Sleight of Hand
Summary:
Private investigator Dana Cutler must take down a cunning psychopath before he can pull off the perfect crime, in Sleight of Hand, a novel of suspense from Phillip Margolin, New York Times bestselling author of Capitol Murder and Supreme Justice.
Charles Benedict – charismatic criminal defense lawyer, amateur illusionist, and professional hit man – has performed his greatest sleight of hand yet: framing a millionaire for the murder of his much younger wife.
When Horace Blair married Carrie, the prosecutor in his DUI trial, he made her sign a prenuptial agreement guaranteeing her twenty million dollars if she remained faithful for the first ten years of marriage. Just one week before their tenth anniversary, Carrie disappears, and Horace is charged with her murder. Desperate to clear his name, the millionaire hires D.C.’s most ruthless defense lawyer – Charles Benedict.
P.I. Dana Cutler is in the Pacific Northwest on the trail of a stolen relic dating from the Ottoman Empire. Hitting a dead end sends her back to Virginia perplexed and disappointed – and straight into the case of Horace and Carrie Blair.
Now Dana must conjure a few tricks of her own to expose Benedict’s plot, before he can work his deadly magic on her…
(from Harper Collins. https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062069917/sleight-of-hand)
Group Review/ Comments:
6 thumbs up
9 thumbs down
Most group members liked the “bad ass” female lead, Dana. One group member said that Dana was the “saving grace” of the story.
Many members complained of a highly unrealistic story. Carry’s behavior didn’t make sense and there is just no way anything would really play out like it did in the story.
There were a number of comments about the multiple plot lines. Some people enjoyed it, but many more felt that it wasn’t done well and ended up feeling like it was “two different books.” Some felt that it would have been better as two different books!
Other comments:
“The writing felt lazy; not well developed characters.”
“It didn’t feel contemporary. There was no incorporation of modern technology so it didn’t ring true.”
“It was a novel of suspense…but it wasn’t suspenseful.”
“Benedict character was kind of funny.” and unpleasant to read about a protagonist who was amoral.
On a final note, some people felt the portrayal of Seattle was trite and stereotypical. One person commented that the descriptions of Seattle sounded like they were cribbed from the Underground Tour. On the other hand, there were some newbies to Seattle who enjoyed hearing about Skid Row and Pioneer Square.
