Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Bayport Public Library | FICTION MAR | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | FICTION MAR | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Stillwater Public Library | FICTION MAR | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
An explosive new thriller from the mega-bestselling author of Undue Influence. Judge Armando The Coconut Acosta is arrested on charges of soliciting prostitution, and few, including attorney Paul Madriani, who has a long history of enmity with the judge, are sympathetic. But when Acosta's defense attorney is forced off the case, Paul must step in and defend the judge.
Author Notes
Bestselling author Steve Martini was born on February 28, 1946 in San Francisco, California. He graduated from the University of California at Santa Cruz and received a law degree from the University of the Pacific's McGeorge School of Law.
Martini worked as a newspaper reporter and political correspondent. As a lawyer, he represented clients in civil and criminal cases, was the Deputy Director of the State Office of Administrative Hearings, worked as an administrative judge, and worked with the California Victims of Violent Crimes program.
Martini mined his past experiences to produce such legal thrillers as "Compelling Evidence," "Prime Witness" and "Undue Influence." He is the author of the Paul Madriani series of books. His title, The Enemy Inside made The New York Times Best Seller List in 2015.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Here comes the Judgein handcuffs, and it's the job of California defense attorney Paul Madriani to save him from prison in this riveting new thriller from Martini (Undue Influence). Judge Armando Acosta is busted for soliciting an undercover vice operative; perhaps not coincidentally, the autocratic judge currently is in charge of a grand jury probing possible police cover-up of murder. Complications immediately pile up. Assistant DA Lenore Goya, whom Paul hankers after, is fired by DA Coleman Kline and crosses lines to head up Acosta's defense; Coleman pursues the judge with unexpected ferocity. Then Lenore's fingerprint is found at the murder scene and she's forced off the case, in effect forcing Paul, who has suffered courtroom run-ins with Acosta, to step in. Nearly all the subsequent action takes place in court or offices as we follow the intricacies of the trial, including rollercoaster swoops through jury selection, evidence and testimony. Paul, who narrates in the present tense, as he has other Martini novels, once again proves a sophisticated, good-humored hero who tells a suspenseful tale, right up to the perfectly satisfying climax. Even the loose ends he trails behind feel right. Legal thrillers don't get much better than this. Major ad/promo; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club main selection; Mystery Guild selection. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Martini has established himself as one of the leading practitioners of the courtroom drama. Already picked as a Literary Guild main selection, a Mystery Guild selection, and a Doubleday Book Club main selection, his fourth novel in the genre seems certain to add to his renown. Judge Armando Acosta has been summarily dismissed from the bench after being arrested on what he maintains is a trumped-up charge of soliciting a prostitute. When the key witness in the case against Acosta is found murdered and all the evidence points to Acosta as the killer, the former judge suddenly finds himself in desperate need of a tough, savvy lawyer to handle his case. An ironic set of circumstances eventually leads him to his longtime enemy Paul Madriani, who must combat police corruption, slurs against his own reputation, physical attacks, uncooperative witnesses, and a flamboyant, politically ambitious prosecutor who's as dangerous as a cobra. In a series of suspenseful courtroom scenes, Madriani mounts a tenuous but ultimately brilliant defense, racing against time to find the evidence he needs--and is certain exists--to prove his client's innocence. A keep-'em-guessing page-turner that will keep readers riveted. (Reviewed December 1, 1995)0399140433Emily Melton
Kirkus Review
Great news for California lawyer Paul Madriani: His nemesis, Judge Armando (``the Coconut'') Acosta, has been charged first with solicitation and then with murder. Madriani's only problem is that, against all odds, the judge has become his client. It happens like this: Acosta's vendetta against Madriani's client Sgt. Tony Arguillo, alleged to have cooked the Police Association's books, collapses when Acosta is picked up for offering to pay reserve police deputy Brittany Hall for the kinds of favors Madriani has always assumed he enjoys. But the audiotape Hall made of their encounter turns up silent (some technical glitch) and then so does Hall herself, bludgeoned to death. Arguillo's cousin Lenore Goya--the prosecutor whose preparation of the solicitation case is ended when D.A. Coleman Klein, a political comer who doesn't like subordinates who stand up to him, cuts her loose--agrees to take on the Coconut's defense. But her attempt to join the solicitation charge with the homicide backfires when her status as Acosta's former prosecutor forces her to step aside, and Madriani's left holding the bag. The case against Acosta--no alibi, a highly improper appointment on Hall's calendar for the afternoon of the murder, forensic evidence that places her body inside his car, his broken eyeglasses left at Hall's place, except for a sliver lodged in her foot--lacks only an eyewitness. No, the only eyewitness, Hall's five-year-old daughter Kimberly, can place both Goya and Madriani himself on the scene. Meantime, the Police Association has been working overtime to discredit Madriani in order to burn the judge. The resulting legal/extralegal slugfest (marred only by Madriani's endless glosses on every action and every speech, as if he were a color commentator on a baseball broadcast) has something for everybody, even readers who think they can see every twist coming. Not as dense with surprises as Undue Influence (1994), but right up there with the rest of Martini's dependable output: a guaranteed rush for fans of courtroom drama. (Literary Guild main selection; Mystery Guild selection)
Library Journal Review
With such critically acclaimed novels as Undue Influence (LJ 6/15/94), Martini has proven he can write about legal lollygagging as well as Scott Turow or John Grisham. Here, an attorney reluctantly defends a judge accused of murder. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
