Rating: 
Summary: Lisa has done it again --- Another Blockbuster!!
Review: "Mistaken Identity" is Lisa Scottoline's sixth and best book yet. This former Edgar Award winner gets better with every novel. "Mistaken Identity" and "Rough Justice", her previous novel, bring back previous heroines -- Bennie Rosato, Mary DiNunzio, and Judy Carrier. It is most enjoyable to see the character of each of these three lawyers continue to develop.In "Mistaken Identity", Lisa makes excellent use of her legal background to depict courtroom scenes as only a lawyer could. The plot itself is unique in that Bennie finds herself defending a prisoner, Alice Connolly, who claims to be Bennie's twin. Although the book is almost 500 pages, it is an extremely fast read. As in all of her novels, the suspense is non-stop, from beginning to end. In her "Acknowledgements", Lisa reveals that she did not discover until she was in her thirties that she had a half-sister. So, the book has a special meaning for her. She has meticulously researched the subject of twins and provides the reader with five references for additional information. Lisa has a marvelous website . Months ago, readers were given an opportunity to edit the first chapter of "Mistaken Identity". This additional dimension to Lisa's creativity further bonds the reader to an outstanding author.
Rating:
Summary: Lisa has done it again --- Another Blockbuster!!
Review: "Mistaken Identity" is Lisa Scottoline's sixth and best book yet. This former Edgar Award winner gets better with every novel. "Mistaken Identity" and "Rough Justice", her previous novel, bring back previous heroines -- Bennie Rosato, Mary DiNunzio, and Judy Carrier. It is most enjoyable to see the character of each of these three lawyers continue to develop. In "Mistaken Identity", Lisa makes excellent use of her legal background to depict courtroom scenes as only a lawyer could. The plot itself is unique in that Bennie finds herself defending a prisoner, Alice Connolly, who claims to be Bennie's twin. Although the book is almost 500 pages, it is an extremely fast read. As in all of her novels, the suspense is non-stop, from beginning to end. In her "Acknowledgements", Lisa reveals that she did not discover until she was in her thirties that she had a half-sister. So, the book has a special meaning for her. She has meticulously researched the subject of twins and provides the reader with five references for additional information. Lisa has a marvelous website . Months ago, readers were given an opportunity to edit the first chapter of "Mistaken Identity". This additional dimension to Lisa's creativity further bonds the reader to an outstanding author.
Rating: 
Summary: Not her usual fare....she's better than this!
Review: I've read most of Scottoline's books and liked them. They're not Grisham or Turow, but they're good for a couple of nights' reading. This particular offering, however, never pulled me into the story, nor did I for one minute believe that Bennie Rosato -- tough girl that she is -- would fall for such a con artist as her "twin" sister...the entire thing just didn't ring true. And the stereotypes Scottoline used are so tired and overdone. I've worked for lawyers and am pretty sure that no judge worth his robes would deny a continuance after an attorney's parent died, so that part didn't work for me either. I think Scottoline ought to go back to what works for her rather than trying to turn out a book every 6 months or so. Her writing, timing, plot development and characterizations are suffering.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but not outstanding.
Review: Based on the chronology of the reviews for this book, it appears that the early conventional wisdom was that it was a 5-star book while the more recent conventional wisdom is that it is something less. I am in the latter category. This was the first book I have read by this author, and I must admit I was somewhat surprised by the effusive praise that her work has received, particularly if, as some of her fans have said, this Philadelphia travelogue is her very best work. It was enjoyable enough to read, but for me it had an artificial, connect-the-dots, or paint-by-numbers, feel to it. I can picture the author preparing an exhaustive outline, carefully playing out the different strands of the plot, and then (barely) putting some flesh on the bones of the outline. In fact, I was surprised by those below who felt that there was not enough plot, because I felt that perhaps the book suffered from the opposite problem: too much plot. That is why it seemed to me as if the author wrote a 500-page book out of a 400-page outline: when she wasn't slavishly moving the plot along (as per the outline), she had little left to say. It also seemed as if every hunch of each of the "heroes" is right on the money, and every lead followed hits paydirt. It also seemed that Bennie's boyfriend was just a bit too perfect, particularly given that Bennie more or less ignore him the entire time. Could I have written a book this "good"? No. But by the same token, it didn't seem to me to have the same professional feel that I found in works by Grisham and Turow and Richard North Patterson.
Rating:
Summary: The Accused is Her Dead Ringer
Review: Bennie (Benita) Rosato has managed to get herself into hot water with the Philadelphia Police Department on more than one occasion. In fact you might say the cops hate her. Could it be because she almost always wins in court and that she usually takes on police misconduct cases? So when someone accused of killing a cop wants to change attorneys at the last minute, a switch to Bennie might seem to make good sense. However when Alice Connolly, accused of killing police detective Anthony Della Porta, declares that her current counsel is incompetent a week before she is to go on trial and says she wants Bennie to defend her, she's apparently looking for something more than competent counsel. Bennie goes to the prison to interview Alice, but she's not prepared for what she finds. Alice proclaims her innocence, or course, and says she was framed by the police, but what knocks Bennie for a loop is the fact that Alice looks like a prettier, albeit streetwise, version of herself. She claims to be Bennie's twin and has some strong evidence to prove it, however Bennie isn't convinced. However there's one person who could prove it one way or another, and that's Bennie's mother, but unfortunately she's not much help, given her mental illness. So Bennie, with a week's notice, has to decide whether she's going to save her self-professed twin from the screwed up defence she's been getting so far. It's her sister (or is it?) after all, so there's a lot of interesting tactics bandied about to try and save Alice from her appointment with the needle, helped along by the biased rulings and demeanor of the judge. Is there a conspiracy afoot? Was the deceased detective involved in drug dealing? Can Bennie put the personal aspects of the case aside and be the calm and cool lawyer she must be? When you go into a courtroom in one of Ms. Scottoline's books, it's like you're both observer and participant, prosecutor and counsel for the defense. It also doesn't hurt any that Scottoline can draw you into her characters and make you care about them with just a few words, that she paints scenes on her pages so real, you feel like you're there. Reviewed by Leeann Douglass
Rating:
Summary: A good read
Review: Bennie has been better!! But then, a bad Bennie is worth a thousand lesser characters. Scottoline's writing is, as always, superb and she keeps the reader involved in the story. However, the plot line meanders somewhat and the interest flags toward the middle of the book. The ending is almost too pat, but you tend to overlook that as you race to the finish. All in all a satisfying Scottoline effort, if not the best. http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/tiannei/
Rating:
Summary: Legal thriller with lots of legal stuff and lots of thrills.
Review: Bennie Rosatto's all female law firm is getting more and more interesting with each book. Bennie is tough but feminine, and is funny, too. The plot rocks right out of the box, the dialog is right on, and the characters do the right things and get, in the twisted logic of lawyers, a good result. The book has all kinds of local stuff about Philadelphia so that even someone like me who's only been there as a tourist recognizes places. That gives the background a kind of recognition factor that adds to the enjoyment.
Rating:
Summary: Not up to Lisa Scottalina's usual suspense
Review: Book was good, however too long and characters became confusing. This is a book you can lay down where others were page turners. Story is good but could be condensed to make it more readable.
Rating:
Summary: Great book - kept me up all night!
Review: Don't miss this book if you enjoy a good, fast-paced read with a legal bent to it. The review from Kirkus Associates does a much better job of describing the book than I can, so I'll leave that to them. Had never read any of Lisa Scottoline's novels before, but after finishing MISTAKEN IDENTITY, I immediately ordered her previous novel, ROUGH JUSTICE. Ms. Scottoline's characters are real, and it doesn't take long to realize that she writes from personal experience and observation. She has been described as the " female John Grisham," but that description doesn't do her justice. Like Grisham, her past legal experience has paid off with her ability to create some very believable characters. Lisa also has an interesting Web site at http://www.scottoline.com. and it's worth the visit to learn a bit more about the author. You'l' find a message board and online reviews there as well. That's where I found out that MISTAKEN IDENTY has evidently been optioned for development into a television series. Looking forward to reading all of her previous novels.
Rating:
Summary: SUPER - Don't Miss It!
Review: Don't wait another minute. Just get your hands on this book and read it. But make sure you don't have anything important to do when you start, because you won't be able to put it down.
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