The Cheater

Lily Forrester #3

by Nancy Taylor Rosenberg

Nancy Taylor Rosenberg has constantly been praised for her intense, dramatic suspense, breathing real life and trouble into her action-packed thrillers. Her fourteen years in law enforcement have always given her novels great authenticity, often pulling inspiration from the very cases she has worked. Now comes The Cheater.

Returning to her most beloved character, Lily Forrester, from the New York Times bestsellers Mitigating Circumstances and Buried Evidence, Rosenberg proves once again that she is a master of the suspense thriller, as Forrester finds herself in yet another mix of bizarre circumstances that lead her onto the trail of a vicious criminal mind. Along the way we meet:

FBI Agent Mary Stevens—She is tracking a killer who murders husbands who are cheating on their wives, their mutilated bodies disposed of in ghastly ways and strange locations.

Bryce Forrester—Lily’s husband—calls her from a Las Vegas jail where he’s been arrested for attempted rape…even though Las Vegas was not on his itinerary.

Anne Bradley—Bryce’s accuser, like Lily, is a woman with an eerie past…an enigmatic figure to whom Lily is strangely drawn.

The trail leads back to a Web service that provides alibis for cheating spouses and into a thick web of deception that puts both Lily’s and Mary’s lives in jeopardy. Do you know where your husband is?

Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Fiction, Crime, Mystery Thriller, Legal Thriller

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

With a BA in English and 5 years as a photographic model behind her, Nancy Taylor Rosenberg studied criminology. She served in the Dallas Police Department, New Mexico State Police, Ventura Police Department and as an Investigative Probation Officer in Court Services for the Country of Ventura where she handled major crimes. She lived in California.

Reviews

[Lu Bielefeld]

DNF

"This is delicious. I love a woman who takes care of things. My wife doesn't take care of shit. We have a full-time maid and she still complains. She doesn't even know how to put gas in the car."

It chapped her that men never gave their wives credit for raising their children. Belinda had three young kids and scores of commitments in the community. She probably worked twice as hard as Stan, and he had an office full of employees to do his bidding.

So what if I get a little action on the side? I'm not a monogamous person. I was cheating on my first wife when I started sleeping with Belinda. It's not right for her to expect me to be faithful. She knew what she was getting into before she married me."

They didn't want their wives to discover they were having an affair because that would make it harder for them to get away with it the next time.

I haven't been this turned on for years, not since I banged my best friend's wife.

Vince Paciugo was a womanizer. He was also a competition junkie, and scoring with a married woman garnered a bigger trophy. "Even a dog could figure that out, Vince," she told him. "I was a prosecutor and you were a divorce attorney."

[Cathy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dreadful. One of the least sympathetic main characters I've run into lately. Lots of stupid, inexplicable behavior and events.

[Rhonda B · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sigh, this was a book that seemed to drag on. Recommended by a friend as an excellent mystery but it was revelling early on. Nasty woman that went about luring wondering married men into her liar to kill them for their adulterous ways. Even the main character was not very interesting. Might be why it took me almost 2 weeks to get through.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started reading My Lost Daughter and then realized that I had missed reading The Cheater, which features the same characters. So, I went back and read this one first so I was up to date on the characters. Interestingly some of the same descriptions and flashbacks are identical in each book. Rosenberg doesn't even try use different words to describe the settings or events....just reprints them from each book. I shouldn't complain though, at least she makes an effort to bring you back up to speed on the characters so you really could read one without the other. I don't think you will find another fictional character judge (the main character Lily) so morally and emotionally conflicted. She is co-dependent on men, women, whatever meets her needs and keeps her from being on her own, and at times I thought her personal decisions to be immature. I wish Rosenberg would have resolved the case in the courtroom about the little boy who was murdered by his parents who overdosed him on bipolar medicine and ritalin. I like Lily better as a judge, presiding over her cases, then reading about her personal mess of a life. Now I am going to go back and finish My Lost Daughter.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the third installment of the Lily Forester legal thriller series, The Cheater was a terrific new legal thriller from Nancy Taylor Rosenberg. Lily Forrester returned years later as the judge, who dealt with a new husband, an estranged daughter, and two new cases, when a serial killer made her family a target. To start things off, her new husband called her from a Las Vegas jail cell and was charged with attempted rape. Meanwhile, FBI Mary Stevens tracked down a serial killer who target cheating husbands. It all lead to a web service who listed cheated husbands, placing Lily and Mary as potential targets for the serial killer. Plenty of twists and turns with a bit of romance and lots of high-paced action. A must read for all NTR fans.

[Kris · Rating 2 out of 5]

I grabbed this book for a quick, light read over the holidays and was very disappointed. I was not expecting a riveting mystery but I was expecting much more than I was given. The plot was predictable and the main character, Lily Forrester was horrible. This was one of the few books I've read where I could not stand the protagonist. She was nasty and self-centered. I was almost cheering for the killer, she at least was honest. I see on Goodreads that Rosenberg has written other Lily Forrester books and I expect they were better as she made it to the third one in the series. If you are not a Lily Forrester fan, I would give this book a miss, you won't be missing out on anything. Sorry.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lily Forrester is back and now she is a judge. Still in Ventura, and newly appointed, Lily is still haunted by the double rape of herself and daughter Shana. It has been 10 years, and Lily's re-married to a real piece of work. Oh, and there is a female serial killer who only kills cheating men. Her new target? Lily's husband. Don't and won't spoil it. Just what you expect from Rosenberg, and every bit is a delight.

[Patricia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm done, the content of this book is too disturbing....

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

None of the characters were likeable. I understand that people are flawed and I don't mind flawed characters, but these people were just awful.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I usually don't write reviews. My opinion is just my opinion and I've figured out that what I like is not always to others taste and vice versa. However, when something is so annoyingly bad, I sometimes feel the need to comment.

With that preface out of the way I also want to say that the plot for this book was good, an interesting serial killer variation. However, and that is a BIG however, the characters were universally unlikable and really didn't hang together psychologically. This book was painful to read as all the characters were so distasteful. I think the serial killer was probably the most compelling person in the book! I'm not sure why I kept reading. I guess I wondered if at some point one of them might "develop" but no. They all continued to be whiny, self centered people. I guess it's kind of like Seinfeld. I never got how anyone could stand to watch that show either.

[Nancy Walker · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is supposed to be the 3rd or 4th book starring reader's fav character, Lily Forrester. I find it hard to believe anyone could like this woman. She's an idiot, her husbands a scumbag, and her daughter's a spoiled, arrogant brat. Almost makes you want to root for the serial killer. Plus, Lily is a judge and you'd think a judge would be smart, right? And you would be wrong. By the end of the book, I didn't want any of the characters, except the FBI agent, to live.

The writing style is rambling with many inconsistencies, and not particularly engaging. I had to struggle to finish it which reinforces my belief that if a book hasn't gripped you by page 50 at the most, give it up and go on to the next one.

[Echo Heron · Rating 1 out of 5]

Possibly the worst book I've read in a long time. Apparently there were no editors of any kind involved. Conflicting information, repeated information, plot mistakes, etc. At one section in the book a character is so tall as to be noticable, yet, later, same character is described as small, then, later as 5'5". The plot is improbable, not to mention rambling. There are so many absurd and impossible coincidences as to be laughable. Confusing, jumbled storylines that simly make no sense...rambling apparently just to fulfill word count. I'd give it a minus rating if I could. The publisher must have been on a tight deadline-no self-respecting editor would allow a mess like this to go into print.

[Dawn Ashenbrenner · Rating 1 out of 5]

Silly book. The best character is the serial killer! Lily is horrible, self-centered, annoying (maybe I should be a lesbian), and obviously cannot be without a relationship for one minute. Mary is only slightly better--meets Brooks and falls in love immediately and starts planning relocation (including their mothers moving in together). Who wrote these characters, a teenage girl? I can't believe I wasted my time on this drivel!

[Trish Ruthven · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yuck. I hate putting a book down until I've read the entire thing, but reading this one to the bitter end was a week or so of my life that I will never get back. The plot had promise, but that is the only thing remotely good about this book.

[Camilla · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oof. Don't just pick up murder mystery stories at random. This book was not great for me. There was a man who used to belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and the author had him say some really baffling things that were not even remotely true about the church. There was a protagonist who is herself a murderer, so it was hard to back her when her life became embroiled in another murderer's plot. It was a little confusing who we were meant to root for and the story was mostly just really, really depressing.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was another of those, "I borrowed this thinking it was the first book, because it was the 'first' book available from the library, but it's not." That taken into account, I found this entertaining and intriguing. It has a full range of female characters (murder, judge, friend, mother, daughter), and I nearly always enjoy a novel in which the killer is female, because, not only is it different, but it often provides the opportunity to explore different psychology.

[Carylanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

the story was a bit "long in the tooth" by way of all the repeated, although more elaborately remembered, from the first 3 books in the series. Not so sure I'll read on. Bring Mary into a series and I might be more interested.

[Carol Whetzel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting premise, but it tried too hard to be a romance novel in addition to a thriller. Those two generally don't mix too well.

[Nancy Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

The ending was very disappointing. Like she had to go somewhere in a hurry so it just ended.

[Melody Todd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!

[Lori Hugley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Spent to much time referencing previous events from series.

[Dani · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible. What a convoluted and unbelievable story. All characters stupid and unlikeable and behavior so unrealistic.

[Barbara Villegas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good mystery but I don’t enjoy knowing the killer early on. Despite that, there were great plot twists to get us through to the end.

[carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good mystery - had me engrossed at page 1.

[Marilyn Fiorini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kept my interested throughout. But the last chapter was disappointing. It felt like the author ran out of steam.

[Eliana]

Not for me

[Kimberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

story was okay but Lily Forester is nothing but a mess. Has no common sense.

[Laurel-Rain · Rating 5 out of 5]

This fast-paced suspense thriller introduces the reader to a Superior Court Judge, an FBI agent, and a serial killer.

Lily Forrester has been a judge for a short time, but she comes with a tangled history, including one as a victim—along with her young daughter—of a violent rape. Other events from that troubled period in her life are secrets she cannot reveal to anyone—secrets that could completely ruin her new life.

Meanwhile, a serial killer is targeting wealthy men who cheat. Once they are killed, they are dismembered and scattered far from the kill sites. An FBI Agent, Mary Stevens, is on the case, and what she begins to uncover is chilling and provocative; her path will soon intersect with that of Judge Forrester.

Bryce Connelly is Lily Forrester’s husband, who travels a lot, drinks too much, and is apparently about to engage in an illicit liaison with a woman named Anne Bradley. But there is much more to that story, as well.

"The Cheater" was so riveting that I literally could not put it down. Waking up in the middle of the night to read, I was rapidly turning pages to the exciting conclusion. Nancy Taylor Rosenberg’s books are all so compelling, that I knew I would love this one. I was not disappointed.

Each character was fully dimensional and finely drawn, and the plot was carefully constructed so as to maximize the suspense, as it deftly alternated between the perspectives of each major character. The author is clearly versed in legal matters, with her background in law enforcement and probation.

This book definitely earned five stars, in my opinion.

[Kelly R · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book because I'm a sucker for suspense/mystery/crime stories. I enjoyed reading it, it was fun, fast-paced-yet-long-enough-to-suit-my-love-of-long-stories, and a bit suspenseful.

I felt a few times that the main character was too loosely tied into the plot. It does work however, as far as plots go.
Here is the ten-second summary:
Judge Lily is traumatized by a rape in her past, she is now a judge. Her marriage is strained. A cop gets put on the case of a serial killer who leaves behind absolutely no trail (all the victims show up as missing persons). Lily's husband gets targeted by the serial killer. It goes wrong and the killer cries rape. Lily, because of her own past, can't stand her husband anymore. The killer tries to get close to Lily, but when Lily is asked to sign a search warrant to catch the killer, she realizes who the identity of the killer is. The killer gets shot in self-defense. The end.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found "The Cheater" to be an incredibly satisfying read - - with the exception of the ending. It was quick and easy to get into and the basic storyline was believable - - a serial killer who targets cheating men. The main character, Judge Lily Forrester, is traumatized herself by an assault in her past, and an unsatisfying marriage. What should she do when her husband calls from jail, having been arrested for attempted rape by a woman he left town to meet on the sly?

My only complaint with "The Cheater" is the ending was much too rushed, without what I consider a fulfilling resolution with the major characters.

Otherwise, I plan on checking out Nancy Taylor Rosenberg's other books.