Writ Of Execution [Import] [Hardcover]

Perri O'shaughnessy (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Press; 1ST edition (2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 074990559X
• ISBN-13: 978-0749905590
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A chance meeting between clients, January 2, 2002

By 

L. Quido "quidrock" (Tampa, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Writ of Execution (Hardcover)

Jessie Potter, a doomed young woman with a secret, and Kenny Leung, one of the more confused characters in fiction this year, leads to a casino jackpot and a need for Nina Reilly, in her seventh outing, to try to make sense of it all. Jessie defines the concept of self-sufficiency, and Kenny defines haplessness, despite his brilliance in the computer field, so their collaboration gives the book a light tone. The courtroom adversaries for Reilly are pretty ruthless, and used to a larger setting than what they find in Tahoe...it is hard to believe that Nina will prevail. Nina's independence, her relationship with her family (played down a little in this book), the spectacular scenery that is Tahoe, and the depressing world of casino gambling all play a role in this novel. Sandy, Nina's irrepressible secretary, is back, and is as feisty as ever.

I'm always fascinated by the concept of sisters who live at a distance (Pamela and Mary O'Shaughnessy) writing a series together. You really can't tell where one begins and the other leaves off, such is the seamlessness of their collaboration. Reilly has been incredibly entertaining in each outing, and although there are some pitfalls in this story, overall, it keeps you enthusiastic, entertained and happy with the outcome.

One issue with the series is the unresolved relationship between Reilly and Paul van Wagoner, her terrific investigator. This book continued the dance that is their life together. I'd like for O'Shaughnessy to resolve this one way or the other, and, at the end, it appears that a resolution may be under way for the next book.....but that is what you say each time you finish a Nina Reilly novel.

A really entertaining and worthwhile series with a great heroine!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not as Good as Previous Nina Reilly Novels, July 15, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Writ of Execution (Hardcover)

Although I had read and thoroughly enjoyed all other novels in the Nina Reilly series, I was disappointed by "Writ of Execution." This novel concentrated less on Nina and more on the client, Jessie Potter, who hired Nina to assist her in collecting on a multi-million dollar slot machine jackpot. I always enjoyed the relationship between Nina and her acerbic secretary, Sandy, as well as Nina's relationship with her son, Bob. Neither relationship was developed or included to any extent in this novel. Paul von Waggoner was an abbreviated character in this book as well, and he's one of my favorites! I eagerly await the next installment in the Nina Reilly series--and hope that Nina receives a warm welcome from Paul when she arrives in Carmel.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Overplotted Confusion, July 4, 2002

By 

Wendy Kaplan (Houston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Writ of Execution (Mass Market Paperback)

This book disappointed me, because I have become so spoiled by the O'Shaughnessy sisters' outstanding previous efforts. I wish I could have given it 3 and a half stars. It's not bad, just unnecessarily confusing.

The plot centers around a young woman who wins the ultimate jackpot on the aptly named Greed Machine, a slot machine at one of Lake Tahoe's casinos. Rather than jumping for joy, however, Jessie Potter seems terrified at her $7 million windfall. And the casino is not that anxious to award her prize either. In no time, Jessie is plucked out of her very private life and into real danger. By the time her case lands in Nina Reilly's lap, the young woman is in danger of losing the money--and possibly her life. And she's not the only one in jeopardy. A pudgy Chinese-American computer geek named Kenny, who happened to be sitting next to Jessie when she won the jackpot, becomes inextricably entwined in her problems.

And OUR problem at this point in the book is that neither Jessie nor Kenny are particularly likeable. It took me quite some time to care about either of them--a necessity in this plot-heavy novel. I was more concentrated on the sub-plot involving a compulsive gambler with a Glock and a murderous obsession with the jackpot he believes is his, not Jessie's.

A further subplot is the ongoing and at this point annoyingly frustrating relationship between Paul, Nina's indispensable private eye and sometime lover, and Nina, still mourning the loss of her husband. Paul loves Nina, Paul wants Nina, but as in all the other books, Nina isn't sure, and Paul can't take much more rejection. He's in for it, though--from Nina arriving in his hotel room, stark naked under her full-length coat--and then at the critical moment changing her mind, to a blithering series of coitus interruptus that began to take on the aura of the Keystone Kops. I found the whole thing annoying and insulting to both characters. This is NOT a Stephanie Plum novel, where that kind of thing happens all the time. t doesn't belong in the Nina Reilly series, and this reader, for one, is tired of it.

The book does pick up speed, however, as we become more involved with Jessie and Kenny, learn their secrets, worry about the danger they are in, and root for Nina to help them both. Near the very end of the book, a triumphant courtroom scene reveals a hidden secret that changes the course of several lives. It's a great ending, a thoroughly enjoyable and believable climax. Unfortunately...the book does not end there. It goes on for several more chapters as we follow the original murderer, still bent on claiming his jackpot. There is so much happening in this quasi-epilogue, it is intensely confusing. Then finally, in two pages, everything is wrapped up in a neat red bow, happily ever after. Except for Nina and Paul and the various murdered people and the murderer himself and the slimy despicable opposing lawyer, the hated Jeff Reisner.

Whew! It's exhausting just writing the review. Again, I love anything the O'Shaughnessys write, but this book is the weakest in the series so far. I hope it's an anomoly!