Nat Greco is a successful law professor who suffers from an inability to stand up to her outspoken and powerful family and a lackluster way with students that keeps her from excelling at her profession. A little excitement comes into her life when fellow professor Angus Holt, an attractive rebel in the department, invites her to go to the nearby prison where he frequently teaches a class. Intrigued, Nat agrees, but finds her life turned upside down when a riot breaks out and she finds her life in danger.

Confronted with a dying guard, Nat tries to save his life and in the process witnesses his final words that he wants passed on to his wife. Nat relays the cryptic message to his wife then finds that she herself may be in danger for the knowledge she possesses. She is suddenly not only on the run from a killer but also accused of being a killer herself. Will Nat be able to clear her name—and stay alive?

The premise of Lisa Scottoline’s new mystery Daddy's Girl starts out decently but quickly veers into questionable (the mild-mannered, mousy Nat suddenly decides to take on a disguise and run from the law) then unbelievable (the way she figures out the mystery) territory. This makes the whole plot suspect, and it’s difficult to ever really get into the hows or whys of the end result. In addition, the characters never really get past the cardboard cut-out phase, and the premise that the whole book is based on (that Nat’s family has her back and should be the most important thing to her) doesn’t really fly since they never really seem to care what she does, even when her life is in danger.

On the plus side, Scottoline’s books are always readable and quick; Daddy's Girl is no different. Her writing style is simple, and the chapters are short enough to read in a reasonable amount of time, making it easy to zip through the novel in a weekend. This is a light read that Scottoline fans will probably want to check out (even though none of the author’s recurring characters are present), but others would probably be better off avoiding this one in favor of more plausible and engaging thrillers.

• Come Home
• Save Me
• Look Again
• Dead Ringer
• Dirty Blonde [unabridged audio CD]
• Devil's Corner
• Final Appeal
• Killer Smile
• Courting Trouble
• Everywhere That Mary Went