Saturdays With Kaye: Exposed by Lisa Scottoline

Exposed by Lisa Scottoline

In this, the fifth book in the Rosato & DiNunzio series, the story opens on Mary DiNunzio’s father and his friends from their close-knit South Philly neighborhood calling Mary in, in need of a lawyer.

The group of older men is great comic relief: her deaf father, Matty, and three men named Tony. They are differentiated by their nicknames, Tony “From-Down-the-Block,” Pigeon, and Feet. But the case Mary is called in on is a serious one. A man from her childhood, Simon, has just been fired from his job at OpenSpace, a company that makes cubicles. The reason for his firing was obviously bogus and the timing is horrible. He has lost his insurance just when his baby daughter, Rachel, desperately needs an expensive bone marrow transplant for her ALL (acute lymphoblastic leukemia). Mary says that, of course, she will help him sue OpenSpace.

That’s a problem, though, as her law colleague, the tough, prickly Bennie Rosato, points out. She tells Mary that OpenSpace is owned by Dumbarton, which is a client of their firm. Will Mary have to quit her job with the firm to help the old family friend? Will this come between Mary and Bennie? The latter believes she should not take the case.

There are lawsuits and countersuits that pile on to the complications. Rachel’s illness causes ripples in every direction. As the reader is taken into the sad world of childhood cancer, layers of guilt and deception are uncovered on many levels, and both Bennie and Mary realize that the personal and professional consequences are huge for both of them.

Reviewed by Kaye George, Editor of Day of the Dark: Eclipse Stories, for Suspense Magazine