Customer Reviews

Shadow of Power

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I've been a Martini/Madriani fan for years. Martini has perfected the craft and art of the legal thriller far beyond the purported master, Grisham. In that particular arena, he fully realizes his capabilities in this novel.

The problem with this particular book is that the whole plot is predicated on the absolutely ridiculous idea that the murder victim has somehow turned one clause in the US Constitution dealing with the census apportionment of slaves -- which has been sitting there and been taught and explained in depth in every public school in the country since the Constitution was ratified in 1787 -- into a brand new and riot-inducing racial controversy that threatens the very fiber and existence of this country.

I mean....c'mon! It's so laughable I had to wonder what the guy'd been smoking!

I'd get all involved in the murder case and the investigation and the forensics and the personalities and the legalities of evidentiary matters and strategy.... and all of a sudden he'd write something that would once again remind me of the "motives" of the suspects, and I'd have to put it down until I stopped laughing!


Ah, well......... put THAT aside (yeah...ignore the elephant in the room) and it's a pretty good book.

Steve Martini is a legal thriller author who at once time was branded the next John Grisham. While Martini never quite reached that level of success, he has still produced a series of enjoyable courtroom thrillers involving a criminal defense attorney named Paul Madriani. SHADOW OF POWER is the most recent entry in the Madriani series, and it's just an okay read.

Nearly all of Martini's novels involve a high-profile criminal trial, and about two thirds of SHADOW OF POWER takes place in the courtroom. Martini is a criminal lawyer himself, and he usually does a solid job of describing the minutae of court procedure, especially when it comes to the complex process of admitting evidence to the jury.

Unfortunately, I think Martini goes overboard in this novel, spending countless pages on procedural manuevering that made my eyes glaze over in spots. I think a good writer knows what to leave out, and Martini gets a bit too long-winded with his detailed explanations of forensics and evidentiary law (which often trump character development). Some readers might find this material fascinating, but I just wanted Martini to get on with the story.

As other reviewers have mentioned, SHADOW OF POWER contains an over-the-top plotline involving the US Constitution that is hard to swallow. I think Martini decided to borrow a page from Dan Brown's playbook by promising to uncover a centuries-old historical conspiracy, but the whole concept really falls flat by the end, leading me to feel kind of cheated. I hope that Martini's next novel offers a more realistic plot than what I found here.

Overall, SHADOW OF POWER is an okay read, especially for those who enjoy a good courtroom story. You can do much worse than this book, but I think this isn't one of Martini's best efforts.

Shadow of Power would be thought of by Hollywood as National Treasure meets Perry Mason. A murder is committed and, lurking in the background, is the possibility that a hitherto-unknown document, written by one of the founding fathers, is the cause of that murder. Paul Madriani defends the accused killer and needs to find the document in order to clear him.

The real national treasure is Steve Martini. This is, by far, his best book, and I have been with him since The Simeon Chamber. His sentence-by-sentence writing is now smooth and effective and he is the absolute master of courtroom drama, courtroom technique, courtroom chess matches and courtroom procedure. Shadow of Power has a jackhammer plot, interesting characters, and a fascinating set of related mysteries, all of which are nicely resolved. I disagree with those who find the novel implausible. The novel's subtext is the hyper-partisan nature of contemporary politics and the manner in which it is fed by demagogues and opportunistic media. The world of the novel is immediately recognizable.

Despite its length this is a very fast read. In fact, it's exhibit A for unputdownableness. It is the perfect model of a bestseller--a fabulous summer read that is filled with legal facts, tantalizing mysteries, and a touch of the old ultra-violence. Highly recommended.

I really liked all of the Martini books I have read up until this one. I have to agree with most of the negative reviews here. The premise is outlandish and not believable. The trial details are somewhat interesting. The biggest problem for me was that precious little is revealed throughout 99% book, including through the trial verdict, and then the complete details of what happened are disclosed in the final five or ten pages, by the guilty party. I wouldn't recommend it. I do like Martini's writing style and I will read new books by him. I hope he takes some of the critisism of this book to heart and responds accordingly.

I am a huge Steve Martini fan and have long considered him my favorite author. I feel I know Paul Madriani and would love to have him represent me should I ever be in need of legal help. That being said, I am extremely disappointed by this latest novel, especially given that it has been more then 2 years since his last book. The solving of the murder is interesting as always, but the background leaves much to be desired. I started out by thinking that there may almost be some type of Davinci Code revelation by the way it started but the more the novel went on, the more I wondered what the "language of the Constitution" had to do with anything. It seemed like a hook to reel us all in but there was nothing there once the book was done. The story ends with me wanting much more and I think anyone reading this will feel there was a lot of promise of something amazing only to see it all fizzle out. This isn't enough to turn me off of Mr. Martini but I hope his next effort is worth the wait.

Wait, you might be saying to yourself, "How can a 1 star review AND a 5 star review both be correct"? Good question, but in this case it is true. I found the premise to be pretty far out there as many reviewers have noted, some areas were forced (no way the suspect would have been charged based on the evidence as detailed throughout), and there were really some parts that dragged on. But overall, I kept turning the pages and coming back for more. It did seem to wrap up far to quickly though and I was a bit disappointed by that. It was as though he reached a certain number of pages and decided the work was done, and plopped in the ending. This ultimately led to more questions than answers in some of the cases. So it's right in the middle at 3 stars. Worth it if you get it for a few bucks or if you can get it from the library.

My husband and I have read all of Steve Martini's other books and loved them. It is very difficult to believe Steve Martini wrote this book. The characters are cardboard versions of their previous selves. Their dialog is stiff and mundane. The premise is contrived, unbearably repetitive and untenable. We couldn't force ourselves to finish this book. I truly hope that the Steve Martini we've known will return.

I almost put it down once I started reading. I have enjoyed this author's work in the past, and once I got into the murder mystery and courtroom portion, it was typical Martini - good legal analysis and strategy (I am a former prosecutor myself). However, the novel's premise is utterly unbelievable, and the reader has to force himself to accept it and ignore reality. I won't spoil it for future readers, and I would tepidly recommend the book because the legal thriller part outweighs the premise, but you should pick up the book knowing that its premise is fatally flawed, and be willing to overlook it; otherwise, the book will disappoint you.

I don't usually like books or movies that have a lot of courtroom trial agenda going on and almost put the book down because of this. I continued to read the book and it really became quite interesting. For those that do like this type of book or movie I would suggest this book for a good read. I do intend to read other books by this author, his writing makes the stories very interesting, enough for me to give another one of his books a read.

This courtroom thriller rests upon a ridiculous and even laughable premise--that the words in the US Constitution sanctioning slavery could be used by a modern writer to produce a book that shoots to the top of best seller lists and causes race riots all over the country. The words in the Constitution that sanction slavery are clear to every high school student who actually pays attention, and Martini makes a most unconvincing case that anything new can come out of those eighteenth century words. The "Jefferson letter" turns out more like a Hitchcock McGuffin than anything realistic on which a genuinely genuine thriller would thrill. One final quibble--Martini glacingly refers to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's effort to pack the Supreme Court in 1937, and says that FDR was trying to amend the Constitution. Untrue. FDR was not trying to amend the Constitution because he didn't need to. Under the Constitution the Congress is empowered to establish a Supreme Court and to determine how many justices the Supreme Court will have. Over our history the number of Supreme Courts justices has varied from five to ten; in 1869 Congress set the number at nine, where it has remained. So, what FDR was seeking in 1937 was not a constitutional amendment but a simple Act of Congress to increase the number of justices from nine to 15. Congress refused. The point is that Martini should have researched his history more accurately.