Thriller

If you're looking for a quick, action packed thriller that will make you laugh as well as cry, this is it. But just because its a fast read and action-packed doesn't mean its fluff. Far from it. Lisa Scottoline's latest novel is filled with deep relationship issues, betrayal and revenge, identity theft, the law and money, and the consequences of making decisions based on hope and fear. All of these revolve around a main question: how far can a good person be pushed before they snap?

In Think Twice one of the primary relationships is between Bennie Rosato and herself. Bennie is a good person, a hard worker who owns her own well-respected Philadelphia law firm. A few books ago Bennie discovered that she had a twin who was given up at birth. Years ago Lisa Scottoline discovered that she had a half sister who was given up at birth. Lisa's sister isn't evil, but Bennie's twin sister, Alice, is pretty rotten. In an attempt to save her own life, Alice tries to take over Bennie's life. She drugs Bennie and buries her alive. Bennie's sense of betrayal and need for revenge pits her against her own better nature. Bennie is the hero and most readers probably assume that she'll end up alive at the end of the book. But will she be the same Bennie? Will she cross a line to the dark side, take a step from which there is no return?

Think Twice is another winner from Lisa Scottoline. I love her books and have been a fan for ten years now. One of my coworkers turned me on to her books and if you're not already a fan, I hope you'll give her a try. Her novels are full of intelligent, humorous, and "real" women--busy women who work hard and deal with family, friends, bosses, colleagues, significant others, kids, and pets. Some are supremely confident, others are struggling with self-confidence. If you haven't read any Scottoline yet, you're in for a pleasant surprise. After you read Think Twice, you'll probably want to go back to the beginning and pick up Lisa's first novel, Everywhere That Mary Went, and read them in chronological order. You don't have to read her novels in chronological order, but it's interesting to see the characters' development over time (in the series books, some are stand-alones) and to see Lisa's growth as a writer. If you're already a fan, you'll be thrilled by the action and growth/change in the relationships between the returning characters of the Bennie Rosato and Associates series. ( )

I picked up this title as an audiobook at the library booksale. I have read other books by this author and even other books in this series. Unfortunately, this one read like a soap opera.

Lawyer Bennie Rosato only found out she has a twin sister (Alice Connelly) as an adult. Bennie's the good twin while Alice is the evil twin. (I had forgotten that Mary D'Nunzio who works with Bennie is also a twin.) Evil twin tries to kill good twin and to make off with good twin's money.

Mary's parents are hosting a relative from Italy (Fiorella) who claims to be a witch queen and who also appears to try to seduce Mary's father.

Mary and Anthony are considering buying a house and moving in together. Mary finds her dream home, which she can afford, but Anthony cannot, and they quarrel about who should be the breadwinner of a family.

It also seemed like a long number of chapters (over 100).

If you can get past the soap-opera-ish aspects of the plot, you may find it enjoyable. ( )

Another fast-paced thriller involving Philly attorney Bennie Rosata and her firm of female lawyers. Bennie's unstable sister Alice resurfaces and tries to take Bennie's life and accumulated savings with a daring set of moves. Bennie's colleagues and ex-lover are fooled, but not one of Mary DeNunzio's Italian relatives, who sees through the fraud and helps save Bennie. ( )

Wanted to give the Rosato & Associates legal mystery series another try. I thoroughly enjoyed the ridiculousness of the plot (Rosato's identical twin resurfaces! She's a psychopath! She poses as Rosato!) ( )