Move to Strike - Hardcover

O'Shaughnessy, Perri

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385332777 ISBN 13: 9780385332774

Publisher: Delacorte Press, 2000

Synopsis

MOVE TO STRIKE
New York Times bestselling author Perri O'Shaughnessy takes the courtroom thriller to breathtaking new heights in Move to Strike, a page-turning masterpiece of suspense. Featuring Nina Reilly, hailed by critics as "one of the most interesting heroines in legal thrillers today," * Move to Strike is a spellbinding tale of stolen treasure and twisted revenge set in the high desert of Nevada and the mountains of Lake Tahoe.
An attorney and single mother, Nina Reilly runs her one-woman law practice in South Lake Tahoe, balancing compassion and cunning with a passion for justice. But Nina is wholly unprepared for her latest client--sixteen-year-old Nicole Zack, a rebel, a thief, and the best friend of Nina's teenage son, Bob. Did Nikki steal something from her uncle, a prominent plastic surgeon, and then kill him with an ancient samurai sword? The district attorney is trying Nikki as an adult and the charge is first degree murder.
With the stakes this high, Nina calls in private investigator Paul Van Wagoner, her ex-lover and constant ally, whose bravado conceals a troubling personal secret. As Paul investigates the eerily coincidental death of the surgeon's son--killed in a plane crash the same night his father was murdered--Nina sorts through the twisting lies surrounding Nikki, uncovering a bitter struggle over a mining claim, enraged former patients, and two old crimes. Finally, Nina must confront the central question she
needs to answer in order to save her client: What did Nikki really see the night of her uncle's murder?

Taut, thought-provoking, and utterly gripping, Move to Strike grapples with the profound question of what to do when the law does not suffice. It is a novel you won't want to put down until the last twist is unraveled and the last satisfying page is turned.
* San Jose Mercury News

About this title

Review:

Defense attorney Nina Reilly has bad luck with men: one marriage ended abruptly, and another ended in tragedy. Still, her misfortunes with the opposite sex are nothing compared to the trouble she has finding a decent client. In her sixth outing, Move to Strike, Nina's defending a minor who's a major pain: Nikki Zack, a mouthy, rebellious teenager who's being tried as an adult in the murder of her uncle, a wealthy plastic surgeon. Like a lot of people in Lake Tahoe, Nikki disliked Bill Sykes, who showed both greed and snobbery to Nikki and her scatterbrained mother, Daria. He discouraged their familial overtures except when he cheated them in a land deal. Nevertheless, Nikki claims she didn't kill him, even though she was spotted sneaking around his pool on the night of the murder, and the prosecution's case against her is based on a blood sample that indicates she wielded the murder weapon. Nina is particularly struck by two strange facts: Sykes's son Chris was killed in a plane crash at almost the same time Sykes died, and Sykes's widow, Beth, is almost abnormally quick to front the money for her niece's defense, no questions asked.

Nina knows Nikki saw something or someone at Sykes's house, but she's not sure whether Nikki's protecting her sleazy, housebreaking boyfriend or Daria, whose vagueness is almost too extreme to believe. Nikki is placed under house arrest, but that's not enough to keep her--or Nina and her son Bob--safe when a stranger starts calling. When the treasure trove of unimpressive-looking rocks that Nikki took from Sykes's underwater hiding place turns out to be something completely unexpected, the ring of suspects widens and danger creeps closer. Nina teams with Paul van Wagoner, the investigator (familiar from Acts of Malice and previous Nina Reilly mysteries) she can't quite seem to disentangle herself from, to help sort the loose ends from the dead ends. And there are plenty of both.

The O'Shaughnessy sisters (Perri is a pen name for Pamela and Mary) are taking new risks and increasing the stakes with every book, and Move to Strike shows they can pull it off. The characters are deftly drawn and the plotting masterfully complex. The pacing falls a bit short of heart-stopping; the courtroom scenes serve to up the stakes for Nikki, yet don't really add much tension. But this series is still young and keeps getting better and better. Grisham and Turow, check your rear-view mirrors: there's a new writer in the fast lane. --Barrie Trinkle

From the Back Cover:

PRAISE FOR PERRI O'SHAUGHNESSY'S BESTSELLING NINA REILLY NOVELS ACTS OF MALICE

"Terrific...will keep you turning the pages into the night."
-- USA Today

"[O'Shaughnessy's] best courtroom thriller to date."
-- Kirkus Reviews

BREACH OF PROMISE
"A legal mystery for thoughtful readers...the surprise twists are wonderfully effective."
-- San Francisco Chronicle

"Lots of unexpected twists and turns...a savvy legal thriller."
-- The Orlando Sentinel

OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE
"Nina Reilly is one of the most interesting heroine sin legal thrillers today."
-- San Jose Mercury News

"A captivating mystery...a beautifully plotted novel."
-- Monterey County Herald

INVASION OF PRIVACY
"Suspenseful and complex."
-- San Francisco Examiner & Chronicle

MOTION TO SUPPRESS
"A real puzzler, with twists diabolical enough to take to court."
-- The New York Times Book Review

About this edition

• Publisher: Delacorte Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0385332777
• ISBN 13: 9780385332774
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 400