Rating: 
Summary: Nina Takes a U-Turn
Review: "Unfit to Practice" is either a bold and brilliant move by the O'Shaughnessy sisters to keep their Nina Reilly series alive, or a rush-to-deadline departure from the series' usual content. I think it must be the former.Nina, the stubborn, beautiful, competent and courageous Lake Tahoe attorney who is central to every book, is a very different woman as this one begins. First of all, she is inexplicably in love with Paul, the private eye who helps her with each case, and who has been her on-again, off-again lover as Nina's mood and marital circumstances dictate. In the last book, "Writ of Execution," they were on again. But nothing prepared this reader for the romantic, almost desperate intensity with which Nina now loves Paul. Where did this come from? For those of us who have been rooting for Paul all along, it's a happy circumstance, but the one-sentence explanation for this turn of events doesn't quite make it. The plot, however, is a good one. Nina finds herself on the other side of the law as she is called before the California State Bar in a disciplinary action that could cost her everything she holds dear. One careless but very human action--leaving her keys behind in the courtroom--has led to a series of nightmarish disasters. Her car is stolen, and so are the three highly confidential client files she carelessly left in the back seat. Each of the files contains materials that could prove extremely damaging to Nina's clients, and as the plot unfolds, that's exactly what happens. Struggling to clear her good name, hold on to her career, and also undo the terrible damage done to her clients, Nina enlists not only the help of the stalwart Paul, but also her ex-husband Jack, whom we've heard about but never met. A high-powered California attorney, Jack specalizes in defending his fellow attorneys before the Bar. Can he save Nina? Or will his still-personal feelings for her get in the way? Throughout the tense ordeal, Nina still has to deal with her son Bob, who, now 14, has turned from the sweet child of previous books to an all-too-typical sullen teenager. I won't give away the truly surprising end of the book, but I will say that Nina, and therefore the series, will never be the same again. I don't think this book quite pulled it off for regular readers like me, since the major changes in Nina constantly had me thinking about previous books, diverting me from the plot-at-hand. But I have to applaud the O'Shaughnessys for a truly bold and brave move. Not many authors have the guts to change a popular series in mid-stream, and this is what they have definitely done. I look forward to the next book to see how they tie up the loose ends!
Rating: 
Summary: strong legal thriller
Review: After years of struggling, attorney Nina Reilly has established a very good practice on the California side of Lake Tahoe. She has gotten innocent clients off and is currently being courted by a very big corporate law firm. Everything is going great until the September night that Nina brings the case files home and forgets to bring them into the house. When she goes to get them the next day, her car is stolen and her files with them. They contain information that can hurt Nina's clients and somebody is using them to do just that. While Nina and her significant other Paul are trying to do damage control, one of her clients sets in motion before the bar to have her licensed revoked. The lawyer needs an attorney steeped in the ways of the California Bar and Paul finds the expert: Nina's ex-husband. The latest installment in the Nina Reilly series is fascinating because the audience gets to see another side of the feisty lawyer when she is on the defensive in her professional life. The mystery about who is out to destroy Nina is cleverly done and believable because the perpetrator's motives ring genuine. Readers who like legal thrillers that are fit to read will want to pick up novel rather quickly. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: It fails as a litigation novel
Review: As a practicing attorney I savored the idea of being able to endure a long flight and read a novel written about an area of law that receives scant attention in the popular press: professional responsibility. Unfortunately, I think I picked the wrong book and ended up with a dimestore "chick-flip." The authors spend so much time trying to make women identify with the needs of the female main character that her rather interesting legal problems sound like a voice-over from a tampon commercial. Since one of the authors is a lawyer, she puts in just enough law to give it some credibility. Unfortunately, either they do not think their readers would be interested in a serious litigation novel or they want to push what appears to be an improbable plot line on the readers, so people who would be genuinely interested in the plot details are left hanging, angry, and thinking the whole story is improbable!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: Fast-paced and compelling, "Unfit to Practice" is a tour de force by the O'Shaughnessy sisters. The plot is interesting, intriguing and full of surprising twists. From its easy flow to its imaginative descriptions, the writing is elegant and mature and the story is terrific. When Nina Reilly finds herself burned by a legal disaster that may lead to her disbarment, she rises - like the proverbial phoenix - renewed, refreshed and refocused. In this 8th installment, Nina is at her personal and professional best as she fights to save her practice and unravel the mystery of who is trying to destroy her even as she puts her past behind her and moves forward into the future with her friend and lover, Paul van Wagoner. A page-turner from start to finish, this latest Nina Reilly mystery is sure to please old fans and new readers alike. Although I've read and enjoyed all of the Perri O'Shaughnessy novels, I absolutely loved everything about this book and would rank it as my favorite.
Rating:
Summary: A Lawyer's Nightmare
Review: For the legal thriller addict, Unfit To Practice is an interesting fix. The O'Shaughnessy sisters pen a tale that is entertainingly suspenseful. Nina Reilly, a small town lawyer has her vehicle stolen and with it the files of three of her clients. The sensitive files apparently fall into the wrong hands. The book details the subsequent fallout. I found Ms. Reilly's ethical dilemmas realistic. This was the first O'Shaughnessy novel I have read, so I am unable to compare it with previous Reilly reads. Although the story is a bit too touchy-feely for my general liking - one reviewer described the book as a "chick-flip" - and certainly not the best legal thriller I have read, I was entertained and plan on reading another Reilly novel.
Rating:
Summary: A good book, but not an O'Shaughnessy converter.
Review: For the reader who's followed Nina Reilly through her trials (pun intended) and adversities in the previous seven books, this eighth installment is a must read. However, it's a hinge on Nina's character arc, and as such, it's not a book to win her new fans. It's a book to accomplish another end altogether. In this story, Nina is enduring the ultimate (for a lawyer) judicial ironical experience: standing trial herself. Of course, our resident Girl Scout committed no felonious act (although she's not so pure as to have avoided FLIRTING with the law a time or two), but in this chronicle, the State of California reviews Nina's right to retain her license in the face of the disappearance of some highly confidential and sensitive client files. The disappearance of the files isn't enough for a problem in and of itself, but confidential information suddenly materializes publically in ways that harm her clients' welfare... information that could have come only from those missing files. An insidious, unknown "someone" is out to damage Nina's reputation and ultimately destroy her career. For help, Nina turns to private investigator and sometime-lover Paul van Wagoner, and he in turn engages for her defense his former best friend, her own ex-husband Jack (a state bar attorney). For other means of support, Nina relies on the familiar figures of Sandy Whitefeather, her legal assistant; Sandy's son Wish, a private invesigator in training; and her brother and sister-in-law. The cases in which the files disappeared, all three provoking and complicated scenarios ranging from a nasty custody battle to immigrant businesses and racism to murder of passion, are compelling and complex, further muddied by the steady hand of this unknown enemy who's not only milking but manipulating information by stacking it against our feckless heroine. Who is the enemy? Ay, that's the question. The O'Shaughnessy sisters provide several potential perpetraters, and they make each so distasteful that any one would satisfy, ultimately. The ending is smashing (pun intended), and a romantic denouement lets the reader close the book with a wistful sigh. I do wonder if Mary and Pamela O'Shaughnessy plan to "hang up" the Reilly series after this book, which leaves Nina's story with just the right tone, just the right unanswered questions, and just the right allusions to the future for readers to paint their own portrait of what that future will be.
Rating: 
Summary: MALICE BECOMES MURDER IN THIS THRILLER
Review: Here's a star sister act that plays not at your neighborhood theater but at the local bookstore. To date the sisters O'Shaughnessy, Pamela (a Harvard Law School graduate) and Mary (a former editor), have co-authored seven popular legal thrillers. Two of their fast-paced dramas were "Writ of Execution" and "Malice." Brace yourselves for a suspenseful ride in "Unfit To Practice."
Facing the worst fear of any attorney, Nina Reilly is looking at a disciplinary hearing before the California State Bar Court and possible disbarment. Lawyer Reilly's unlocked truck, which held pertinent case files and revealing notes she had taken, is stolen. That's not the worst case scenario: soon, information that could only be found in her notes surfaces, and is revealed in ways that are most damaging to her client. So, Reilly finds herself before the State Bar in a battle for her license. You can tell she's in dire straits when she turns to her ex-husband to lead her defense. He and her off/on boyfriend PI Paul van Wagoner don't see eye to eye nor do they try. Malice becomes murder in this drama that shifts from tension filled courtroom to the secret recesses of a woman's heart. - Gail Cooke
Rating:
Summary: Unfit to Practice
Review: I enjoyed this book like the others in the Nina Reilly series but disappointed - can this be the end of the series? Hope not.
Rating:
Summary: entertaining read
Review: I have mixed feelings about this book. As always, the sisters O'Shaughnessy spin an entertaining story that keeps the pages turning. But many of the characters are stereotypes and even those who aren't act unbelievably too often. There is also a lot of fuzziness about events. For example, a prisoner being held on a murder charge comes to court to tesify in another matter, and he's wearing jail jumpsuit. Then we see Nina leaving court later, and she stops to talk to him. He is sitting at a table in the reception area leafing through a magazine. She has a conversation with him. Aren't prisoners brought to court hustled in and out in the company of guards? I'd guess they don't leaf through magazines and carry on friendly conversations. Another example has Nina and Paul stopping in Placerville at 8:30 for an hour of sex (she tells us it's an hour), then Paul naps, then having dinner, and then driving on to Tahoe. They arrive at ten. Not unless they beamed themselves there. There's more like this and it distracts me. I enjoyed the book but wanted it to be better.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Ever
Review: I have read all of the Nina Reilly novels. I think this was the best one yet. It was as though the writers were telling three stories in one book. I loved it.
I am glad Nina finally opened her eyes and realized Paul was the one she should have been with all along. Even though is seems like this would be the last book in her series, I hope it's not.
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