BOOK REVIEW: Moment of Truth

As I said last week, I have discovered Lisa Scottoline. I just finished MOMENT OF TRUTH and am a little ambiguous about my feelings.

Wealthy Honor Newlin has been murdered. Her husband Jack finds her body in their apartment, rearranges the death scene, calls 911, and confesses to the crime. Jack knows that their daughter Paige was to have met her parents for dinner that night, so he is sure that Paige is guilty of killing her mother. Jack hires the inexperienced attorney, Mary DiNunzio. Mary may not be a veteran criminal lawyer, but she finds Jack’s story unbelievable and starts investigating Paige. Sixteen-year old Paige is a very successful model whose career has been managed by her mother. For all of those years Paige has put up with her mother’s abuse and now she has to tell her mother of her pregnancy. What follows, of course, is a plot full of twists, chase scenes, and several more murders.

This book was a disappointment to me. I know that just because an author makes it to a best seller list does not guarantee that I will like him or her, but I expected more. The characters in MOMENT OF TRUTH did not ring true to me; I wanted more depth, more growth. The basic plot was good and Scottoline is able to introduce humor in the spots that need to be lightened, but somehow this book felt rushed, as if the author’s mortgage was due and a deadline was fast approaching. I will read Lisa Scottoline again. Her collection of articles, Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog made me feel that I know her personally. Keeping that in mind, I will give her another chance.