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Rosato and Associates #4
Mistaken Identity
Another riveting courtroom thriller from the female John Grisham. Crack trial lawyer Bennie Rosato is called to the local prison to consult with Alice Connolly, a woman accused of committing cold-blooded murder and who wants Bennie to represent her at the trial. Bennie has no intention of taking the case, until she comes face to face with the incarcerated woman is a dead ringer for Bennie -- and claims to be her long-lost twin sister. Disbelieving but somehow convinced, Bennie takes on the case against her better judgement, and starts sniffing out the corruption and dangerous cover-up that lies at its centre. Mistaken Identity builds from a startling opening to breathless suspense, the kind only bestselling author Lisa Scottoline can deliver.
504 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
About the author
Lisa Scottoline
122 books14.5k followersLisa Scottoline is a #1 bestselling and Edgar award-winning author of 33 novels. Her books are book-club favorites, and Lisa and her daughter Francesca Serritella have hosted an annual Big Book Club Party for over a thousand readers at her Pennsylvania farm, for the past twelve years. Lisa has served as President of Mystery Writers of America, and her reviews of fiction and non-fiction have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Philadelphia Inquirer. She also writes a weekly column with her daughter for the Philadelphia Inquirer entitled Chick Wit, a witty take on life from a woman’s perspective, which have been collected in a bestselling series of humorous memoirs. Lisa graduated magna cum laude in three years from the University of Pennsylvania, with a B.A. in English, and cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she taught Justice and Fiction. Lisa has over 30 million copies of her books in print and is published in over 35 countries. She lives in the Philadelphia area with an array of disobedient pets and wouldn’t have it any other way.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 525 reviews
May 27, 2023
Continuing my binge of this series, I turned to the next novel by Lisa Scottoline. The characters and legal twists continue to impress as Scottoline prepares the reader for some great courtroom work. When Bennie Rosato is faced with a challenging case, she is doubly stressed that her client could be her twin sister, though she knows nothing of this. Still, Roasto will try her best to defend a client who professes to be innocent, pulling out all the stops and using her associates at the law firm. What follows is a tense and thoroughly captivating thriller that is sure to keep the reader hooked until they find out the truth, where all is finally revealed. Scottoline’s novels keep getting better and I cannot get enough of this series, full of twits and turns along the way.
Sharp Philadelphia attorney Bennie Rosato finds herself called to the local prison for a mysterious consult. Alice Connolly has been accused of murder and insists that Bennie be the one to defend her. Bennie is trying to find a way to decline, until Alice comes face to face with her. It’s like staring into a mirror, as Alice looks identical to Bennie and claims to be her lost-lost twin. While she is dubious, Bennie Rosato likes a challenge and begins investigating when she learns that there could be some police corruption involved.
As the case progresses, Bennie must try to help Alice, who is accused of murdering her partner, a former member of the police force, though there is something even more sinister going on. The deeper she digs, the more Bennie becomes a target, but she refuses to stand down. Working with her associates, Mary DiNunzio and Judy Carrier, Bennie must try to get to the truth before she is harmed or Alice’s innocence can no longer be supported by witnesses on the stand. As the courtroom drama ensues, there is little time for shenanigans, though Bennie does them so well. Using strong cross-examination and detailed evidence presentation, the truth will come to light. All the while, Bennie is trying to learn about her past, which remains shielded from her. After her mother passes, Bennie has no one who can help, or does she? Another winning novel by Lisa Scottoline, sure to impress those who have been following the series closely.
Lisa Scottoline shows her skills once more and keeps the reader in the middle fo the action. With a strong narrative and great characters, both of which develop throughout the story, there is little time to rest or catch one’s breath. The story progresses well and keeps the intensity high, as plot twists emerge to entertain and surprise the reader in equal measure. I have been impressed with each novel in the series to date and they keep getting better. I am shocked I did not begin reading them much sooner!
Kudos, Madam Scottoline, for keeping the calibre high.
Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
Sharp Philadelphia attorney Bennie Rosato finds herself called to the local prison for a mysterious consult. Alice Connolly has been accused of murder and insists that Bennie be the one to defend her. Bennie is trying to find a way to decline, until Alice comes face to face with her. It’s like staring into a mirror, as Alice looks identical to Bennie and claims to be her lost-lost twin. While she is dubious, Bennie Rosato likes a challenge and begins investigating when she learns that there could be some police corruption involved.
As the case progresses, Bennie must try to help Alice, who is accused of murdering her partner, a former member of the police force, though there is something even more sinister going on. The deeper she digs, the more Bennie becomes a target, but she refuses to stand down. Working with her associates, Mary DiNunzio and Judy Carrier, Bennie must try to get to the truth before she is harmed or Alice’s innocence can no longer be supported by witnesses on the stand. As the courtroom drama ensues, there is little time for shenanigans, though Bennie does them so well. Using strong cross-examination and detailed evidence presentation, the truth will come to light. All the while, Bennie is trying to learn about her past, which remains shielded from her. After her mother passes, Bennie has no one who can help, or does she? Another winning novel by Lisa Scottoline, sure to impress those who have been following the series closely.
Lisa Scottoline shows her skills once more and keeps the reader in the middle fo the action. With a strong narrative and great characters, both of which develop throughout the story, there is little time to rest or catch one’s breath. The story progresses well and keeps the intensity high, as plot twists emerge to entertain and surprise the reader in equal measure. I have been impressed with each novel in the series to date and they keep getting better. I am shocked I did not begin reading them much sooner!
Kudos, Madam Scottoline, for keeping the calibre high.
Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
April 8, 2014
I am really loving this series about the all female law firm of Rosato and Associates even though I did get started by reading the most current book and have now gone back to read the earlier stories. Each one features either a story about Bennie Rosato or Mary DiNunzio, lawyers in Philadelphia. Of course their associate Judy Carrier is in each book (Mary's best friend). I often find Mary to be an idiot and she gets tiresome with the Catholic guilt and her cowardice.
Bennie is content and happy fixing up a new home in an old rowhouse with her live in lover attorney Grady Wells and their sweet Golden Retriever Bear when she gets the shock of her life. She is asked to come to the prison to see a potential client- a woman named Alice Connolly who is charged with murdering her lover Anthony Della Porta. She is shocked to see that Alice is her identical twin. Alice has been in jail for a year for a murder she did not commit (though she does commit others) and the trial judge had assigned her to a lawyer from a ritzy firm who doesn't even specialize in criminal law, is a rookie, and has not bothered to even visit Alice nor even work up a case at all. Alice tells Bennie that their father- who neither girl had ever met- a man named William Winslow had begun visiting in her, told her she had a twin sister and that the sister was a great lawyer, and offered photos as evidence.
Alice is very creepy though she had been given up for adoption and had led a nice life with 2 parents in a stable home Bennie is rocked by this because she knew her father's name but her mom had lied and said he left her while she was pregnant while the truth was she left him, threw one of the twins away, and raised Bennie in poverty. The mother was mentally disturbed so Bennie had been more of the mother of the house.
Alice insists that boyfriend Anthony, a cop, had been killed by other cops and they are framing her. Soon Bennie realizes it is true when bizarre things begin to happen. What kind of bizarre things?
(1) The rookie lawyer the judge had assigned the case to (who doesn't even do criminal law) and his firm refuse to give up the case to Bennie despite the fact that Alice has the right to choose her lawyer. Bennie has to take it to court and even have Alice brought in to be allowed to represent her and the judge, for some odd reason, doesn't want Bennie to handle the case. (2) Bennie is suddenly followed by a young blond cop in a trans-am who is so vicious and criminal, he almost succeeds in murdering her. (3) Bennie's investigator Lou, a retired cop, runs into a nest of crooked cops who had been involved in drug selling with Anthony but other cops and witnesses are terrified to speak out. (4) Alice is almost killed in jail and has to kill her attacker. (5) In court, the crippled district attorney objects to every other word Bennie says and the judge strangely overrules all of her objections, mouths off to her, threatens her, and finally has her jailed in contempt. It is like they are in cahoots to see Alice convicted. There are many other things that happen that make Bennie, Lou, Judy and Mary realize that Alice killed no one but they are all in danger.
Bennie tries to confront her mother about her father, even showing her the photos Alice gave her of the twins with their Dad and a photo she found at William's house of him and the mom but then to everyone's surprise, she dies without speaking. She was mentally ill but not physically so so this is a mystery. The judge will not give Bennie an extension due to her mom dying and her having to do research the previous lawyers refused to do.
There are some hair-raising scenes in this exciting book. Wait until you see who really killed Anthony. It's a shock. Bennie and Alice take blood tests to check their DNA to see if they are really twins. Look for the results near the end of the book.There are a lot of thrills here and I recommend the book to readers who like exciting mysteries.
Bennie is content and happy fixing up a new home in an old rowhouse with her live in lover attorney Grady Wells and their sweet Golden Retriever Bear when she gets the shock of her life. She is asked to come to the prison to see a potential client- a woman named Alice Connolly who is charged with murdering her lover Anthony Della Porta. She is shocked to see that Alice is her identical twin. Alice has been in jail for a year for a murder she did not commit (though she does commit others) and the trial judge had assigned her to a lawyer from a ritzy firm who doesn't even specialize in criminal law, is a rookie, and has not bothered to even visit Alice nor even work up a case at all. Alice tells Bennie that their father- who neither girl had ever met- a man named William Winslow had begun visiting in her, told her she had a twin sister and that the sister was a great lawyer, and offered photos as evidence.
Alice is very creepy though she had been given up for adoption and had led a nice life with 2 parents in a stable home Bennie is rocked by this because she knew her father's name but her mom had lied and said he left her while she was pregnant while the truth was she left him, threw one of the twins away, and raised Bennie in poverty. The mother was mentally disturbed so Bennie had been more of the mother of the house.
Alice insists that boyfriend Anthony, a cop, had been killed by other cops and they are framing her. Soon Bennie realizes it is true when bizarre things begin to happen. What kind of bizarre things?
(1) The rookie lawyer the judge had assigned the case to (who doesn't even do criminal law) and his firm refuse to give up the case to Bennie despite the fact that Alice has the right to choose her lawyer. Bennie has to take it to court and even have Alice brought in to be allowed to represent her and the judge, for some odd reason, doesn't want Bennie to handle the case. (2) Bennie is suddenly followed by a young blond cop in a trans-am who is so vicious and criminal, he almost succeeds in murdering her. (3) Bennie's investigator Lou, a retired cop, runs into a nest of crooked cops who had been involved in drug selling with Anthony but other cops and witnesses are terrified to speak out. (4) Alice is almost killed in jail and has to kill her attacker. (5) In court, the crippled district attorney objects to every other word Bennie says and the judge strangely overrules all of her objections, mouths off to her, threatens her, and finally has her jailed in contempt. It is like they are in cahoots to see Alice convicted. There are many other things that happen that make Bennie, Lou, Judy and Mary realize that Alice killed no one but they are all in danger.
Bennie tries to confront her mother about her father, even showing her the photos Alice gave her of the twins with their Dad and a photo she found at William's house of him and the mom but then to everyone's surprise, she dies without speaking. She was mentally ill but not physically so so this is a mystery. The judge will not give Bennie an extension due to her mom dying and her having to do research the previous lawyers refused to do.
There are some hair-raising scenes in this exciting book. Wait until you see who really killed Anthony. It's a shock. Bennie and Alice take blood tests to check their DNA to see if they are really twins. Look for the results near the end of the book.There are a lot of thrills here and I recommend the book to readers who like exciting mysteries.
July 6, 2020
Another great book (and the audio edition is excellent -except for Mary's voice). The twist at the end was brilliant. The characterization was excellent. And the plot kept me highly engaged.
March 4, 2016
A lackluster offering. The only thing memorable was when someone drove a car up the courthouse steps. It was unintentionally funny. Sad mostly.
Only reason this is being reviewed is that I was reading this when we ruled the wastelands.
December 27, 2008
This is another of Lisa Scottoline's novels about Bennie Rosato and her all-woman law firm, and is a prequel of sorts to Dead Ringer, which I had already read, inasmuch as this is the book in which Bennie finds out that she has a twin sister--who happens to be coming up for trial on a murder case and wants to hire Bennie to represent her. Part of the issue is that Bennie is not all that sure that the woman in question, Alice Connolly, really is her sister, and another part is that Bennie becomes increasingly unsure about Alice's contention that she was not the one who shot her lover between the eyes with a 22-caliber pistol. But Bennie is fairly well convinced soon enough that there is something in Alice's contention that the whole thing is a Police Department conspiracy, which seems to have spread to the very reputable law-firm that had been representing Alice previously, and seemingly even to the very honorable judge who will be hearing the case. So Bennie bears down, as always, employing her young associates, Judy Currier and Mary Dinunzio, to help her track down the truth, solve the crime, and attack the whole city of Philadelphia, if necessary.
I continue to find flaws in Scottoline's books and characters; there is a key part of the murder evidence that never does get explained, and I cannot believe that women lawyers would really act the way these do (I keep comparing them to my eldest daughter, who is an attorney in Massachusetts, and they keep coming up very short in both smartness and sensibility). Despite that, however, Scottoline writes real page-turners, as witnessed by the fact that I was stupid enough to pick up this book in a partially-read condition the other night and found myself glued to the very hard kitchen chair for the next three hours, finishing the book as the sun was beginning to poke up over the next hill to the east.
I continue to find flaws in Scottoline's books and characters; there is a key part of the murder evidence that never does get explained, and I cannot believe that women lawyers would really act the way these do (I keep comparing them to my eldest daughter, who is an attorney in Massachusetts, and they keep coming up very short in both smartness and sensibility). Despite that, however, Scottoline writes real page-turners, as witnessed by the fact that I was stupid enough to pick up this book in a partially-read condition the other night and found myself glued to the very hard kitchen chair for the next three hours, finishing the book as the sun was beginning to poke up over the next hill to the east.
July 8, 2022
Number 4 in a lawyer series.... with a great twin twist!
February 7, 2011
The author is a lawyer, main character, Bennie, is a lawyer. She is cold and pretty unlikable. Too tough. This book is about her family, dying mother, missing father, twin sister she didn't know she had. Plot is a little hard to follow. Lots of vague references and very little detail. Bennie learns that family isn't about blood connections but about commitment, love, blah blah blah. Her real family is her boyfriend, her dog, and her staff.
October 31, 2018
I really enjoyed this book. Legal thrillers are probably my favorite anyway, but this particular one was great. I have loved all of Scottoline's books that I've read so far and I'm looking forward to reading the remaining books in this series.
The plot in this one was fast moving and there were several twists and turns. Could hardly quick reading when I got started. I will be moving on to "Moment of Truth" next.
The plot in this one was fast moving and there were several twists and turns. Could hardly quick reading when I got started. I will be moving on to "Moment of Truth" next.
April 29, 2024
Once jury selection began on Trump’s long awaited first criminal trial (finally!!!), this got me jonesing for a good legal thriller to read.
So I did some Google searches and found a pretty good list that included Presumed Innocent and The Firm, two of my favourites. Also included was Mistaken Identity.
I had never read this author before so I took this list to heart and bought it.
It’s only because it was on this list that I finished the thing, and I wish I hadn’t bothered because it got pretty stupid.
I should have taken a couple of glaring inconsistencies as red flags early on. For one, our lawyer protagonist is at home working on her case and her partner stands in her office door clad only in boxers suggesting they go to bed now. She declines, and he says okay and he has just made a pot of coffee for her, and goodnight.
That didn’t add up, and logistical errors like that make me lose faith in an author really quick.
But it was included in the seemingly great list! So I was suckered in.
So many things got silly and hard to buy into that I don’t have the time or energy to get into all of them.
Here’s one: the lawyer’s investigative ex-cop has a clandestine meeting with an informant and there have already been murders and murder attempts, and the lawyer insists she comes. Bad enough, but her associate also wants to come and BRING HER PARENTS ALONG.
There were 150 pages left before I decided to just race through the rest of it, reading dialogue only.
Oh, and that’s another thing. Interspersed through most of the dialogue were narratives of what the lawyer was thinking, what questions she had, which would already have occurred to any reader with a reasonable IQ. It got exhausting.
Suffice it to say that this was a disappointment given the company in this so-called list of great legal thrillers, which I will be deleting once I’m done with this review.
For my next attempt I will ignore the lists and read Scott Turow again.
So I did some Google searches and found a pretty good list that included Presumed Innocent and The Firm, two of my favourites. Also included was Mistaken Identity.
I had never read this author before so I took this list to heart and bought it.
It’s only because it was on this list that I finished the thing, and I wish I hadn’t bothered because it got pretty stupid.
I should have taken a couple of glaring inconsistencies as red flags early on. For one, our lawyer protagonist is at home working on her case and her partner stands in her office door clad only in boxers suggesting they go to bed now. She declines, and he says okay and he has just made a pot of coffee for her, and goodnight.
That didn’t add up, and logistical errors like that make me lose faith in an author really quick.
But it was included in the seemingly great list! So I was suckered in.
So many things got silly and hard to buy into that I don’t have the time or energy to get into all of them.
Here’s one: the lawyer’s investigative ex-cop has a clandestine meeting with an informant and there have already been murders and murder attempts, and the lawyer insists she comes. Bad enough, but her associate also wants to come and BRING HER PARENTS ALONG.
There were 150 pages left before I decided to just race through the rest of it, reading dialogue only.
Oh, and that’s another thing. Interspersed through most of the dialogue were narratives of what the lawyer was thinking, what questions she had, which would already have occurred to any reader with a reasonable IQ. It got exhausting.
Suffice it to say that this was a disappointment given the company in this so-called list of great legal thrillers, which I will be deleting once I’m done with this review.
For my next attempt I will ignore the lists and read Scott Turow again.
June 8, 2023
Enjoyable summer read
August 12, 2024
Listened to this on Audible
January 24, 2008
Lisa Scottoline, Mistaken Identity (Harper, 1999)
Three pages into Lisa Scottoline's sixth novel, Mistaken Identity, I wasn't sure I was going to make it to page ten. Scottoline opens the novel with her protagonist, Bennie Rosato, walking into the county prison where her newest client is in residence, mentally rattling off statistics that we've all heard a million times, most of which are, to say the least, on shaky ground as far as their worth is concerned. It is a horrible opening; thankfully, it is also short. The book improves tremedously on page four, and stays improved for the next five hundred plus pages.
Rosato's newest client is Alice Connolly, who greets her with the rather surprising revelation that Connolly is Rosato's twin, despite that the two have never met before. The twin thing certainly throws a few extra monkeywrenches into the works of the normal courtroom/detective story, not that it needed any. Connolly is accused of killing her live-in boyfriend, a Philadelphia police officer, and makes nasty hints that other cops are framing her. The first half of the book alternates between Rosato trying to figure out if there really is a conspiracy and trying to figure out whether Connolly actually killed her boyfriend, as the two things aren't necessarily mutually exclusive. This section is standard mystery fare; if you're a fan of the genre, it'll work for you.
Where Scottoline shines is once the case gets to court. When you reach page 300 and they're getting ready for trial, you start wondering how Scottoline is going to fill the second half of the book. She does so brilliantly, better even than many nonfiction true crime books cover trials. In fact, the only book I can think of that goes into this much detail of the trial, specifically the dialogue, is Bataille's The Trial of Gilles de Rais (in which the second half of the book is simply unexpurgated trial transcripts). In both Bataille's work of nonfiction and Scottoline's novel, we are given solid evidence that cutting out the supposedly extraneous material of a trial, a rather common method of speeding up books/movies/TV shows, may be good for cutting time, but that all the other stuff is going to be just as gripping to the devoted reader of courtroom-procedure books. Scottoline takes us, line by line, through a cross-examination instead of summarizing. It's wonderful. Would that more courtroom-drama authors did such things. Maybe, as Scottoline gains the audience she deserves, it'll catch on.
The beginning of the book is enough to make me drop it a notch, but still a highly recommended read. *** 1/2
Three pages into Lisa Scottoline's sixth novel, Mistaken Identity, I wasn't sure I was going to make it to page ten. Scottoline opens the novel with her protagonist, Bennie Rosato, walking into the county prison where her newest client is in residence, mentally rattling off statistics that we've all heard a million times, most of which are, to say the least, on shaky ground as far as their worth is concerned. It is a horrible opening; thankfully, it is also short. The book improves tremedously on page four, and stays improved for the next five hundred plus pages.
Rosato's newest client is Alice Connolly, who greets her with the rather surprising revelation that Connolly is Rosato's twin, despite that the two have never met before. The twin thing certainly throws a few extra monkeywrenches into the works of the normal courtroom/detective story, not that it needed any. Connolly is accused of killing her live-in boyfriend, a Philadelphia police officer, and makes nasty hints that other cops are framing her. The first half of the book alternates between Rosato trying to figure out if there really is a conspiracy and trying to figure out whether Connolly actually killed her boyfriend, as the two things aren't necessarily mutually exclusive. This section is standard mystery fare; if you're a fan of the genre, it'll work for you.
Where Scottoline shines is once the case gets to court. When you reach page 300 and they're getting ready for trial, you start wondering how Scottoline is going to fill the second half of the book. She does so brilliantly, better even than many nonfiction true crime books cover trials. In fact, the only book I can think of that goes into this much detail of the trial, specifically the dialogue, is Bataille's The Trial of Gilles de Rais (in which the second half of the book is simply unexpurgated trial transcripts). In both Bataille's work of nonfiction and Scottoline's novel, we are given solid evidence that cutting out the supposedly extraneous material of a trial, a rather common method of speeding up books/movies/TV shows, may be good for cutting time, but that all the other stuff is going to be just as gripping to the devoted reader of courtroom-procedure books. Scottoline takes us, line by line, through a cross-examination instead of summarizing. It's wonderful. Would that more courtroom-drama authors did such things. Maybe, as Scottoline gains the audience she deserves, it'll catch on.
The beginning of the book is enough to make me drop it a notch, but still a highly recommended read. *** 1/2
July 12, 2017
Scottoline's books are getting stronger as I go along! The reader is reunited with Bennie, Judy and Mary, and a few other new characters (Lou!) join in on the fun.
Like her other books, there are lots of twists and turns, including possible twins, police corruption, newly discovered fathers, and grizzly deaths.
Like her other books, there are lots of twists and turns, including possible twins, police corruption, newly discovered fathers, and grizzly deaths.
October 28, 2017
I couldn't finish this. The people of color in the book were written like stereotypes and it started to feel racist.
November 29, 2020
You know, working in the legal field for 16 years, and really I must go to criminal, it's much more exciting ;)
September 29, 2018
Personal Response:
Mistaken Identity was not at all as I had expected it to be from reading the summary on the back cover, and I am still mostly undecided as to if I enjoyed it or not. It was centered around a female main character, something not commonly found in books I read, and that put a sort of twist on it for me. However, the plot wasn't revolving around a girl's love thoughts, and cheesy things like that that commonly are the main story in that genre of books, so it was very similar to how I am used to books going. Other factors influenced my reaction to the book as well, such as how I felt the plot was to predictable, and many of the characters remained flat throughout the book.
Plot Summary:
Characterization:
The character that stood out to me the most in Mistaken Identity was Bennie Rosato. When Alice Connolly first told her that they were twins, Bennie wouldn't believe it and wanted nothing to do with Connolly. She didn't trust Connolly, since inmates would often try to convince lawyers that they are related or are friends to try and get their help through pity. As the story progressed, however, Rosato began trusting against her instinct that Connolly was being truthful. She convinced herself even more than Connolly had hoped that they were in fact twins. Overall in the book, her character changed from not trusting Connolly to believing her without a doubt, seemingly without much reasoning.
Recommendation:
This book was enjoyable for me, but I think that it is a good read for anyone over the age of 15. I think men and women would both enjoy reading and becoming engrossed in this book. Maturity is definitely needed to both understand and enjoy reading because of language and graphic sections. This book took me a while to read, but if I got into it, I found it very hard to put down, and I think people who enjoy reading mystery and realistic fiction would find similar results.
Mistaken Identity was not at all as I had expected it to be from reading the summary on the back cover, and I am still mostly undecided as to if I enjoyed it or not. It was centered around a female main character, something not commonly found in books I read, and that put a sort of twist on it for me. However, the plot wasn't revolving around a girl's love thoughts, and cheesy things like that that commonly are the main story in that genre of books, so it was very similar to how I am used to books going. Other factors influenced my reaction to the book as well, such as how I felt the plot was to predictable, and many of the characters remained flat throughout the book.
Plot Summary:
Characterization:
The character that stood out to me the most in Mistaken Identity was Bennie Rosato. When Alice Connolly first told her that they were twins, Bennie wouldn't believe it and wanted nothing to do with Connolly. She didn't trust Connolly, since inmates would often try to convince lawyers that they are related or are friends to try and get their help through pity. As the story progressed, however, Rosato began trusting against her instinct that Connolly was being truthful. She convinced herself even more than Connolly had hoped that they were in fact twins. Overall in the book, her character changed from not trusting Connolly to believing her without a doubt, seemingly without much reasoning.
Recommendation:
This book was enjoyable for me, but I think that it is a good read for anyone over the age of 15. I think men and women would both enjoy reading and becoming engrossed in this book. Maturity is definitely needed to both understand and enjoy reading because of language and graphic sections. This book took me a while to read, but if I got into it, I found it very hard to put down, and I think people who enjoy reading mystery and realistic fiction would find similar results.
July 17, 2020
PROTAGONIST: Bennie Rosato, defense attorney
SERIES: #4
RATING: 3.0
WHY: Although Bennie (Benedetta) has turned from a criminal attorney into an activist against police brutality, she resumes her former career when she meets Alice Connolly, accused of murdering a boxing manager. Connolly purports that Bennie is her identical twin sister. Bennie feels compelled to take the case, believing that Alice is innocent. The book wasn't very satisfying to me. There is silly stuff like Bennie changing her appearance to mirror Connolly's as a trial strategy - really? Bennie's courtroom behavior was at times way over the line, especially during the closing arguments; and her treatment of her live-in boyfriend wasn't loving at all.
SERIES: #4
RATING: 3.0
WHY: Although Bennie (Benedetta) has turned from a criminal attorney into an activist against police brutality, she resumes her former career when she meets Alice Connolly, accused of murdering a boxing manager. Connolly purports that Bennie is her identical twin sister. Bennie feels compelled to take the case, believing that Alice is innocent. The book wasn't very satisfying to me. There is silly stuff like Bennie changing her appearance to mirror Connolly's as a trial strategy - really? Bennie's courtroom behavior was at times way over the line, especially during the closing arguments; and her treatment of her live-in boyfriend wasn't loving at all.
October 8, 2021
This was a really good book. I had not read this series before but know the author well from her stand alone books.
A lawyer has to defend her identical twin sister in a murder trial. The catch is that she had no clue she had a twin. Great drama and a good example of all is not always happy ever after.
A lawyer has to defend her identical twin sister in a murder trial. The catch is that she had no clue she had a twin. Great drama and a good example of all is not always happy ever after.
May 23, 2021
I enjoyed this book. It wasn’t my favorite but I still enjoyed it. I wish Alice had stayed and things could have ended differently. I didn’t like who ended up being the murderer. Should have been left how it was in theory.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 23, 2022
3-1/2 stars
Fourth in the Rosato and Associates series. Bennie is requested as an attorney by a prison inmate, Alice Connolly. Connolly looks enough like Bennie to be her twin and weaves a story in which that may just be a possibility. But will Bennie take her case?
Love these characters. Rosato, DiNunzio, Carrier, Marshall, Lou, Vida and Matty feel like people I’ve known for years. The legal cases are interesting, and this story even comes with a high speed chase.
Fourth in the Rosato and Associates series. Bennie is requested as an attorney by a prison inmate, Alice Connolly. Connolly looks enough like Bennie to be her twin and weaves a story in which that may just be a possibility. But will Bennie take her case?
Love these characters. Rosato, DiNunzio, Carrier, Marshall, Lou, Vida and Matty feel like people I’ve known for years. The legal cases are interesting, and this story even comes with a high speed chase.
October 19, 2018
The author clearly didn't research proper police procedure. Plausible story but with so many inaccurate facts made it hard to finish.
March 26, 2020
The dialogue can be stilted, but the plot was a good one.
April 30, 2020
Whew! The twists and turns kept me dizzy right up to the last page! I love the characters and the stories in this series so much! I highly recommend!
February 5, 2021
Alice Connelly...what a character. Intriguing series with the all female law firm.
January 2, 2022
Without a down moment Scottoline takes us through a Capital murder trial. The story is filled with police misconduct and attempted murders. Exciting.
April 29, 2022
She got me! I did not see the twist coming! Glad to be surprised.
June 20, 2021
This is the third book in the series that I’ve read. I liked the idea that she discovers she has a twin who she has to defend ina murder trial. Enjoyed the character of Mary Denunzio, a fearful new lawyer in her firm. Some of the book was entertaining, but it was slow.
March 30, 2021
Fast-paced fun
Gripping storytelling...the suspense is immediate and never lets up. Loved the characters—even the minor ones (with the exception of the main character’s boyfriend who gets short shrift). The ending has a great twist that is both creepy and satisfying!
Gripping storytelling...the suspense is immediate and never lets up. Loved the characters—even the minor ones (with the exception of the main character’s boyfriend who gets short shrift). The ending has a great twist that is both creepy and satisfying!
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