Final Appeal

Loved the story. It never got boring or slow. I would recommend the book to anyone,even if they don't usually read who done it books. It made you smile and think . All the characters were interesting.

While I've read other books by this author that I liked, this one really wasn't up to par. I thought the whole judicial corruption plot was weak and the whole story didn't hold much substance. I didn't find the ending to be very believable and realistic either.

The new book Accused was an intense story and you wanted to keep reading to find out what happened next. At the same time the family scenes kept the story warm and interesting as well as funny. I loved the wedding dress chapter.

This is a review of the book Accused.

I have repeatedly expressed a distaste for reviewing books on a "demand" basis.
If I want to review them, I am capable of doing so without being forced to.
Therefore, I respectfully decline to review this one.

It was a fun read. Somehow, murder is not very funny and cuteness doesn't make it. If you want funny in this genre, I would recommend anything by David Rosenfelt. It doesn't mean I wouldn't read other books by Ms. Scottoline in the future, but not right now for sure.

FINAL APPEAL is early Lisa Scottoline, and while enjoyed it very much, there is something in the feel of it that is less intense, less exciting than her more recent books. Shows the author has grown over the years. But this is a good read. The heroine, Philadelphia attorney Grace Rossi, is complex, with no husband, a child, a missing father (who shows up in story and complicates Grace's emotional reality), a hovering but difficult mother, and an illicit night with her boss--on a desk top--that seems to promise something but ends in his death. Grace is told it is suicide, but having spent the night with him, she doesn't believe it, calls it murder, and sets about to solve the crime herself. Well, with a little help from Shake and Bake, an FBI agent undercover as a homeless man. Many twists and turns, threats, dead-end leads, and a delightful if giant dog, Bernice, left behind by the late Chief Judge, Armen Gregorian, and rescued by Grace. Scottoline's story has charm and humanity, as well as the requisite murder to be solved.

If Steve Martini, Scott Turow, or John Grisham, wrote from a feminine perspective this is the subject matter they would cover.

Grace Rossi, a Philadelphia lawyer, works for federal appeals Judge Armen Gregorian. When he's found dead, apparently a suicide, Grace decides to investigate, as she believes it might be murder. Its incomprehensible to Ms. Rossi that the Judge would end his life so abruptly after they had started an affair the previous evening. The plot follows Grace's investigations, and the final resolution of the Judge's death.

Put simply, this is not one of Scottoline's best works. The plot starts slowly and initially is a bit hard to follow. Scottoline's political biases are "front and center". This is not necessarily a bad thing, but when all the "good folks" are on one side of the political line and all the "bad folks" on the other, it's not hard to predict the final outcome. The description of her brief liaison with Judge Gregorian is unrealistic, as are some of the other plot devices used here. Although the story picks up considerably after a weak opening, the final resolution of the key mysteries is rather weak and may be predicable to many readers.

None-the-less Scottoline is an outstanding writer, knowledgeable about the legal system, easy to read, and not demanding of her readers. In typical Scottoline style, the key characters are not too numerous. Although this book won an Edgar for the author, it's clearly not one of her best works. If you're new to Scottoline, you may want to start with one of her later books.

One final note if you select to read this work, the Impress edition's well-chosen font and layout probably make it the best choice.

First of all, I must confess that I'm a huge Lisa Scottoline fan. I haven't read all her books in order which is why I'm reading her second book that she wrote way after I've read a lot of the others. I was really hooked into this book in the first 50 pages or so. You meet the main character of the book, Grace Rossi as part time employee of the Chief Justice of Appelate Court. She is a mother of a young child and a lawyer. She falls for her boss and then while looking at deciding a death penalty case dies. Is it suicide or is it murder? I really got into the nuts and bolts of the cases and the interaction between Grace and her co-workers. I feel this is Lisa Scottoline's best quality in her writing. She truly makes you feel and care about her characters.

However the last 50 pages were kinda a letdown for me. Ms. Scottoline does a very good job at getting you to believe it is one way and then turns it. The twist didn't really make a lot of sense though. I felt it was very rushed and not believable. I hated the Shake and Bake Character and found him to be the most unrealistic character that Ms. Scottoline has written in the books I've read. He didn't help the storyline out a lot. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a quick legal suspense novel. It's a quick and easy read.

This book has an explosive beginning with lawyer Grace Rossi being seduced by Chief Judge Armen Gregorian in his office at around 4am. They were working overtime in more ways than one. Yes, they are both adults and past the age of consent but this is a professional relationship between a senior elderly judge and a young lawyer. Is he exploiting her, does he love her, does she love him? So many questions, not just for love struck Grace, but for the reader.
Where will the story go from here? Well, by the time Grace has gone home to bed and woken up a few hours later Gregorian has been found dead with a single bullet in his brain. To everyone but Grace this is suicide. To Grace it is clearly murder. She knows that no one can declare one's love, make love and commit suicide within an hour. However Grace is unable to argue her case to anyone as the evidence for murder seems convincing and after all, Armen is "happily" married to his high profile wife currently fighting for election to political office in the state.
Lisa Scottoline's challenge now is to hold the reader's attention for the final ninety percent of the book. Unfortunately she fails sadly and the major plot is pushed into the background by issues such as Grace's mother, Grace's long vanished father, the personal relationship difficulties of her daughter and the introduction of Gregorian's dog Beatrice who Grace adopts as a link to her late lover. There is little of Scottoline's usual story line where the lady lawyer turns cop under the pressure of perceived personal threat from the unknown. No great threat is presented in this story and consequently the reader has little fear for the heroine's well being. Grace's own belief that Armen was murdered does provide the loose thread for the rest of the story which slowly evolves in between miscellaneous family relationship issues. The major interest line was not maintained and the tale drifted along to a not unexpected conclusion with a confusing cast of several highly unbelievable characters introduced along the way.
This story was a few notches below Scottoline's best and was a frustrating read after the imaginative and wonderful start to the story. In summary then: a brilliant beginning with mouth-watering prospects but a poor ending that couldn't match the expectation.

Doesn't it just figure? I find a Scottoline that I like pretty well, and it's one her fans in general dislike.

Grace Rossi is a lawyer and a single mother, working as an assistant to a judge she's attracted to. It seems the attraction is mutual, and he asks for her help on a death sentence appeal, praising her abilities. Then one night they're working late and act on their attraction.

The next morning, the judge is found dead, and his death is ruled a suicide. Grace is understandably reluctant to believe that, and so she begins investigating on her own, and soon finds herself in over her head.

She's assisted by a variety of characters, including an office manager with a big secret, and a deep-undercover FBI agent. The suspects are similarly varied.

Mostly, it's just an entertaining, twisty whodunit. I didn't quite believe the romance between Grace and the judge, but that was a fairly minor point, and more of a plot device to give her a reason to pursue the case in the face of danger and objections.

Final Appeal was the first Lisa Scottoline book that I read. I have to agree with some of the other reviewers here. At least half of this book was senseless chatter, and the novel did not seem to flow smoothly. But because the other half of the time, the novel did seem to flow smoothly, I plugged away and finished the book. I didn't like the first-person, present-tense type of writing found in this book, but this has not been encountered in any of Lisa's other books that I've read so far.
Since I had bought five other Scottoline paperbacks recently, I decided to keep reading. And I'm glad I did! I have really enjoyed reading her other books so far. They are 'unputdownable-type' of books, and I'll continue to buy her books. The stories flow smoothly in Legal Tender, Moment Of Truth, Mistaken Identity, and Running From The Law, without the needless chatter found in Final Appeal. I'll be starting The Vendatta Defense today and expect that I'll not want to put it down until I finish it later today.
I still need to buy Everywhere That Mary Went, Rough Justice, and Courting Trouble. I've read all of John Grisham's books and have to say that Lisa Scottoline is now one of my favorite top-five authors, along with John Grisham.

I found this book entertaining to read, although the beginning was a little confusing. I just went back to read the first paragraph and it still doesn't really make sense to me - but after I got through the first chapter I was hooked. I didn't rate it a 4 because the author skipped ahead of herself, leaving what I felt was important details behind. Perhaps that was her intention and in a way it was refreshing because you couldn't get bogged down by details. The characters weren't terribly believable, yet they were likeable.

This is an easy read, so if you want something to just take your mind of the mundane of life, I would recommend you give this book a try.

I liked it enough to give another one of her books a try.

I've read three other Scottoline books and liked all better than this. Of course, this was written when she was a fledgling novelist, so she's learned much from good editors over the years. In this book, she writes in first person, which I found limiting. Supporting characters did not ring true at all. Also, her political views determine the course of the plot. This is a very bad mistake, I believe. All of the more conservative types are villians, all of the liberals are heroes. Identity of killer is predictable for that reason alone, and it's not a good enough reason. One wonders why this particular book won an Edgar Award.
In her later books, like Legal Tender and Mistaken Identity, I give Scottoline an A for plotting and an A+ for pacing. They're written in third person and her quirky characters are all interesting if not totally believable. But the books move so fast, you go with the flow anyway.

I read this book in record time! I LOVE Lisa Scottoline's books! Families mean so much to her. This story weaved family throughout without interfering with the main plot. Justice is not without corruption! I did not come even close to guessing the bad guy in this one!

After reading and enjoying "Everywhere That Mary Went," Lisa Scottoline's first mystery novel, I was disappointed in this effort. Although the main character is sufficiently developed and the story will be of interest to those familiar with Philadelphia, the plot itself -- the cornerstone of any mystery novel -- is fair at best. The various clues seem contrived. There are fewer of the clever observations which permeated "Mary". Worst of all, the novel lacks the suspense which mystery readers crave: "whodunit" is reasonably predictable, and for obvious reasons.

I am surprised that this novel won an Edgar. It held my interest, but is nowhere near the novels of, say, Michael Connelly. It is a nice, quick beach read, but you can find many better novels in this genre.

This is the first of Lisa Scottoline's books I have read, recommended to me by a friend. I found it kind of funny at times, and certainly well written, yet not at all spellbinding. As legal thrillers go, it leaves a lot to be desired. I didn't feel a whole lot of suspense and drama going on, and this may have been because of this author's lighthearted style of writing. I'm not sure that I would race right out to buy another of her books, but would perhaps read one if there wasn't much else available. This book is a good time passer, and will keep you interested enough to erase a few minutes of your life here and there, but if it's suspense and legal thrill you want, I'd stick with John Grisham.

I have read several of Scottoline's books and always enjoyed them. This one, however, did not hold my attention, did not seem as well written and after a short time I abandoned the book. The writing did not seem the same quality as past books by this author, but perhaps I gave up too soon. I have other books on my reading list and so I moved on to another.

This was a disappointment and not at all what I expected from a book that won an Edgar. If the soap opera dialog and interaction between the protagonist (Grace Rossi) and her daughter, mother, father, exhusband, best friend were eliminated there would be a wonderfully compact legal whodoneit. The characters involved in the legal action are believable, the plot interesting and is nicely resolved. This is not the only award winner for Lisa Scottoline, so I am tempted to try another, hoping for less soap and more thrills.

If you are from Philadelphia, you will like the book. If you like a fast read, in between the "good" books, you will like this book. If you want something to read on the beach, so when you fall asleep and wake up, you will not have to flip back to find where you are, you will like this book. This is the first book I have read by Ms. Scottoline. I will give her other books a shot. Read this one in paperback and enjoy. It is worth the price.

I learned long ago to skim through the the store reader reviews before I invest a weekend ( or a long rainy afternoon ) in an unknown ( to me ) author. But since my wife brought a paperback copy of "Final Appeal" home, and it WAS cold and raining outside, I took a chance. I now know that I should have walked over to the local library instead and started with one of Scottoline's later ( and presumed much, much better ) offerings. I suggest you do the same; pass this one by and get one of her later mysteries.

Great read. Scottoline 's writing only improves. Her characters are quite believable and some so delightful you can't help loving them. Although the story is fiction, the characters must have a model in reality, particularly little Maddie. Totally enjoyable.

This was a good read. Reading this was time well spent, though it is short of my top reads by a bit. I felt like there were a few "gaps" where things did not flow effortlessly, but an overall good read.

Mary is a lawyer trying to make it to the top, but there is only three spots open. At the same time she feels someone is trying to kill her. The author leads you to belive that it might be this person or some else right up to the end! i kept wanting to finish the book to find out who is one. The part I didn't like was, how the author left it open at the end for the next book.

It is easy to see why Final Appeal won the Edgar Allen Poe award! It's pace is swift, the plot line totally believable and Ms. Scottoline's characters are so real you speculate about them long after you finish this delightful novel. One can only hope Grace Rossi appears in another Scottoline novel soon!

Having been recommended "Mistaken Identity" which turned out to be a great book. I thought I give her other book a chance so I came accross "Final Appeal". This really disappointed me and left me wondering if this was the same author who wrote "Mistaken Identity". Final Appeal was a major letdown and not up to Scottoline's standard.

Lisa Scottoline does a fine job of keeping the story fast-paced and interesting! I enjoyed the personal attributes that she gave her secondary characters and the moxy of the lead character. It's always nice to see a capable female taking a lead role. It is a good book to curl up with on a rainy evening, and I'd reccomend it for it's sheer entertainment value.

I only recommend this one to completists like myself who compulsively insist on reading an author's full body of work. Final Appeal is my least favorite by Scottoline, but it's only her sophomore effort and from here it keeps on improving.