The Truth about the Devlins

The Truth About the Devlins is Lisa Scottoline’s 36th novel, published in 2024 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons. Scottoline is a #1 New York Times bestseller and Edgar Award-winning author, and over 30 million copies of her books are in print in 30 languages. Scottoline graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and her legal experience informs her novels. Her work often straddles the line between the legal thriller and domestic suspense genres, as illustrated in The Truth About the Devlins, in which a family law firm grapples with legal issues like The Intersection of Justice and Privilege, as well as more personal issues like Family and Business and Addiction and Recovery.

This study guide uses the e-book edition of the novel, published in 2024 by GP Putnam’s Sons.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide contain discussion of alcohol addiction and gambling addiction, as well as historical and systemic racism. In addition, the source text uses offensive language to refer to Black people, which is replicated in this guide only in direct quotes.

Plot Summary

The Truth About the Devlins tells the story of the prominent and wealthy Devlin family of Philadelphia from the first-person perspective of TJ Devlin, the youngest son and black sheep of the family. While his parents, Paul and Marie, and his siblings, John and Gabby, are all lawyers at the family firm of Devlin & Devlin, TJ is recently out of prison and working as the firm’s investigator. TJ’s incarceration is the result of his alcohol addiction, which had near-tragic consequences when he went into a bar and forgot that his girlfriend’s toddler was in his backseat, leaving the child in a locked car for hours. Since that time, TJ has been in recovery.

When the novel opens, John approaches TJ at Paul’s birthday party to tell TJ that he accidentally killed a man and needs TJ’s help. TJ knows John is asking him because he is the “family criminal,” but his idolization of John since childhood leads him to agree. John tells him that he discovered an accountant, Neil Lemaire, at one of the firm’s clients was embezzling, and he met him at an abandoned quarry to confront him. When Neil pulled a gun on him, John threw a rock that struck Neil in the head, killing him. However, when TJ and John go to the quarry, Neil’s body is gone, with only blood on the gravel to show that the event happened.

When they return to the party, Paul is angry that they left. TJ takes the blame, saying he was borrowing money from John, and Paul ignores him when he leaves. The next day, when TJ gets to the office, John tells him that he told Paul TJ was drinking again. TJ is angry but moves ahead with his investigation into Neil Lemaire. Gabby also asks TJ to help with one of her pro bono cases.

That night, TJ goes to Gabby’s house for dinner and realizes that his sister has heard about his “relapse” too, but she is supportive and kind. They eat with one of the plaintiffs in her current case, in which she is suing Holmesburg Prison in Philadelphia for medical experimentation done on the inmates in the 1960s and 1970s. TJ, who hasn’t heard about the controversy, is shocked and begins to work more closely with Gabby on the case.

Meanwhile, Neil Lemaire’s body is found at another location—with a bullet wound to the head. While most people assume that he died by suicide, a few people who work at the same company, Runstan, aren’t so sure. Runstan is in the process of being acquired by a larger company, and some of the employees think that might be a factor in Neil’s death. When one of the employees mentions that Neil had a diabetic cat that needs to be adopted, TJ volunteers, partly to help but also to get a look at Neil’s house and home office.

As the investigation continues, John tells TJ to stop looking into Neil’s death, but TJ keeps looking. He realizes that he is being followed by men and tracks down one of them, Barry Rigel. He chases Barry, who runs into the street, is hit by a car, and dies. The police, considering TJ’s record, draw connections between his involvement in Barry’s and Neil’s deaths, especially because John gives a statement telling them that TJ was the one who hit Neil with the rock. TJ realizes that John is framing him for Neil’s murder and becomes more determined than ever to find answers. This determination firms up with a visit to Nancy, John’s wife, and the revelation that they have been separated for six months, and John has drained their bank accounts and is refusing to pay child support.

TJ realizes that something much larger is going on and enlists the help of the rest of the family in his investigation. They discover that John has been overcharging his clients and offering kickbacks to the accountants to look the other way. When TJ goes to confront John, he finds his brother beaten on his kitchen floor. John tells TJ he owes $1 million to bookies, and TJ realizes his brother has a gambling addiction. While Paul and Marie are inclined to quietly pay their clients back and protect John, Gabby has secretly known about John’s scheme for some time and has alerted the FBI. John is arrested, but Gabby reminds TJ that they have a press conference for the Holmesburg case the following day.

While collating packets for the press conference, TJ sees the face of one of the men who has been following him and realizes that the surveillance is because of Gabby’s case, not John’s crime. He further realizes that it means Gabby is in danger, and races to the press conference. Once he gets there, a man chases him, and TJ gets away by grabbing his gun and shooting him in the leg. However, he can see another man with a gun heading for Gabby. He can’t reach her in time and calls out to Paul, who tackles the man and gets shot in the process.

Paul survives his wound, and the family finds out that one of the defendants in Gabby’s case, Dr. Bostwick, hired hitmen to kill TJ and Gabby so that the suit would be dropped, saving him millions of dollars. Neil Lemaire was accidentally killed by Barry, who followed John to their meeting. Dr. Bostwick goes to trial and is convicted. John goes to trial for his crimes as well, pleading guilty and being sentenced to three years in prison. TJ decides to finish his undergraduate degree and go to law school so that, like Gabby, he can work for justice.