Dead Ringer

by Lisa Scottoline

Book Overview

New York Times Bestseller"Scottoline fans and first-time readers will love this tale of dueling twins."--CosmopolitanIn the eighth compelling legal thriller in #1 bestselling author Lisa Scottoline's... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060514930
• ISBN13: 9780060514938
• Release Date: May 2003
• Publisher: Harper
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.97 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 1.3" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

Audio makes this book the best in entertainment!

I didn't read this book but followed along on the unabridged Audio Cassette. I really enjoyed it! The actress reading was absolutely amazing! It was laugh out loud fun! The reader does every kind of accent, from wispy receptionist to Sexy Frenchman to Hottie David Holland. So do yourself a favor and listen to this terrific book, it is a great experience.

An Evil Twin, a Murder and a Mystery

Bennie Rosato's law firm, which consists of four young female attorneys and a pregnant secretary, is in trouble. They win cases, clients can't pay and they need money. Bennie takes on a class action case, then strange things start happening to her. Her wallet is stolen, she starts getting packages she didn't order, someone alleges she had been seen drunk, eventually she figures out her criminal twin is behind it all.For some reason her evil twin is intent on ruining her reputation and her as well. With time running out, Bennie struggles to keep working and holding her firm together, while her sister keeps up her attacks. Add murder to the mix and Bennie determined to solve it and you have a five star mystery thriller you can't put down.Review submitted by Captain Katie Osborne

The verdict is -- excellent!

One of Scottoline's best -- my third favorite after Everywhere That Mary Went and Mistaken Identity. With each book in this remarkable series, each of four women lawyers seems to take turns being lead character. While Mary's character was well-developed in Everywhere that Mary Went -- first in the series -- Bennie emerges as the strongest, most complex and most puzzling.Bennie Rosato's all-woman law firm is close to bankruptcy when, out of the blue, a plaintiff introduces the firm to the world of class action suits. When the plaintiff is murdered, Bennie questions the police explanation (second in a series of attacks on visiting foreigners), focusing on her fellow lawyers who are competing for a piece of the large class action pie. Rosato meets the deceased man's family -- all elegantly French and wealthy, including Julien, the stepson graduating Harvard with MBA-JD degrees. While looking for the murderer, she fends off attacks by her twin sister, with the help of a great-looking SEAL on leave, and she deals with the firm's troubled finances with the help of a gay lawyer friend Sam. And the firm's lone secretary -- all Bennie can afford now -- is very, very pregnant. There's a lot going on, but it works. Bennie bounces around from one crisis to the other and Mary even brings in a lawsuit on behalf of neighbors descended from Italians interned in World War II. Judy and Anne appear in cameo roles: Judy's hair is dyed pink and Anne, a Stanford graduate, isn't afraid to use her stunning good looks to advantage.In every book, Scottoline takes us to the edge of what's plausible. Could an amateur like Rosato take on a class action lawsuit? How could a famous lawyer allow her firm to fall into deep financial distress, a breath away from bankruptcy? Two of the "young associates" have quite a bit of experience: in Scottoline's first book, Mary and Judy had just made partner at the esteemed white-shoe firm of Stallings and Webb. Don't they want to be partners?However, I've heard Scottoline speak and I believe everything she narrates could happen. Not likely, but just possible. Scottoline is fascinated by twins: she's a twin and her characters Mary and Bennie are twins. The subplot may stretch our credibility -- but Ann Rule's true crime books have shared even weirder family histories.Scottoline's best at plot and scene. She lovingly evokes Philadelphia and I feel like I'm right in court with Bennie. There are many characters competing for attention and some fade into the background, more outshadowed than ignored. Scottoline's humor is sharp and subtle: I loved the scenes where Bennie's clients complimented the associates on the very qualities that drove Bennie crazy.And Bennie's dog is very, very real.I for one couldn't put this one down. Professional and classy, like the author and her heroines.

A share of suspense

Dead Ringer Author Lisa Scottoline sketches thumbnails with the tersest of phrases. In her latest book, Dead Ringer, an overbearing class-action attorney, Bill (a.k.a. Bull) Linette, whom the writer has already deliciously pigeon-holed by dint of his "overbleached" teeth, doesn't just turn around; he pivots "on his slippery Italian heel." Lawyer heroine Benedetta Rosato's beauteous associate Anne Murphy despatches a lasciviously groping lunch date with a well-aimed "overpriced designer pump." Bennie herself stops a door slamming in her face by thrusting her Saucony (a brand which advertises itself as "shoes for serious athletes") and using it to wedge the door open. Running metaphors were never more fun.This is the book I just finished reading aloud to my 92-year-old mother, a formerly inveterate reader who is now plagued by low vision. It was very difficult for me, because I had to be self disciplined. As a rule, I read a good suspense novel in a day or two. That way it is not difficult to keep all the threads together in my mind and I can just go plunging headlong till the end.My mother however, is no longer capable of sitting through more than a chapter or two (occasionally three) at a time. Also, she has short-term memory problems and each time I picked up the book (after breakfast was the best time) I had to go through "the story so far." It made me appreciate those clichés: "I couldn't put it down," and "It's a real page-turner." And of course "a real cliff hanger." The author suspends exciting plot developments at the end of each chapter. This is true of all good stories, but I haven't had to examine one as carefully as this for quite a while.Scottoline's humour is dry and crisp. Her books are worth reading for the dialogue alone. My maternal grandfather was a criminal lawyer a long time ago, and he was known for his wit (although occasionally for his bombast). As we listened to the crackling repartee between Bennie and other characters, my mother would frequently interject with some story from her father's repertoire of his more colourful clients. She kept saying, "Human nature doesn't change," even though I know the court ambience was far more formal 70 years ago. And my mother appreciated--treasured--the fact that some of Rosato's prominent clients were French, as my father's parents emigrated to the New World from France with their own parents a hundred years ago.There are elements of this plot that are far fetched. Bennie is a curious combination of worldly-wise and naive. I would point out that Bennie was perhaps too trusting of her self-appointed Navy SEAL protector, especially when she was so proactive in other ways, and my mother would counter, "Oh, isn't that true of all of us." And the reappearance of Bennie's evil twin stretched the imagination at times, almost like a red herring, but readers of this careful author know there will be another book to deal with some of th

Another page-turning blockbuster.

Bennie Rosato is a lawyer familiar with struggle and heartbreak, but nothing could prepare her for what's about to hit...Bennie's law firm is having a hard time financially, and her current client has just dropped the bombshell of not being able to pay her, but before she can say bankruptcy in walks a new client wealthy businessman Robert St. Amien.Just as things start looking up for Bennie a lost wallet will spin her life out of control.Someone hell-bent on destroying everything in Bennie's life has stolen her identity, and Bennie knows it's her twin sister Alice.As Bennie desperately searches for her twin, a murder will force her to track down a killer, and in the process bring her face to face a dark evil.`Dead Ringer' is a fast-paced read that will keep readers guessing right up until the end. Lisa Scottoline can always be depended upon to write original thrillers filled with interesting characters, and surprising plot twists and her latest novel scores on all accounts. `Dead Ringer' is filled with humor and suspense, and anyone looking for a great beach read should look no further...Scottoline has written another winner.Nick Gonnella