Book Review: Devil's Corner

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Devil's Corner     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Lisa Scottoline
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Legal Setting
HarperCollins, Jun 2005, $25.95, 400 pp.

In Philadelphia, US Justice Department Assistant District Attorney Vicki Allegretti was to interview the informant, but instead a young teen holds a Glock aimed at her as she realizes that she stumbled into a robbery in progress. Her partner ATF Case Agent Bob Morton finishes his cigarette and steps inside to join her when a shot is fired. The teenage culprit and a partner flee the scene while Morty dies in Vick’s arms.

Her boss, Howard Bale shows Vicki that the murder involved pure “fish scale” cocaine worth easily 40K on the street. Vicki conjectures that the informant Shayla Jackson who selected the deadly rendezvous spot did not seem like a crack head and never showed up because apparently she is dead. Could there be a link to the Reheema Bristow straw purchase case coming to trial next week that died with the events that just occurred. Feeling at fault for Morty’s death though Howard says otherwise, Vicki, without official sanctioning, decides to investigate. She and Reheema, who has a personal vendetta to learn who murdered her mother, join forces seeking to uncover the identity of a killer whose victims seem disconnected yet hint at a missing link.

DEVIL’S CORNER is a powerful action thriller that takes the audience deep into the drug trafficking streets of Philadelphia especially the title neighborhood. The story line grips the audience, but some realistic humor and a subplot involving the heroine’s love life eases the accelerator just enough. Lisa Scottoline is at her best with this stand alone urban thriller that grips readers from the exhilarating onset until the final community garden plot is planted.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner