23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
3 1/2 Stars, May 12, 2010
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Still feeling the effects from a near nuclear explosion he helped thwart a few months back, defense attorney--and now apparently a spytracker--Paul Madriani goes after an extremist who is bound and determined to cause a major catastrophic event in an attempt to amputate one of the arms of the government.
Normally I know Steve Martini to be a legal thriller writer. Now he seems to be venturing into the spy thriller. I blame myself mostly for being disappointed in this latest Madriani novel. The reason would be that I didn't read the previous 'Guardian of Lies' thriller and it seems to tie in with this one quite a bit. This left me in the dark on quite a few of the topics. This is not a good stand alone thriller. I'm still not sure this one would of pulled me in whether I read the first or not. Maybe it was the overall mediocre pace of the story.
I know Martini to be a very talented author from his courtroom dramas but this latest didn't stand at all by itself.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
35 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Can't Put Down, April 22, 2010
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Steve Martini has successfully built on his previous Paul Madriani novel. This is a lose sleep novel because the reader just can't put it down. Madriani and his family are still dealing with the fallout of a case which led Madriani and his investigator right into the middle of a failed nuclear attack. The FBI suddenly wants no more to do with him, his daughter, investigator and partner are all in mortal danger from Liquida, a murderer who escaped the FBI at the time of the earlier crime. And then Madriani's daughter's friend is killed and the urgency to hide from Liquida intensifies. Throw in a Supreme Court Justice and a long time Congressman and the mystery of who is doing what to whom becomes ever more complex. The characters are drawn with true empathy and they story tightly written. Another can't put it down from Martini.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
"The rule is perfect: in all matters of opinion our advesaries are insane." Mark Twain, June 8, 2010
An extremist desires to change the direction that the United States is going by wiping out the Supreme Court.
The realistic story could have been taken from the latest news exposing politicians in Washington.
Washington is in debt and wants to generate revenue so decides to tax overseas accounts. Senator Josh Root is both embarrassed and concerned with how he and a number of political friends will explain the wealth they have accumulated in foreign banks. This wealth he derived from bribes and kick-backs. In addition, someone is blackmailing the senator for actions he took during Vietnam when he was a member of an underground movement and his actions resulted in the death of a security guard.
The story follows the action of the author's "Garden of Lies". In fact, parts of the novel follow the events in the first novel so closely that it assumes that the reader has read that novel prior to "The Rule of Nine".
In this story, the antagonist goes by the name Thorn and the FBI agent running the investigation is named Thorpe. The similarity
of names was unfortunate and I had to pause a number of times to make sure I had my characters correct.
Thorn uses a Mexican killer who is referred to as Liquida. He bears a hatred for Madriani and Madriani's investigator, Herman Diggs. This hatred is so strong that it governs Liquida's actions and the cause of it is only glossed over. I think more detail would have helped.
Madriani is an interesting character. He believes in the United States and in justice. But it does seem improbable that a defense attorney would feel compelled to stop his practice in order to chase terrorists.
There was good suspense and the plot progresses at breakneck speed which builds rapidly as the novel concluded. The final pages felt like they could be in an episode of TVs "24."
For the reader looking for a light read, this would do the trick.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
