Shari Shattuck - Reviews

The Man She Thought She Knew Reviews:

Shari Shattuck scores a big hit with The Man She Thought She Knew. Smart, fast-paced and sexy, this book kept me riveted to my seat. I can't wait for the next Callaway Wilde adventure!

Julie Kenner, USA Today bestselling author of The Manolo Matrix

The gorgeous, brainy and filthy rich Cally Wilde has met her match in the handsome, smart and filthy rich detective Evan Paley. So much so, that they are now engaged and living together most of the time. In fact, Cally is making plans for the big event when Evan receives a mysterious phone call that he tries to hide from her. When she grills him about his secretive behavior, he gives her his usual comment, “There are things it’s better you don’t know about.” Leaving it at that, Evan heads downstairs. Then shots ring out below, and Cally creeps down the stairs to encounter a man pointing a gun at her. When he quickly leaves, she discovers the dead body of a stranger in Evan’s office, but Evan is nowhere around. He’s been kidnapped.

Tanzey Cutter, reviewer - Fresh Fiction.com

Immediately calling Evan’s partner, Curtis, for help, Cally is distraught and confused about what’s happening. As cryptic phone calls, e-mails and post cards start arriving giving weird clues to where Evan can be found, Cally finds herself involved in a race against time to locate him before something even more tragic occurs. Soon it’s found that an ex-girlfriend of Evan’s is somehow connected, and Cally doesn’t know what to think about the situation. It will take all of Cally’s smarts and savvy to save the man she loves.

Continuing the exploits of Cally Wilde, LA socialite-turned-sleuth, which started with the exciting LOADED (8/03) and LETHAL (6/05), Shattuck provides another suspenseful, complex and totally entertaining story. All the interesting characters from previous books are included and the action is nonstop. Each book is better than the previous one, so I can’t wait for Cally and Evan’s next thrilling adventure.

Lethal Reviews:

Romance Junkies

Take a fascinating journey with Cally and Evan as they try to discover who is wrecking havoc on their lives. As the mystery evolves, they find themselves in the middle of a struggle for drugs, greed and power. Is the culprit the Japanese Uncle, the Geisha girl, a drug lord, the young girl who foolishly fell in love with the wrong man or someone they never suspected?

Callaway "Cally" Wilde is a beautiful and wealthy young heiress with a checkered past. While on break from jury duty, she comes upon a scene of a very scared Japanese woman being threatened by a man and decides to try and diffuse the situation, but ends up with a bullet instead. The Japanese woman, Aya, feels beholden to Cally for saving her life and asks her for help. So Cally invites Aya to stay with her and calls Evan, a detective and her lover, to help figure out what is going on. The more information they uncover, the more danger befalls them. Cally becomes extremely jealous when Evan keeps eyeing her guest like she is the most luscious thing on earth. Although she loves Evan, her heart and soul are too battered to let him in. Will Cally open her heart to Evan and let his love heal her? Or will she walk away from the best thing to ever happen to her because she is too afraid to let him get too close?

Evan Paley is a sexy detective with dark secrets. He loves Cally and wants to protect her at all costs, but he does not want her to ever learn about his shady side. Evan knows she wants more out of their relationship, but he is not willing to take it to the next level. When she gets shot and they find themselves in the middle of a murder and mystery, he realizes that she is the only woman he wants. But he must find the culprit trying to kill her before it is too late. Will Evan finally tell Cally he loves her and wants her in his life permanently?

LETHAL is fast-paced, edgy and extremely sensual. Ms. Shattuck does a beautiful job keeping the reader glued to their seat while she weaves a tale of murder, mystery, and a passion electrifying enough to scorch you.

The characters are compelling and the plot is gripping. I thought I figured out who the culprit was and then the next twist had me rethinking it again. I was pleasantly shocked at who it was. I laughed at the antics and cried at the injustice the characters went through. I adored Cally for overcoming her past, her sassy and witty attitude and they way her character grew throughout this charming tale. Evan stole my heart with his sense of justice, his love of his job and finally realizing he can have brightness in his dark world. The secondary characters are just as dynamic as the main characters and really add authenticity to the tale. I look forward to reading more of Ms. Shattuck’s riveting tales.

Billie Jo - Romance Junkies Reviewer

RT Bookclub

Cally Wilde is beautiful, rich, intelligent - and had a talent for running into trouble. A shopping trip to LA's Little Tokyo becomes a nightmare when she witness a crime that involves her and her LAPD boyfriend, Evan Paley, with murder, drugs and the Colombian mafia.

A sequel to the successful Loaded, Lethal continues to trace Cally and Evan's steamy relationship while unraveling an adventure worthy of more experienced writers. Brimming with crackling dialogue and well-nuanced characters, this book is engrossing. Shattuck weaves a complex plot peopled by complex characters. It's especially noteworthy that the author is able to create characters like the geisha Aya and her enigmatic protector, Korosu, who are so fully developed that they practically step off the pages.

Shattuck leavens her action-heavy plot with humorous and sensuous moments that help to keep the pace from becoming overwhelmingly fast. Lethal can be read alone, but readers might be more comfortable starting with the first book, which provides backstory to Cally and Evan's relationship.

- Donna Carter

Shattuck's follow-up to Loaded (2003) finds independently wealthy Cally Wilde happily dating Evan Paley, the sexy detective she met on her first case. Her second adventure begins in the Little Tokyo district in L.A. where she comes upon a man attacking a young woman. Cally rescues the woman, whose name is Aya, and learns that the attack was in now way random after Evan gets shot in the leg, and Aya reluctantly reveals that her wealthy patron has another ward, named Shika, who is on the run from her former lover, a Colombian drug lord. But there's even more to the story than Aya is telling them, and Cally soon finds herself and her loved ones drawn into the web of a dangerous conspiracy. Unlike many heroines in cick-lit detective novels, Cally is never irritating or grating; instead, she is a fully formed, strong, and engaging character throughout this fast-paced and suspenseful mystery.

- Kristine Huntley

Loaded Reviews:

Exploding like a string of firecrackers let loose beneath one's feet, Shattuck's debut novel keeps the reader deliciously on edge. Raw action collides with secrets and family conflicts as one of the most vivid heroines to hit the shelves recently tries to discover who wants her dead. Hard-shelled Callaway Wilde has everything a young woman in L.A. could need: beauty, brains and lots and lots of money. But her wealth has left her saddled with bitter relatives (including acid-tongued "Attila the Mum") and an inability to trust anyone. An attempt to kill her seems at first to be simply a matter of Cally being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But too soon Cally realizes she's in serious trouble and has few allies, with the possible exception of attractive L.A. police detective Evan Paley, who remains unfazed by Cally's wealth and sees the vulnerabilities she hides behind it. But it's not until a half sister surfaces that Cally's world is shaken to the core-and the reason behind the attacks becomes clear. Glib, cynical and assured in many ways but deeply unsure in others, Cally's voice spins a siren's call that, combined with Shattuck's electric pacing, will keep readers glued to this novel.

- Review by Publishers Weekly

"First book in new author's mystery series is suspenseful and sexy."

Cally Wilde is wealthy and beautiful. She has everything she needs and wants, except love. Cally also has a gun, which she uses to kill an attacker. When she's attacked again, sexy detective Evan Paley of the LAPD is on the case. He wants Cally safe - and in his bed. Cally hopes the one thing she doesn't have - love - can finally be hers, since she's falling hard and fast for the delicious detective.

LOADED is just that - loaded with emotion, sexual tension, greed, familial rivalry and jealousy, that all add up to a suspenseful, sexy tale. Shattuck's debut novel is a welcome addition to my library. I can't wait to read her next one.

- Reviewed by Lory Martin, TheBestReviews.com

"Superb amateur sleuth"

She is worth millions, but Cally Wilde is also lonely fearing that people only want her for her money that she inherited from her father. Cally's mother hates her daughter because she thinks some of the money should have gone to her. Her half brother Binford intensely dislikes her because he too believes that some of the loot should belong to him. Only his wife Elena treats Cally as a friend.

Following a business lunch, two men try to murder Cally but she kills one of them while the other retreats. Detective Evan Paley, the lead on the case, and Cally immediately are attracted to one another, but he refuses to make love to her until the case is closed. Another murder occurs this time in Cally's home making it looks like someone wants her to take the fall. A half-sister Cally never heard of comes forward to make a claim on the estate and Elena takes an overdose of sleeping pills. Cally's life seems out of control even as she suspects every member of her family as the culprit(s).

Being a reviewer is similar to a prospector panning for gold; every once in a while one sifts to find a gold nugget LOADED in the sediment. This amateur sleuth novel is crackling with repressed sexual desire, so much so that one should use potholders while reading this book. There are so many suspects with viable motives that readers will go crazy trying to figure out who the perpetrator is. The good news is that this is the opening installment in what has the makings of a great series.

- Reviewed by Harriet Klausner, TheBestReviews.com

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