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DEVIL'S CORNER
by Lisa Scottoline
Macmillan, July 2005
400 pages
12.99GBP
ISBN: 1405032782


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

It may seem to readers that the sub-genre of crime fiction involving lawyers and technical aspects of law is a relatively new phenomenon but that is a false impression. Wilkie Collins was one of the pioneers of the category as early as 1862. More recently, such luminaries as John Grisham, the wonderful John Mortimer and Richard North Patterson have ridden the crest of the wave of interest in legal thrillers to bring to bear their own legal backgrounds.

But of the flood there have been precious few women. Lisa Scottoline is one of this minority. While she has founded a successful series on the all-woman practice of Rosato & Associates she has, with DEVIL'S CORNER, ventured away from her former protagonists and introduced a new actor, assistant US Attorney Vicki Allegretti.

Vicki and her professional partner, Bob Morton, are supposed to interview a confidential informant in a 'straw purchase' case wherein two guns had been bought legally but passed on to someone else -- as the narrative has it, "the violent equivalent of buying scotch for a minor". The case becomes violent when the pregnant informant, as well as ATF agent Morton, are killed by two young black men.

It quickly becomes apparent that drugs are involved and Vicki, guilt-ridden at the deaths which she feels she could have prevented, determines to investigate. So she attends prison in order to interview Reheema Bristow, the woman whom the dead informant identified as her best friend and the perpetrator of the 'straw purchase'. On edge, Vicki loses control and attacks Reheema, who has been in jail for a year, and finds herself in trouble at work as well as being sued by her assaulted victim. Reheema is given her freedom.

Dan Malloy is Allegretti's best friend and colleague. He helps her -- to an extent -- but is not very happy when Vicki convinces Reheema, newly released from jail and resident in Philadelphia's Devil's Corner, to aid her after another murder takes place. Devil's Corner is, coincidentally, where Vicki's lawyer father grew up. Never a particularly salubrious locale it is now apparently doomed, having been taken over by drug dealers.

It goes without saying that the tale is exciting. There is a lot of violence portrayed -- readers may need to skim some of the gory details of the corpses -- as well as the puzzle as to just who is the ultimate mastermind of the crimes. The protagonist comes across as, perhaps, too naive for her position but that could be because it is relatively new to her.

There is a heavy emphasis on humour provided by the unlikely partnership of the tall, beautiful, black ex-convict and the tiny, white attorney. While I did not see the resolution coming it is far from revolutionary in the annals of suspense. I leave it to individual readers to decide for themselves as to the validity of some of Vicki's actions and, ultimately, the validity of the narrative itself.

For all that the book does contain some flaws, it is one that should not be missed.

Reviewed by Denise Pickles, June 2005

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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