cover image Think Twice

Think Twice

Lisa Scottoline. St. Martin?s, $26.99 (384pp) ISBN 978-0-312-38075-5

Bestseller Scottoline’s 13th novel centered on the all-female Philadelphia law firm headed by Bennie Rosato (after Lady Killer ) offers contrived situations and paper-thin characters on top of a premise that strains credibility. After Bennie’s evil identical twin sister, Alice Connelly, drugs her and leaves her to die, buried in a remote farm field, Alice takes advantage of her physical resemblance to Bennie to assume her identity at the law firm as well as gain access to her wealth and, eventually, her ex-boyfriend. Many will wonder why the ruthless Alice didn’t kill Bennie outright, leaving open the possibility that her victim will escape and attempt to foil her scheme. With authors like Lisa Unger proving that intelligent plotting and page-turning aren’t incompatible, this tired effort is unlikely to win Scottoline new converts. 500,000 first printing; author tour. (Mar.)