Bonnie Kistler

An unputdownable thriller.

Kelly McCann is a successful lawyer who has made a lucrative practice out of defending men accused of sex crimes. Her most recent win is the acquittal of Dr. George Benedict, accused of the rape of a coworker he had fired. Dr. Benedict, the man behind the discovery of what might be the cure for Alzheimer's, is now back on track to receive the Nobel Prize in medicine. Kelly is jubilant in her victory as she loves winning. Until she's attacked and sexually assaulted. show more Telling anyone is out of the question as it would destroy her career. Once she comes to her senses, she realizes that she must get revenge for herself and for all the other women who have been victims.

This is a very tough subject to read about and to discuss. The author handles it with the outrage it deserves and also shows the damage that the assaults inflict on the lives of the women and every other aspect of their existence. I was cheering Kelly on even as I cringed at some of the decisions she made. Her situation is complicated by her family life and unwillingness to tell anyone what happened to her. I read the entire book in a single sitting, and I know it will linger in my mind for a very long time.

I listened to the audiobook while following along in the e-book and the narrators did a fabulous job of voicing all the characters. The accents, the emotions, and the drama were all so well done by the performances of Susan Dalian and Elisabeth Rodgers. The audiobook definitely enhanced my enjoyment of the story. show less

Shell Games grabbed me from the first page and didn't let go until the very satisfying ending. There were numerous twists and turns and I kept changing my mind over who was being gaslighted and who the 'bad guy' was.

Kate is a 70 old woman who is known throughout Florida. She is a self-made real estate agent, responsible for lots of new housing developments, a well known socialite and well known in Florida politics. As the book begins, she is getting married to her long lost high school show more boyfriend. She is ecstatic over Charlie and thrilled to go on their honeymoon. But after Charlie tells her a secret from his past on their wedding night, she calls the police in hysterics and soon plans to annual the marriage. Charlie claims to the police that she imagined it all after having too much to drink. Her son in law (who never did like her) claimed that she had dementia. And her only daughter Julie, isn't sure who to believe. Is Charlie gaslighting Kate to gain control of her money? How is her husband Eric involved and why is he keeping secrets from Julie? At times I believed Kate that Charlie had confessed to her. At other times, I thought that Eric was somehow involved and he was trying to get Kate's money and that he was gaslighting his wife. I also wondered if maybe it was all due to dementia and there was no crime. As I rapidly turned pages, I couldn't figure out who was doing what to who. Every time I thought that I had it figured out, something new happened to make me change my mind. The ending was a big surprise but it was the perfect ending for this book.

This is my first book by this author. Based on my enjoyment of this book, it won't be my last. I just ordered several of her earlier books and am looking forward to reading her again. show less

The premise of Bonnie Kistler's new novel, The Cage, really grabbed my attention. And held it through all 352 pages - I honestly couldn't put it down!
What's the premise?

"Leaving at the same time, the two women, each preoccupied by her own thoughts, enter the elevator that will take them down from the 30th floor. When they arrive at the lobby, one of the women is dead. Was it murder or suicide?"

Now, you would think that the answer to that question would be quite easy, don't you? It's show more anything but. The lead character is Shay, a lawyer - and the survivor. The story unfolds through her eyes, but can we trust her? Her story changes a number of time as the tale progresses. We're also aware of other narratives and these factions have their own agenda as well.

The Cage is a legal thriller that benefits so much from Kistler's own legal expertise. The machinations of all the characters is more than a little frightening. (And I'm sure there is lots of truth there as well.) The plotting is detailed and devious, going in a direction I hadn't foreseen. And I loved how the burning question of innocence or guilt is flipped back and forth, keeping me guessing.

Kistler's writing makes for addictive reading. I look forward to her next novel. I can absolutely see this one as a movie. show less

Kelly McCann is a successful attorney. Her specialty is defending men who are accused of sex crimes -- she always refers to them as being falsely accused. Many women felt that she is a traitor to her gender by always taking the accused man's side but she doesn't care. She loves to win and doesn't care what the public thinks of her. As the book begins, she has gotten an acquittal for a male scientist who was accused of assaulting his female employees. She is thrilled with her win and goes to show more his home to celebrate and while she is there, she is brutally sexually assaulted. She knows that she can't report him and she can't tell anyone because it will ruin the reputation that she's built up by defending men like him. As the days pass, she has more trouble dealing with the mental aftermath of the assault. Will she turn her back on her career and work with women who have been assaulted or will she continue the highly public career that she has worked so hard to build?

In the beginning of the book, I found it hard to accept that Kelly would continue to defend men accused of assaulting women and always blame the women. The more the author reveals about her -- that she has a husband in a vegetative state and children that depend on her, the more real her struggle became. I still had a problem accepting her but at least her background indicated why she defended these men. When she decided to start working with the women that were assaulted by the male scientist, I began to see her as the strong woman that she had been all along but it still wasn't enough for me to like her as a character.

This was a difficult book to read and parts and it may be impossible for some women to read. Overall, I thought it was a good story about a strong woman trying the right the wrongs that she had helped create in her career as she struggled to live her life as a good wife, mother and attorney. But was it too little, too late? show less