Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner
Acts of Malice
Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Perri O'Shaughnessy
Class/Genre: Mystery Legal Setting Woman Main Character
Series: Nina Reilly # 5
Delacorte, Jul 1999, $23.95, 387 pp.
Attorney Nina Reilly operates a highly regarded practice in Lake Tahoe even as she raises her sixteen-year old son by herself. Since her divorce, she rejects all men until Assistant District Attorney Collier Hallawell reenters her life. He wants her back though he rejected her just last year. Nina refuses to allow him back in her life because she fears the pain when he leaves again as she expects of him.
Adding to her skittishness is that the two lawyers are on opposite sides of a case. Though her client Jim Strong leaves Nina uneasy, she defends him from the state's accusation that he killed his brother. As Nina and Collier work closely together, he manages to penetrate her personal defenses. At the same time, evidence begins to prove that Jim is not the innocent he claims to be. If this turns out to be true, Nina and all those she cherishes are in considerable danger.
The fifth Nina Reilly novel is the best of this wonderful series as a different side of the lead character's personality surfaces. This makes Nina seem more vulnerable and, in turn, human. The legal procedural story line comes across as realistic as the prosecution and defense thrusts and parries each other in the courtroom. Observing the personality of the defendant change over the course of the novel will leave chills up and down the spine of the audience. ACTS OF MALICE is Perri O'Shaugnessy at her best, which is at a higher level than most authors will ever achieve.
Harriet Klausner
Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner
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