The murder of one of the computer dating service Compu-Mate's clients sends Miami trial lawyer Jake Lassiter and retired coroner Dr. Charlie Riggs on the trail of a killer that leads them to a London insane asylum. Reprint. *K. * ### From Publishers Weekly In contrast to his taut, punchy first novel, To Speak for the Dead , Levine's second is characterized by excess--an outlandish plot, too many characters and too many soggy wisecracks. But the blistering running commentary of hero-lawyer Jake Lassiter on drug dealers, developers and life in murder-a-day Dade County, Fla., plus a horrific denouement, easily makes up for the tale's shortcoming. With his Latin-spouting, bonefishing sidekick, retired coroner Charlie Riggs, the former Miami Dolphins linebacker tracks a serial killer and runs up against political corruption. The killer's first three victims are women who belong to Compu-Mate, an electronic network whose members talk dirty to one another. Jake, dragooned into becoming a special prosecutor, turns for guidance to Pamela Metcalf, an icy British psychiatrist in Miami on a book tour. As the body count mounts, suspicions fall on ambitious state attorney Nick Wolf, with a shadowy past in Vietnam; detective Alejandro Rodriquez; drunken drama professor and failed actor Gerald Prince; and the owners of Compu-Mate, ex-jockey Max Blinderman and his gorgeous spouse, Bobbie. 50,000 first printing; $50,000 ad/promo. Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. ### From Library Journal The second psychological thriller pairing lawyer Jake Lassiter and retired coroner Charlie Riggs ( To Speak for the Dead , Bantam, 1990). Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Eighteen years ago, Jake Lassiter crossed paths with a teenage runaway who disappeared into South Florida's sex trade. Now he retraces her steps and runs head-on into a conspiracy of Miami's rich and powerful who would do anything to keep the past as dark as night and silent as the grave. In this tale of redemption and revenge, Edgar-nominated author Paul Levine delivers his most powerful thriller yet.Jake Lassiter, second-string linebacker turned low-rent lawyer, is cynical about the law, but if you hire him, he'll take a punch for you . . . and maybe a swing at the prosecutor, too.Amy Larkin - beautiful, angry, and mysterious - accuses Lassiter of involvement in the disappearance of her sister eighteen years earlier. What does Lassiter know about Krista Larkin, the runaway teen turned porn actress? More than he's saying. Seeking to atone for his own past, Lassiter follows the cold trail of the missing Krista and butts head with the powerful men who also knew her: a former porn king turned philanthropist, a slick Cuban-born prosecutor who'd love to be governor, and an aging mobster who once worked for the infamous Meyer Lansky. The evidence leads to a long-ago night of kinky sex, designer drugs - and possible murder. But before Lassiter can nail the truth, a gun goes off, a suspect falls dead, and Amy is charged with murder.The state has an eyewitness and a slam-dunk case. Lassiter has a client he doesn't trust and a case he can't win. Did Amy shoot the man who killed her sister? Or the wrong man? And what really happened to Krista? The answers, buried under years of deceit and corruption, are revealed in an explosive courtroom finale proving that rough justice is better than no justice at all.

From BooklistPro football player turned lawyer Jake Lassiter is savoring a drink at a South Beach bar when a beautiful young woman shoots the man on the next bar stool and faints in Lassiter's arms. It's one way to get clients, he figures. The woman, Chrissy Bernhardt, is charged with the first-degree murder of her father, whom Chrissy believes abused her as a child. Lassiter takes the case, which is complicated by the fact that Chrissy's repressed memories of her father's abuse have been "unlocked" with the help of a therapist who turns out to be her late mother's former lover. The seventh Lassiter novel continues the series' steady improvement. Lassiter is smart, tough, funny, and very human. He's coming on fast as one of the most entertaining series characters in contemporary crime fiction. Wes LukowskyFrom Kirkus ReviewsNot even a lawyer as light on his feet as Jake Lassiter can find much wiggle room when he himself was one of the dozens of witnesses who watched his client, model Chrissy Bernhardt, walk up to her father in a crowded bar and shoot him three times, sending him spiraling into a fatal heart attack. And things just get worse when Chrissy's psychiatrist, obliging Dr. Lawrence Schein, hands Jake solid-gold evidence of Chrissy's childhood abuse by Harry Bernhardt--something Schein claims is a perfect defense, though it's nothing more or less, to Jake's disillusioned eyes, than the perfect motive for premeditated murder. With no hope of winning acquittal for a client who tells him she wanted to hurt the old man as badly as he'd hurt her and who cheerfully disclaims the slightest sign of remorse, Jake's only prayer is to go for manslaughter. But armed with all those tapes of Dr. Schein's (including the prizewinner, in which Chrissy tells him she's just bought the gun she's going to shoot her father with), who could doubt the premeditation the prosecution alleges--unless of course it's Jake himself, who's broken his usual rule against sleeping with his clients in favor of the deeper rule that draws him to every guilty-looking dame in Miami? Jake just never learns about women--luckily for his fans, who'll find this impossible case, his seventh (Fool Me Twice, 1995, etc.), more tightly wound than any since his debut in To Speak for the Dead (1990). -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

### Product Description **NUMBER 1 BESTSELLER FROM EDGAR NOMINEE PAUL LEVINE** * * * "One part John Grisham, two parts Carl Hiaasen." *- Tulsa World* "A thriller as fast as the wind." - *Tampa Tribune* * Jake Lassiter chases a beautiful woman and stolen bonds from Miami to Maui, where in an explosive finale, he learns lessons never taught on the football field or in the courtroom.  If you enjoy John Grisham, Harlan Coben, Carl Hiaasen, and James Patterson, you'll love "Riptide" from Paul Levine, winner of the John D. MacDonald fiction award.  Levine has also been nominated for the Edgar, Macavity, International Thriller, and James Thurber prizes. A former trial lawyer, he wrote more than 20 episodes of the CBS military drama "JAG." **WHAT'S THE VERDICT ON THE JAKE LASSITER THRILLERS?** * * * Genuinely clever, great fun." - *New York Times Book Review * ** "Mystery writing at its very, very best." - Larry King, *USA TODAY* ** "Just the remedy for those who can't get enough Spenser and miss Travis McGee terribly." - *St. Petersburg Times* * "Jake Lassiter is attractive, funny, savvy, and brave." - *Chicago Tribune* "Cracking good action-mystery...funny, sardonic, and fast-paced." - *Detroit Free Press*　 **MORE JAKE LASSITER THRILLERS** TO SPEAK FOR THE DEAD: Jake begins to believe that his surgeon client is innocent of malpractice...but guilty of murder. NIGHT VISION: Someone is murdering women on an Internet sex chat site, and Jake becomes a special prosecutor to hunt down the serial killer. FALSE DAWN: After his client confesses to a murder he didn't commit, Jake follows a bloody trail from Miami to Havana to discover the truth. MORTAL SIN: Talk about conflicts of interest. Jake is sleeping with Gina Florio and defending her mob-connected husband in court. FOOL ME TWICE: To clear his name in a murder investigation, Jake follows a trail of evidence that leads from Miami to buried treasure in the abandoned silver mines of Aspen, Colorado. FLESH & BONES: Jake falls for his beautiful client even though he doubts her story. She claims to have recovered "repressed memories" of abuse...just before gunning down her father. LASSITER: Jake retraces the steps of a model who went missing 18 years earlier...after his one-night stand with her. **More info at paul-levine.com**

They are Florida’s most mismatched legal duo—one a glamorous Miami blue blood, the other a Coconut Grove beach bum. And when they get together, you can throw every law right out the window.... What do you get when you mix beautiful people, family secrets, and a yacht washed up on Sunset Key with a hundred grand in cash and a dying man? If you’re Steve Solomon, you see a case that can get Solomon & Lord off the ground. If you’re Victoria Lord, you see a golden opportunity to go out on your own. With her uncle a murder suspect and her hunky ex-boyfriend back in the picture, Victoria is pushing to take control as Solomon struggles to keep from losing it. As an explosive trial looms, they’re fighting against time, the law, and each other—to expose a killer who came to paradise...and hasn’t left. ### From Publishers Weekly Levine's second light legal thriller to feature by-the-book Florida attorney Victoria Lord and her partner/lover, bypass-the-book Steve Solomon, isn't quite up to the level of its predecessor, *Solomon vs. Lord* (2005), but it's still a smart, enjoyable page-turner. Hal Griffin, an entrepreneur and onetime business partner of Victoria's late father, stands accused of murdering an EPA official with a speargun. There's plenty of evidence pointing to Griffin's guilt, and it's up to Victoria to prove his innocence. Spurning Steve's help, she begins an investigation that leads her to uncover long hidden family secrets. Meanwhile, Steve delves into his own family history as he attempts to discover the truth behind his father's scandalous suspension from the Florida judicial bench. Levine once again supplies plenty of quirky characters and witty banter between Steve and Victoria. *(Jan. 31)* Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ### Review "In this follow-up to **Solomon vs. Lord**, a true bright spot during 2005, Levine again shows his acumen, skewing the law and showcasing Florida scenery while delivering an action-packed plot."—***South Florida Sun-Sentinel*** "A smart, enjoyable page-turner.... plenty of quirky characters and witty banter."—***Publishers Weekly***