Helpful Score: 4
Steve Martini's books always keep you turning the pages. This is one of Martini's earlier novels, but it is as tense as any of his later ones. Paul Madriani is working as a prosecutor instead of a defense lawyer in this story...he knows the man he's prosecuting is guilty of at least two double murders, but what about the third double murder, did he commit that one too, or is there another copy-cat killer out there? And if so, how does he prove it? The courtroom scenes are always right on target...Martini knows how to keep you involved since he was a lawyer himself. This is as good is it gets in this genre.
Stephanie S. (punkinema) -
Helpful Score: 3
Brutal ritualistic murders in a rural area of the county lead the appointed D.A. Paul Madriani to a search that reaches all the way to Canada. One set of murders is slightly different which leads the police department to the belief that a copycat murderer is at large too. The many twists of this story keep you guessing until the shocking end!
Helpful Score: 2
Good murder story.
Helpful Score: 2
Gruesome double homicides with scant evidence to go on Paul Madriani is saddled with prosecuting a man that he knows is guilty but has to go up against long time enemy Adrian Chambers, a defense attorney who will stop at nothing to save his client. Good!
Helpful Score: 2
Good Read
Helpful Score: 2
I really enjoyed this book - perhaps not as much as a Grisham, but it was a captive read.
If you're a fan of Steve Martina, this is a must read. As always he comes through to make a book that's hard to put down. The tension builds to the end of this read. Enjoyed it!
Good courtroom thriller... well-plotted, engrossing. The forensics is not only interesting, but entertaining and informative as well.
Steve Martini is definitely one of my favorite authors and I've loved all his books to date. However this one seemed to drag for me. I kept waiting for something exciting to happen but it didn't. If you haven't already read his books, I don't suggest starting with this one.
Kept me guessing 'til the end.
Classic law triller.
A suspenseful legal thriller about a lawyer prosecuting a suspect for a series of gruesome murders but suspecting the killer didn't work alone.
Steve Martini serves up more of his intriguing courtroom drama in _Prime Witness_. Martini specializes in taking his plot in and out of the courtroom, with all of the events intimately linking up to a surprise conclusion. Prime Witness is no exception, opening with a mysterious event, and building through turns and twists until all of the seemingly random events connect. In addition, Martini's protagonist, Paul Madriani, receives extensive characterization due to this novel's backdrop of marital difficulties, which adds depth the the problems Paul faces. Martini does an excellent job of keeping the book active and avoiding the legal dryness rampant in others in this genre, but does keep the legal issues believable. His practice of describing facial expressions also adds a believeable aspect to the conversations, since it communicates the unspoken aspects of discourse. For me, another interesting facet is the book's apparent setting around Sacramento, California (Martini's stomping grounds), but the author's strange practice of renaming some cities and places, yet leaving other names intact keeps one guessing from the descriptions about where things really are. For example, Sacramento seems to be renamed Capitol City.
Great and different courtroom suspense thriller! Compares to John Grisham's books. It starts with a series of bizarre double murders
and builds from there.
and builds from there.
Bizarre double murders, the arrest of a prime suspect and an explosive trial. An unexpected twist @ the end.
A great read!
"The ugly marketplace of justice"--as one character terms the judicial process--is scrutinized with a riveting, you-are-there immediacy in the new legal procedural by the author of Compelling Evidence. When attorney Paul Madriani offers to assist a friend--the county's ailing district attorney, who subsequently dies--in investigating six brutal killings, he becomes entangled in a series of machinations that threaten his career and even his private life. Though Martini's plotting proves ingenious (the story is capped off by a nail-biting encounter in a darkened courtroom), the legal maneuvers themselves take center stage here. From the crime scene--the banks of California's Putah Creek--to a deceptively simple arrest to fascinating pre-trial scheming, Martini packs his novel with the quotidian details of the wheels of justice--and the numerous cogs therein.
"Martini is amaster of the genre."John Grisham
Madtini is a master of legal and courtroom thrillers. This one starts with a series of bizarre double murders and leds to the arrest of a prime suspect, but he may not be the only killer and this could destroy the case.
It started with a series of bizarre double murders. It led to the arrest of one prime suspect. And it sparked the most explosive trial in a lawyer's career.
Paul Madriani knows the man he's prosecuting is guilty.
but one disturbing fact could destroy the case..."
"Riveting...Ingenious...First-rate!- Publisheers Weekly"
Paul Madriani knows the man he's prosecuting is guilty.
but one disturbing fact could destroy the case..."
"Riveting...Ingenious...First-rate!- Publisheers Weekly"
it started with a series of bizarre murders .it led to the arrest of one prime suspect and it sparked the most explosive trail in a lawyers career.
good
Another Paul Madriani series.
Lawyer Action Story/ entertaining
Posted without having been read
very good read
