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Speak of the Devil: A Novel
by Allison Leotta
Hardcover : 288 pages
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SPEAK OF THE DEVIL—AND HE WILL APPEAR
On the very night she gets engaged to the man she loves, sex-crimes prosecutor Anna Curtis’s ...
Introduction
For readers of Kathy Reichs, Lisa Scottoline, Patricia Cornwell, and Lisa Gardner, a new thriller by former federal sex-crimes prosecutor Allison Leotta.
SPEAK OF THE DEVIL—AND HE WILL APPEAR
On the very night she gets engaged to the man she loves, sex-crimes prosecutor Anna Curtis’s professional life takes a shocking turn that threatens everything she holds dear.
While Anna is enjoying a romantic dinner capped off by a marriage proposal, a few miles away two separate groups are gearing up to raid a brothel. A vicious killer known as Diablo—the Devil—leads one group. A few minutes later, Anna’s own investigative team heads in to search the brothel, as part of the fight against human trafficking in D.C. Both groups are caught off guard, with deadly results.
As Anna investigates the bloody face-off, the boundaries between her work and home life begin to blur. Though eager to focus on her new fiancé, the chief homicide prosecutor Jack Bailey, and her soon-to-be stepdaughter, Olivia, this case and the search for Diablo are never far from her mind.
When Anna discovers a web of long-buried secrets and official lies leading straight to her doorstep, the truth about this case threatens to rob her of the happiness she seemed so close to securing. And everything Anna counted on becomes a question mark as Diablo moves in for yet another kill.
Allison Leotta draws on her experience as a D.C. sex-crimes prosecutor to take readers into the back rooms of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the hidden world of the Witness Protection Program, and the secret rituals of one of America’s most dangerous gangs. Universally praised by bestselling authors from Catherine Coulter and George Pelecanos to Lisa Scottoline and David Baldacci, Leotta weaves fact and fiction to create her best novel yet.
Editorial Review
Guest Review of Speak of the Devil
By Catherine Coulter
Catherine Coulter is the author of the New York Times best-selling FBI thrillers The Cove, The Maze, The Target, The Edge, Riptide, Hemlock Bay, Eleventh Hour, Blindside, Blowout, Point Blank, Double Take, Tailspin, Knockout, Whiplash, Split Second, Backfire, and Bombshell. She lives in Northern California.
If you relish hard-hitting, take-no-prisoner cops and a sharp committed prosecutor who doesnâ??t hesitate to face down evil, Speak of the Devil by Allison Leotta is for you. The Devil (Diablo) is the big kahuna in the MS-13 gang in Washington, D.C. Leotta paints him with terrifying clarity. Heâ??s cruel, malevolent, power-mad, and you see him, feel him, and know that to him brutality and torture are the pleasures of his life.
Leotta handles the infamous MS-13 gang in an unexpected way. Rather than keeping them faceless, showing only their cruelty and violence, she takes the reader inside to see the â??home boysâ??â??most of the gang members are teenagers. It's chilling and deftly done.
As if prosecutor Anna Curtis doesn't have enough on her plate, she's also engaged to a man whose cop wife was â??greenlightedâ?? (a sanctioned hit) by the MS-13, and murdered some years before. He is also her boss in the U.S. Attorney's Office. Anna is up to her eyebrows dealing with the gang. I'll tell you, as you watch both Diablo and one of his minions, â??Psycho,â?? in action, you really want Anna to bring them down.
As for the USAOâ??the undercurrents, the clashing personalities, the rivalries, all are painted with understanding and honesty by a talented writer who was herself in the middle of the fray for a number of years. She expertly lays out how and why the legal system works in the USAO in Washington, D.C. You see all the tangles, the losses, the triumphs of a group of people who just don't stop.
What I liked particularly were Leottaâ??s evocative descriptions of the courtrooms, the endless procedures, the waitingâ??the interminable waitingâ??and the calm, almost deadening efficiency of the judges.
When I finished Speak of the Devil I knew I'd learned and enjoyed and was pleased to have read such an excellent book.
Excerpt
“The Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS?13, is the world’s most dangerous gang.”—National Geographic Explorer
1.
Anna fiddled with the napkin on her lap and willed her stomach to calm. Get it together, Curtis. In court, she was tough. She was fearless. As a sex-crimes prosecutor in D.C., she looked in the eyes of the city’s most dangerous men, pointed at them, and described the worst things they’d ever done. But this was different. ...
view entire excerpt...
Discussion Questions
1. The opening chapter of Speak of the Devil alternates between the perspectives of Anna Curtis, Tierra Guerrero, and Hector Ramos. Although Anna remains the focus of the book, Leotta tells her story from multiple points of view—including a member of the Mara Salvatrucha. How does Leotta utilize this technique to shape the plot, and increase the tension and drama of the story? Which perspectives surprised you, and why?2. Speak of the Devil sheds light into the inner workings of two completely different worlds—the D.C. criminal justice system and the Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13. What surprised you the most about the view from the inside of these organizations?
3. Working in the world of criminal justice is a difficult, demanding, and frightening life. Aside from Anna, how do the characters confront or cope with the dangers and sacrifices necessary to be successful in this kind of career? Do you think you could live that kind of life? Why, or why not?
4. Although Anna and her sister Jody look remarkably similar, Anna points out that “…their lives were carving them into different shapes (page 213).” Leotta makes great use of the contrast between the two sisters’ careers, relationships, and outlook on life. What do you think could make two sisters lead such different lives? What does Jody’s character tell you about Anna, her past, and her career?
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