Rating: 
Summary: Decent audiobook fare, with an eye to thrilling
Review: I listened to this abridged audiobook through an afternoon of housecleaning (hey, don't knock it 'till you try it). This was fairly decent. I'm not a huge fan of legal thrillers - I've only read one or two Grishams, and never before read Levine, but the storyline was a bit interesting and, to me at least, fresh in the choices of characters. A former stripper/bad girl, Lisa was rescued by Max, who supported her through law school and has just called Lisa in on a very big favour.
He's placing her with a Supreme Court Justice, and he wants her to sway his vote on an airline case in regards to a terrorist-related crash. But as Lisa learns more of just who Max is - and what he's done - and the case seems more and more of a conspiracy to hide the Airline's lies, she feels herself swaying in her loyalty, not to mention falling for the Justice in the first place.
This romantic angle between Lisa and the Supreme Court Justice that seemed a little forced on the abridged audio version - they fall into bed and love at about the same time, which is somewhat abrupt, and I was somewhat surprised at the time. Still, for thrills, this delivered - there's chases, gunfights, and everything one expects from a rough and tumble legal thriller with edge. Especially in audiobook format (and read well by Bamman), this was enjoyable.
'Nathan
Rating: 
Summary: Sexy thriller that will carry you to the peak of adventure
Review: I loved 9 Scorpions. A slick, page turner with intelligence, wit and action. Would a Supreme Court Justice have an affair with a female clerk this beautiful? This book is far out, far up and far better than any legal drama I have ever read.
Rating:
Summary: 9 Scorpions = Heart Pounding Suspence
Review: I really liked this book a lot. I found it to be very suspenceful I could not put it down. However, I would put it in the category of a Beach Book. Unfortunatly Amazon does'nt have a Beach Book category.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointed, almost didn't finish
Review: I wish I would have checked this book out of the library instead of buying it. I have read much better legal suspense thrillers....I considered putting this book on the shelf without finishing it. Shank was such an awful character, too bad he didn't get poisoned by eating the fish, but he did get what he deserved in the end. This book didn't become a "page turner" soon enough.
Rating:
Summary: "Better than Grisham"
Review: I've grown tired of legal thrillers because they all resemble each other: the honest lawyer versus the corrupt system. But "9 Scorpions" is different. It's set at the Supreme Court, and the author makes that historic place come alive. Not only is the book an exciting page-turner, I learned more about the Court than I did in college or law school, and it's fascinating.Justice Sam Truitt is honest and decent but has a weakness for women. Hmmm, could that ever happen in Washington? Lisa Fremont is a brilliant young law clerk with a secret in her past. Lisa is planted on the Court to sway Truitt's vote, and he must learn that the true meaning of justice isn't always found in the law books. The writing is better than Grisham and so is the story!
Rating:
Summary: "Better than Grisham"
Review: I've grown tired of legal thrillers because they all resemble each other: the honest lawyer versus the corrupt system. But "9 Scorpions" is different. It's set at the Supreme Court, and the author makes that historic place come alive. Not only is the book an exciting page-turner, I learned more about the Court than I did in college or law school, and it's fascinating. Justice Sam Truitt is honest and decent but has a weakness for women. Hmmm, could that ever happen in Washington? Lisa Fremont is a brilliant young law clerk with a secret in her past. Lisa is planted on the Court to sway Truitt's vote, and he must learn that the true meaning of justice isn't always found in the law books. The writing is better than Grisham and so is the story!
Rating:
Summary: 9 Scorpions requires a suspension of belief
Review: Not even in Bill Clinton's Washington does this story line make sense, and more's the pity as I am a big Paul Levine fan. Sam Truitt who has already been burned as a college professor by sleeping with a co-ed and then giving her a C grade, ("Next time Sam, give her an A and spare me the embarrassment", says his wife) is confirmed as a Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. He has hardly had a chance to try out his chair when the Chief, a fire breathing "right wing conservative" advises that he is just waiting for Sam to give his followers a chance to remove him. So, against that background Sam hires the sexiest ex-stripper ever to graduate from Stanford as one of his law clerks. However, she is a double agent as she has been put up to applying to be the judge's law clerk by the President of Atlantica Airlines (Max). He is the guy who rescued her from her life of sin while making her his mistress. Then, during a down period in that relationship, she was falling in love with and sleeping with the Chief Pilot of Atlantica (Tony). Unfortunately, Tony the Pilot is at the controls of Flight 610 when the tail engine disintegrates and the plane crashes in The Everglades with all lives lost. A law suit is brought against the company. It's insurance company is insolvent so the airline will have to pay the damages, if any are awarded. Lisa, the law clerk, is convinced by her former lover that there was a terrorist bomb on the plane and getting "her Justice" to vote for the airline is the right thing to do.(It really was lousy maintainance) Sound complicated?? You bet. Believable?? No way!! Then throw in the Japanese Mafia being the de facto owners of the airline and employing one of the most disgusting thugs ever concocted to see that "justice is done" and you have even more layers of disbelief to wade through. (If you make it through how he does away with another of Sam's law clerks - you will probably finish the book) After a while you know, that no matter how bleak the chances of Sam and Lisa are of surviving this plot, that Super Sam, will conquer the Everglades, the Japanese, and the vast right wing conspirators. There will be peace in the valley again. Paul Levine's imagination was without limit in this piece, but his failure to harness it into a believable yarn, flaws the story beyond redemption as it becomes a caricature of the legal thriller genre.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointed, almost didn't finish
Review: One of the reasons I love mysteries is their ability to show aspects of life and society while telling a good story. I bought this book because I thought a mystery set in the Supreme Court would be very interesting. The bits and pieces about the court are there, but the writing is so contrived, and the main characters so unbelievable, that I couldn't bring myself to finish it. Supposedly the writer was writing from a woman's point of view, but this is a woman as only a man could imagine her, with little depth and everything caught up in sexuality. He repeatedly describes her physical appearance, what she's wearing, and how she's thinking about sex with the various men she's involved with. Her central conflict, whether to honor the law or her prior commitments, is phoney, and in any case is drowned out by the constant attention to when she's going to sleep with whom and why. The idea that she would scheme to get a clerkship just to affect the decision on one case coming before the court is beyond unbelievable. The plot itself is one note, with almost no changes in direction, only new episodes of (supposedly) scary violence to move it along.
Rating: 
Summary: Totally unrealistic and very disappointing.
Review: One of the reasons I love mysteries is their ability to show aspects of life and society while telling a good story. I bought this book because I thought a mystery set in the Supreme Court would be very interesting. The bits and pieces about the court are there, but the writing is so contrived, and the main characters so unbelievable, that I couldn't bring myself to finish it. Supposedly the writer was writing from a woman's point of view, but this is a woman as only a man could imagine her, with little depth and everything caught up in sexuality. He repeatedly describes her physical appearance, what she's wearing, and how she's thinking about sex with the various men she's involved with. Her central conflict, whether to honor the law or her prior commitments, is phoney, and in any case is drowned out by the constant attention to when she's going to sleep with whom and why. The idea that she would scheme to get a clerkship just to affect the decision on one case coming before the court is beyond unbelievable. The plot itself is one note, with almost no changes in direction, only new episodes of (supposedly) scary violence to move it along.
Rating: 
Summary: Good thriller
Review: Sam Truitt is a rarity in today's Washington. He is an idealist, who wants only to the right thing as the newest member of the Supreme Court. In spite of his good intentions, Sam selects Lisa Fremont, a sexy young lady, to be one of his law clerks because he cannot resist her sexual magnetism. Lisa Fremont has a history that, if known, would probably disqualify her from working at the court. She was a teenage stripper in San Francisco, whose life was changed when Max Wanaker, president of Atlantica Airlines, took her off the streets and sent her tuition free to Stanford. Max needs a favor from his star pupil. His airlines is in the midst of a multimillion dollar law suit that is going to come before the justices of the Supreme Court. The judges are evenly divided with Sam being the lone undecided and therefore swing vote. Lisa is to get into his bed and head (both of them) to insure that Max is paid in full. 9 SCORPIONS is an exciting legal th! ! riller that brings one of the justices of the Supreme Court into full focus. The book is at its best when it does that, and when it presents the inner sanctum and procedures of the court. Though fans of legal thrillers will want to read this fast-paced novel, the book becomes another run of the mill thriller when Sam and Lisa become the last action heroes and go on location to right a wrong. Paul Levine shows he has talent and hopefully will return to the highest court, but this time stay with the bench and provide readers with insight into all 9 SCORPIONS, who sit in its chambers. Harriet Klausner
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