The Attorney
May 23, 2009 by Joint Venture Marketing
Paul Madriani is back–as both defense attorney and sleuth–in this riveting new legal thriller by the New York Times bestselling author of The Judge and Undue Influence.
“Riveting . . . a suspenseful tale, right up to the satisfying climax,” wrote Publishers Weekly in praise of The Judge. “Legal thrillers don’t get much better than this.” Kirkus Reviews hailed Undue Influence as “the courtroom novel of the year.” Now Martini delivers Paul Madriani’s most challenging case yet: one pitting a drug-addicted mother against her daughter’s newly rich grandfather in a contentious custody case that leads to criminal accusations and ultimately murder.
Having moved to San Diego to be closer to the woman in his life, Madriani takes on the case of Jonah Hale, an elderly man in terrible straits. As a result of their only child Jessica’s longtime drug addiction, Jonah and his wife have been raising their eight-year-old granddaughter, Amanda. On the heels of Jonah’s multimillion-dollar state lottery win, Jessica revives her interest in mothering. When Jonah won’t deal–maternal rights for a mega-bucks payoff–Jessica plays dirty: she accuses the old man of having sexually abused her as a child and similarly abusing Amanda now.
Enter Zo Suade–a flamboyant, feminist activist with a penchant for making the objects of custody battles and their mother/plaintiffs “disappear.” True to form, a week after Zo takes on Jessica’s case, mother and daughter vanish. When Zo’s body turns up, Jonah becomes the prime suspect. And Madriani is the man who can prove his innocence.
Filled with action in and out of court, rich in characters with motives obvious and subtle, The Attorney marks the much-anticipated return of Paul Madriani.
User Ratings and Reviews
1 Star Tossed the book away after only a few pages
The sensible thing to do was grab the child and move to another state! Staying put was silly masochism. What could I expect of this novel after such a start?
3 Stars Heavy Legal Thriller
This is the 2nd Madriani novel I have read and I would rate them both as good. Not great; but a decent read. The book has a good story involving kidnapping, drug dealers, and a lot of courtroom activity.
His books would be better if there was some more sarcasm or touches or humor. The characters need more depth where the reader can relate. After this second book, I can’t even picture what Paul would look like or who would play him in a movie.
The courtroom activity was a tad drawn out but what do you expect with a name like “The Attorney”
As many others have stated, I also find the ending to this and his other books to be transparent.
5 Stars An audiobook review
I am a relative newcomer to the works of Steve Martini, this being my third book, the second one as an audiobook.
As a listener, I can tell that Martini’s craft has improved quite a bit – my first experience with a Martini audiobook (”The Judge”) only accentuated Martini’s overuse of the simile (he moved like a cat, etc.) – it was so obvious that I began a running count of how many times I heard them! This plot is not as strong as that one, but his skills as a writer have improved so that the entire effect is actually one of improvement.
Paul Madriani and his partner Harry are back for another turn as protagonists, although Harry takes a backseat in this one, which is too bad. Nevertheless, the plot moves well, suspense builds nicely until the ending comes along and there is a bit of a letdown. However, I am not one to look down on 5 hours of solid entertainment just because the last 5 minutes were a bit weak.
Chris Meloni (more well known as Det. Elliot Stabler on “Law & Order: SVU”) reads this audiobook version of “The Attorney”. Meloni does a pretty good job, especially with Madriani and the defendant, Jonah Hale. Considering that the book is set in San Diego, it is a bit odd that all of his police officers and district attorneys all end up sounding like transplanted southerners.
I give this legal thriller an A-.
2 Stars Plods too Much in the Middle
I’ve enjoyed Steve Martini’s work in the past, but THE ATTORNEY was something of a disappointment.
THE ATTORNEY has a great beginning, but the middle moves with almost excruciating slowness, with a lot of legal maneuvering and protracted arguments over minutae. There isn’t a lot of tension in this novel, and I didn’t feel a burning desire to turn the page. The trial in the second half of the novel is largely boring, where paper-thin characters rehash all the events that took place earlier in the book. This book is probably a hundred pages longer than it needs to be.
There is a twist ending in THE ATTORNEY, but it’s delivered in a way that is kind of abrupt and unsatisfying. I can’t say more without giving it away.
I like Martini’s writing style, and really enjoyed his novel DOUBLE TAP, so I hope this book is an aberration.
4 Stars Far better than I’d expect of “genre fiction”
This book is far better than I expected it to be. It’s actually a bit unusual for me to like anything with “New York Times Bestseller” emblazoned on the cover. But I did that thing many reviewers stereotypically do, staying up until midnight to finish reading it. How’d that happen?
Narrative, ear for dialogue, pacing, characterization. The minor characters present little mysteries which I enjoy trying to solve, even when I’m wrong. I’ve actually come to expect this more of great films than great novels, which probably means I’ve been reading the wrong books lately.
It’s too easy to write a series of thrillers. Create your recurring protagonists, situation, and stock characters. Throw a different plot and villain into the mix for each novel, and there you go. A Quinn Martin production. But that’s lazy. Steve Martini doesn’t do that. He makes it complex, readable on many levels, and very satisfying to solve “the puzzle.” Legal thriller as literature? Hey, why not?
He’s also a master of the language, doing all the work so it’s quite easy for the reader to just kick back and read. I believe he’s brought this old reader back to the legal thriller genre, and I’m going to enjoy hunting down his other books.
