immigrant businesses and racism to murder of passion, are compelling and complex, further muddied by the steady hand of this unknown enemy who's not only milking but manipulating information by stacking it against our feckless heroine.

Who is the enemy? Ay, that's the question. The O'Shaughnessy sisters provide several potential perpetraters, and they make each so distasteful that any one would satisfy, ultimately.

The ending is smashing (pun intended), and a romantic denouement lets the reader close the book with a wistful sigh. I do wonder if Mary and Pamela O'Shaughnessy plan to "hang up" the Reilly series after this book, which leaves Nina's story with just the right tone, just the right unanswered questions, and just the right allusions to the future for readers to paint their own portrait of what that future will be.

For the legal thriller addict, Unfit To Practice is an interesting fix. The O'Shaughnessy sisters pen a tale that is entertainingly suspenseful. Nina Reilly, a small town lawyer has her vehicle stolen and with it the files of three of her clients. The sensitive files apparently fall into the wrong hands. The book details the subsequent fallout.

I found Ms. Reilly's ethical dilemmas realistic. This was the first O'Shaughnessy novel I have read, so I am unable to compare it with previous Reilly reads. Although the story is a bit too touchy-feely for my general liking - one reviewer described the book as a "chick-flip" - and certainly not the best legal thriller I have read, I was entertained and plan on reading another Reilly novel.

Sisters Pamela and Mary O'Shaughnessy, writing as "Perri", have obviously developed a fan base with seven prior defense attorney Nina Reilly stories. Unfortunately for us, this was our first try by the women, and we seem to have been stuck with one of their poorer efforts. The most exciting thing to happen in the plot was Nina's Bronco being stolen, complete with three confidential client files in the back seat. When all three cases suddenly go sour, and lead to a State Bar hearing against Nina, were we supposed to be surprised? Ex-husband Jack, whom, as a lawyer's lawyer, Nina hires to defend her, and current lover Paul, her regular investigator (she's otherwise a one-lawyer shop, with just Sandy as a secretary), bicker the whole book long in a juvenile attempt to attract Nina's attention and compete with each other: wow! The last third of the book is the disbarment hearing -- and guess who wins. Of course Nina comes up heroine as the Bronco thief is discovered, and then, boom, the authors end this 450 page book with more information in the last 4 pages than the whole rest of the book put together.

We usually enjoy lawyer stories which is what prompted us to try this novel. We were disappointed by the trivial storyline, the complete lack of suspense, and characters who spent most of the time acting like adolescents. Truthfully, we didn't even develop much interest in or sympathy for Nina, who must have avowed her love for the law and her desire to defend the underdog like half a dozen times -- please, we get the drift.

Maybe some of the other O'Shaughnessy books are more fun, but these authors have a long way to go to approach the likes of Turow or Scottoline. Try them instead.

I have read other books by these authors and liked them. This book started out ok but went downhill. The trial was very, very boring and just the first half of the story over again. The ending was just ridiculous. Sometimes when authors are doing a series the books go downhill - maybe they are on deadline. I will stop and think before I buy another book by them.