Book Review: "The Truth About the Devlins" by Lisa Scottoline

It's mid-August and I'm not going to lie, I'm feeling rather down and annoyed. There's a few things wrong: first of all, I'm finding it difficult actually locating good, affordable horror novels. This means horror that is worth reading and isn't just a Kindle Unlimited paid-ad for some middle aged man's torture fantasy involving teenage girls which he writes under a pseudonym so nobody can report him (we all know a novel). Second of all, I'm on a crash diet which means I've got almost constant headaches and dizziness. Third of all, I read a Sarah Jules novel that was actually bad recently. Gosh, I hope this next read lightens my mood. Here's The Truth About the Devlins by Lisa Scottoline.

TJ is an ex-alcoholic who is basically seeking his redemption arc after being left behind as the family's black sheep. The Devlins, being as prominent as they are, can't have TJ destroying their lovely reputation in which the parents have two successful children who are both lawyers. TJ however, has been given a placeholder of 'in-house investigator' at the lawfirm that is run by the other two named Gabby and John. So far, the story is interesting. The nature of the black sheep seeking redemption is always a great read if done properly and I was definitely looking forward to what truth I was going to find out about this family.

Quite early on in the book, John reveals to TJ that he has accidentally killed an accountant named Neil by hitting him with a rock. He needs TJ to help him hide the body but when the men arrive at the scene of the crime, the body is gone. TJ is left quite disturbed and starts probing John about what happened; this leads John to accuse TJ of relapsing which once again, shatters his reputation in the family, leaving him even more of an outcast. Yet, he doesn't stop looking for answers. The author does a great job at showing us the family dynamics of two people who are caught between impressing their parents and wanting nothing to do with any of them. However, we still need that redemption arc to happen and so, the reader holds out some hope for TJ amongst his snooty siblings.

As TJ begins to go deeper into lawsuits about medical experiments in which inmates had medical experiments performed on them without consent, we see him encounter some shady characters. One of these characters is Barry who also dies after a hit-and-run. But because of John's influence in the police department, he manages to make TJ a suspect in both the deaths of Nigel and Barry. I'm not going to lie to you, but it seems like telling TJ about Neil's death was now the worst thing John could have done. He thought that his brother would just stand by, do just as he was told and ask no questions - but what he really got was something a lot different. The main problem was the fact the body had disappeared.

As the plot begins to unravel, we get something akin to a sneaking feeling. Something is definitely not right with the Devlins and their golden-boy, John is not looking so golden now. The main question TJ has is why it happened. There's a lot of whispering and there are bookies that get slowly entrenched in the plot, but that isn't the end of it. There's a whole subplot containing the medical experiments in which we see something entirely new and evil unfold. TJ must investigate what the hell is happening before John gets himself or someone else, into even deeper shit. Honestly, this book was simply nerve-wrecking. It felt so dark and twisted. It went from being just a bit off, to being really deeply entrenched in the fact that sometimes the law doesn't catch anyone until every bit of evidence falls into place. And the best part of all of the tension? You'll never see it coming.

All in all, I thought this book was a fantastic read. From the outset, we are met with a crumbling family dynamic, a man basically resigned in the family to be a failure for the rest of his life and siblings who constantly rub it in his face. The hook character, the one we care about, is an ex-con ex-addict and has admitted to being a terrible person in the past. But he's the best soul out of all of them...