Rating: 
Summary: Why didn't I read the Amazon reader reviews first?
Review: I learned long ago to skim through the Amazon 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.
Rating:
Summary: Not Scottoline's best work
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Fast beach read.
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Final Appeal is a wonderful read!
Review: 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!
Rating: 
Summary: Final Appeal has appeal
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Final Appeal - No Great Appeal to this reader
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Another roll in the gutter for Scottoline
Review: This book is exactly the same as Rough Justice. It's rude, crude and preposterous. The story and the characters
behavior are unrealistic. Personally I've only known two people in my 48 years with such foul mouths and
obnoxious behavior and neither worked period!... let alone in a suit and tie. Scottoline's "Running from the Law" and "Everywhere That Mary Went" are a class act. Legal Tender, which I'm
in the middle of, is OK so far. But "Final Appeal" and "Rough Justice" stink REAL bad.
Rating:
Summary: Just okay.
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: More soap opera than legal thriller.
Review: 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.
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