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Devious
Devious
Devious
Audiobook (abridged)6 hours

Devious

Written by Lisa Jackson

Narrated by Joyce Bean

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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About this audiobook

The crime scene at St. Marguerite’s cathedral in New Orleans is shocking, even to seasoned detectives like Rick Bentz and Reuben Montoya. A novice nun named Sister Camille has been found dressed in a yellowed bridal gown and viciously garroted, her body covered with an altar cloth.

Valerie Houston is devastated by her sister’s death. For weeks, she’d begged Camille to leave St. Marguerite’s, where she seemed determined to live as some kind of martyr. But Camille had a knack for making bad choices—she joined the convent in part because she’d fallen for Val’s soon-to-be ex-husband, Slade.

Convinced the police aren’t doing enough, Val begins to investigate. Slade, on a mission to repair their marriage, is determined to help her. But the deeper Val’s inquiries go, the more twisted the case becomes. St. Marguerite’s is far from the tranquil retreat many believe, and everyone, from handsome Father Frank O’Toole to the mysterious Mother Superior, has their own agenda. Despite their closeness, even Camille had a hidden life Val never suspected. But someone knew about Camille’s past—and Val’s, too. Now she has no choice but to catch a devious, depraved killer intent on purging St. Marguerite’s of all its sins—before she becomes the next victim.…

LanguageEnglish
Release dateMar 29, 2011
ISBN9781455801954
Author

Lisa Jackson

When asked what has inspired her to write more than 50 novels brimming with adventure, intrigue, hot passion, and high emotion, bestselling Oregon author, Lisa Jackson gets a mischievous smile on her face. Then the words flow as fast as her fingers fly on her computer keyboard when she writes. Her eyes sparkling with memories, she tells stories of her youth, stories of a Huckleberry Finn childhood in the small lumber town of Molalla and on her grandparents' nearby farm in the hilly region of western Oregon. There in the old growth timber, Lisa rode bareback and raced along the ages-old sheep, cattle and deer trails. In the nearby river, she skinnydipped and caught crawdads in her bare hands. An inventive child, she sneaked out of the house and rode her bicycle or horse in the moonlight and dreamed up childish pranks that would have done Tom Sawyer proud. "Nobody could have had a better childhood," Lisa remarks, her twinkling eyes and got-away-with-something-grin giving her a youthful appearance that defies the fact that she is in her mid-40s and the mother of two college-age sons. "My childhood was enchanted. We were a small, tightly knit family. My mum and dad were and still are my greatest supporters." Why then does Lisa write lousy dads and conniving relatives into the plots of books that regularly earn berths on such national bestseller lists as USA Today's and Waldenbooks'? "I think the deepest angst people can experience is what can develop among family members, because our emotions run so deep there," Lisa replied. "Deep down, we care about these people, but being related doesn't mean we think alike or want the same things. I also think manipulative people are fascinating. Characters like those help me to keep the readers' interest. I love it when readers write me to complain that they didn't get any sleep the night before because they had to finish my book." Lisa studied English Literature at Oregon State University for two years before she married. In 1981, when her younger son was a year old, she began writing novels. But she decided she needed a steady income and landed a nine-dollar-per-hour bank job. Before she could begin work, however, her supervisor was arrested for embezzling. "About then I sold my first book, A Twist of Fate, which — guess what! — was about a woman suspected of bank embezzling. It was purely coincidental. The story came out of my background in banking," Lisa provided. "But I guess you could say, if not for a bank embezzler, I might not have made it as an author." In addition to suspenseful contemporary page-turners, Lisa also delivers medieval romances set in eleventh and twelfth century Wales. "I enjoy doing these medieval period pieces, because women were so trod upon then. By nature of their lot in life, I can generate empathy or sympathy for the medieval heroines. They're underdogs from the get-go. Tell me what woman doesn't root for the underdog!" Britannia Roads, a creative Lansing, Michigan tour packager, read the first in Lisa's medieval trilogy and loved her writing so much that she designed a tour of Wales, with Lisa as the featured guest. Tour members will visit some of Princess Diana's favourite places to stay in Ruthin Castle. They'll be in for a treat when Lisa regales them with author stories during the tour, for she is as talented at public speaking as she is at writing novels. When not writing, Lisa enjoys spectator sports, reading, watching The X-Files and socialising now that she's a single mum. Her favourite authors include Pat Conroy, Nelson DeMille, Stephen King, Patricia Cornwell, Dick Francis, and other authors who also write compelling page-turners.

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Reviews for Devious

Rating: 3.7300001120000004 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

100 ratings7 reviews

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Leave it to author LISA JACKSON to come up with another great thriller! In DEVIOUS, we have a serial killer who is going after nuns. The deaths are quick and the crime scene gruesome but Detectives Montoya and Bentz are on the scene and what makes this one more difficult is that the victims are known,even once friends. the two detectives must stop this person before they kill and kill again! I have been a fan of Lisa Jackson and her books. The thriller DEVIOUS shows that she is not slowing down when it comes to a heck of a good read. Think you got the killer named? Guess again! And to me that is what a makes a good thriller.I recieved this book free from goodreads in exchange for an honest review.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Devious is the 7th book in Lisa Jackson's New Orleans Series. It is the first I read and I had no problem following the story. It features Detective Reuben Montoya and his partner, Rick Bentz. It is quite dark and scary with a serial killer on the loose.

    The story starts with a bang. There is a terrible murder in a chapel at St. Marguerite's Convent. It is Sister Camille, a novice nun with a rather troublesome past. When Montoya and Bentz arrive at the crime scene, Montoya realized he knew the victim, in fact, they dated in high school. Not only that, but the nun who discovered the body, dated his brother and the suspect in the murder, Father Frank O'Toole was a friend of his growing up. Valerie Renard, Camille’s sister is dealing with her own problems while dealing with her estranged husband who has shown up from Texas and wants to reconcile. Of course, he shows up on the night of the murder and it was an issue between Camille and him that caused the estrangement in the first place. As more nuns become victims in rather gruesome ways, Valerie realized that these deaths may be linked to the orphanage, St Elsinore, where she and Camille lived before getting adopted. Is Mother Superior keeping secrets. What happened at St Elsinore's.

    The descriptions in this book are so detailed, I could picture the setting and the crime scenes. The plot had me hooked and I quickly read through this story trying to figure out what would happen next. Was Valerie going to become a victim? The suspense and tension will keep you glued and interested until the last page.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I enjoy Lisa Jackson's writing. It makes you turn the page to see what happens next.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    It was a good enough tale - would be a great beach read if there was a beach near me - but there were a few situations where I just found it hard to believe that Val would react in that way. Not a bad book at all, but (in my humble opinion) it just didn't blow me away. Not that they all should, of course. But a little breeze would be nice.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    “Devious” is a page-turning murder mystery that follows two detectives as they investigate the murders of nuns from the St Marguerite Convent in New Orleans. Besides the detectives, a former cop, Valerie is also looking into the murders since one of the nuns was her sister.

    Lisa Jackson’s finely detailed writing places readers into the thick of New Orleans and the hunt for a murderer. She teases you with small narrations from the murderer and the curious clues left behind from the victims. For each answer or clarification you think you get there is more hiding in the shadows.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    What a great book. Kept me on my toes. You think it is this person , then nope .Then you think it is that person . Nope. Lets just say the ending was quite a surprise.... Enjoyed the book .
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Fun to listen to! Someone is strangling novice nuns in Jackson's terrifying if overwrought seventh Bentz and Montoya novel (after Malice). When NOPD homicide detectives Reuben Montoya and Rick Bentz arrive at the first crime scene, the chapel of St. Marguerite's Convent, Montoya recognizes the murder victim, Sister Camille, as his old high school girlfriend, Cammie Renard. In another coincidence, the novice sister who discovered Camille's body, Lucia Costa, once dated Montoya's brother. On top of that, one of the prime suspects is a high school classmate of Montoya's, Fr. Francis O'Toole, who may have had an affair with the victim. As Cammie's sister, Valerie, a former Texas cop now a New Orleans Garden District B&B owner, struggles with a surprise visit from her estranged husband, more nuns succumb to a crazed killer. Val learns more than she bargained for about her past—and Cammie's—at a nearby orphanage in a creepy thriller sure to please Jackson's many fans. (Apr.)