Lisa Scottoline Proves Life Changes for the Worse ‘Every Fifteen Minutes’ [REVIEW]

Life can quickly go from bad to worse every 15 minutes, particularly when you have a sociopath in your life.
(Photo by Denis Bourez, Flickr)

“I’m a sociopath. I look normal, but I’m not. I’m smarter, better and freer because I’m not bound by rules, law, emotion or regard for you. I can read you almost immediately, get your number right away, and push your buttons to make you do whatever I want. I don’t really like you, but I’m so good at acting as if I do that it’s basically the same thing. I fool you. I fool everybody.” Thus begins Lisa Scottoline’s brilliant novel, Every Fifteen Minutes. 

St. Martin’s Press

This book shines a light on the fact that “one out of twenty-four people is a sociopath,” and Scottoline uses this startling statistic as a launchpad for what is one of the most intriguing, terrifying reads I’ve come across in some time.

From the very first page until the final scene, this book kept me riveted. The opening passage deftly demonstrates the author’s expert ear for dialogue that simultaneously enthralls and horrifies her readers.

But the author also has a knack for developing strong, deeply conflicted characters, such as Dr. Eric Parrish, a psychiatrist who cares deeply about his patients and yet finds himself caught up in a nightmare that is spiraling out of control.

He is in the midst of divorcing his wife and custody of his daughter is uncertain. But to make matters worse, he is simultaneously embroiled in a sexual harassment suit and a police investigation involving one of his patients.  One of these problems would be enough to set a man on edge, but facing them all at the same time seems virtually monumental, particularly since he is left with so many questions.

Should he have notified the police about the possibility that his patient could harm a girl he is fixated on? Why is one of his graduate students claiming harassment when he hasn’t returned her overtures? Are his colleagues really on his side? And if he believes his patient didn’t murder anyone, will he be able to prove it or will he land in jail without possibility of bail?

This multi-layered thriller feels like the kind of material Alfred Hitchcock would have optioned immediately, because it preys on our worst fears and captivates us until the very last moment. Lisa Scottoline has trumped her personal best with Every Fifteen Minutes. In fact, I venture to say that this  may be one of the best psychological thrillers ever written. Don’t miss it!

Lisa Scottoline
(Photo by April Narby)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lisa Scottoline is a New York Times bestselling writer and Edgar award-winning author of Every Fifteen Minutes, Corrupted, and Think Twice. There are more than 30 million copies of her books in print and her work has been published in more than 35 countries.

She also writes a weekly column with her daughter Francesca Serritella for the Philadelphia Enquirer titled “Chick Wit,” which is a witty and fun take on life from a woman’s perspective.

These stories, along with many other never-before-published stories, have been collected in a New York Times bestselling series of memoirs including their most recent, I’ve Got Sand in All the Wrong Places. 

In addition to writing her own work, she reviews popular fiction and non-fiction, and her reviews have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Philadelphia Enquirer.

Lisa has served as president of Mystery Writers of America and has taught a course she developed, “Justice and Fiction,” at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, her alma mater. She is also a regular and much sought after speaker at library and corporate events.

She currently lives in the Philadelphia area with an array of disobedient pets, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. Visit her home on the Web at Scottoline.com, like her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter.

EVERY FIFTEEN MINUTES
By Lisa Scottoline
448 pgs. St. Martin’s Press. $27.99