The Attorney audiobook

Nije Grišam ali piše dobre "legal" trilere... :) Vredan je pažnje ljubitelja tog žanra...

Awesome series! good mystery,nice courtroom drama,good protagonist and likable characters,good plot twists and turns needed for this well written series (paperback!)

This is my first Paul Madriani book and I am definitely planning on reading the other books in this series. The plot was filled with action and twists right from the start. I particularly enjoyed the courtroom scenes because they were so engrossing. The ending was definitely a surprise because it was so unexpected!

THE ATTORNEY [1999] By Steve MartiniMy Review Four Stars**** I was a big fan of Martini’s legal thrillers when I haunted the audiobooks section of the library back in the ‘90s. My work necessitated extensive travel and it was books on tape that kept me entertained. By the mid-2000’s I was employed close to home and bought my first Kindle. It was a true luxury for me to be able to start reading my favorite series from start to finish, finally getting to read many novels across several book series that were unavailable as unabridged audiobooks all those years ago. In Martini’s case re-reading COMPELLING EVIDENCE, his national bestseller from 1992 which introduced the lawyer protagonist Paul Madriani was an absolutely thrilling experience. Books 2 and 3 were quick to follow, namely PRIME WITNESS and UNDUE INFLUENCE in 1993 and 1994 respectively. I read THE JUDGE [1996] a couple years ago, which was the fourth installment with Paul Madriani. After a period of absence, I returned to follow the exploits of Martini’s alter ego Madriani. Just finished THE ATTORNEY [1999] Book 5 in the impressively long series.Martini writes in first person POV and we see all of the events in the story line play out from the viewpoint of his protagonist Paul. The narrative picks up with the main character of Madriani living in Capital City, his daughter Sarah out of school and between fifth grade and middle school. It’s in the triple digits for like the tenth day in a row in August and Paul is contemplating the high index of his discontent as he drives along the Interstate with a broken AC unit in his car. Madriani has been in a long-distance relationship with a beautiful (younger) attorney in San Diego by the name of Susan McKay. She has twin girls who meshed with his daughter Sarah from the very first meeting among the kids. Three years have gone by since Paul and Susan met serendipitously at a seminar at which both were scheduled speakers. That isn’t all that had been fortuitous for Madriani since in the previous eight months he had made a “killing” in a wrongful death civil case. His memorable sidekick Harry Hinds had shared in this good fortune. It has been several years since his wife Nikki lost her battle with cancer yet Paul is still haunted by the familiarity of the house and the familiar places in the city. In short, the book begins with Madriani making a perhaps not too momentous decision to move to the southern part of the state. Sarah is thrilled with the prospect of being close to Susan and her twin girls, and Paul is upbeat and optimistic about the notion of a new beginning. Paul and Harry keep the Capital City law office open and take the pragmatic approach of establishing a branch office in San Diego. The narrative starts to take shape when Paul renews an old acquaintance who was a former client a decade earlier. Jonah Hale and his wife Mary meet with Paul to elicit his help in a sad situation. Jonah Hale had won the state lottery to the tune of $87 million. The couple’s daughter Jessica (only a teenager when Paul had represented Jonah in a court case ten years ago) had just been released from prison. She had been into drugs, repeatedly ran afoul of the law, and been generally a lost cause but for the birth of a little girl named Amanda. The Hales had been awarded full custody of Amanda, and this hadn’t meant diddly squat their jaded daughter behind bars. However, their good fortune with the state lottery and newly minted millionaire status changed everything, as money has the habit of doing. Their manipulative and opportunistic Jessica was attempting to extort cash money from her parents for allowing them to continue raising Amanda. The little girl had been living with her grandparents basically since she was born, and Jessica cared nothing about her 8-year-old daughter. Jonah was unwilling to be blackmailed by his good for nothing daughter, so enter a nut job crusader who facilitates the kidnapping of the little girl. The story has the effect of shattering any notions that the average person in this country might have about a fair justice system should some terrible travesty like this ever happen to anybody. This was a real education, which is well rounded coming from a savvy attorney like Paul, his eager good-hearted partner Harry, and particularly by Madriani’s new love interest Susan (director of Children’s Protective Services in San Diego). Eight-year-old Amanda is MIA, her criminal birth mother Jessica similarly in the wind, and the orchestra director, one Zolanda Suade, is busy preparing press releases reporting that Jonah, the grandfather, raped his daughter and his grandchild while the authorities took bribes to look the other way. Martini does a masterful job of depicting the appearance and personae of Zolanda, and what a despicable man-hating sadistic freak walks in her high heels. Predictably Jonah goes ballistic when he is told that Suade, a creature from Hell that walked straight out of his worst nightmare, is virtually free to kidnap Amanda and ruin his name and reputation with absolute impunity. The reader knows that Zolanda Suade has a killing comin’ and it happens a third of the way into the book. The stage is set for Martini to work his special magic.The universally despised activist Suade is murdered as predicted and not unsurprisingly Jonah is tagged as the prime suspect in the homicide. Paul steps in to defend the shocked grandfather who adamantly proclaims his innocence. It takes the author about a third of the way into the novel to set the stage but by the 50% mark we have Paul duking it out with Ryan, the overconfident prosecutor, making arguments before the Judge. In the beginning of the trial when the Prosecution begins its case, I loved Paul’s cross examination of the DA’s witness who presents the forensics on the murder weapon (gun residue, blowback, range of the distance of the gun from the victim). Martini has demonstrated an astonishing ability to write a riveting narrative within the courtroom, and no one does it better in my opinion. But in this case, I gradually became less enchanted as the prosecutor called one witness after another that put successive nails in the defendant’s figurative coffin. In short, Paul was getting “killed” and was sickeningly overmatched by the dogged yet wily Ryan. It was clear that a Mexican drug lord, a ruthless multiple murderer, loomed large as the likely killer. Therefore, it was frustrating that Madriani was unable legally to introduce this alternate theory to raise the issue of reasonable doubt in the minds of the jury. In fact, those individuals crucial to achieving this goal keep getting murdered. Madriani kept getting hammered by the prosecution like a law student who hadn’t passed the bar yet, and the defendant was stressed to the point of being on the brink of having a literal heart attack. Martini’s trend to take Paul out of the courtroom and render him as an “action hero” continues with this story line. The defense is circling the drain, the defendant in ICU, and at this juncture Madriani and the determined girlfriend Susan make the trek into Mexico to locate missing mother Jessica and to find and return Amanda to the US at any cost. There are crises of all varieties, bullets zinging, bad guys chasing our motley group running for their lives, explosions, and multiple dead bodies before the dust settles. The result of their spectacular adventures in Mexico yields massively important returns when all is said and done. Paul is back in court facing his foe Ryan, but this time Madriani has a straight flush when he plays his cards. The legal maneuvering in the narrative was in fact impressive and satisfying as Martini fans have come to take for granted with his novels. I’ll be honest and admit that I did not foresee where the twists and turns leading into the homestretch were leading and I was blindsided by the ending. Martini crafted a really clever plot and all of the elements meshed and converged at the conclusion. It was not an especially enjoyable or happy ending in my opinion. It did impress me enough that it prompted me to bump the rating up to four stars. I do have one nagging “dangling thread” that when I try to unravel it I just get more flummoxed. This is one of Martini’s early works from almost a quarter of a century ago. I would love to ask a question of other readers, but since I atypically read current novels, I am probably doomed to stay confused. It’s about the cigar…

Another Martini book, another great read. Had a hard time putting this one down. Started it one day, finished it the next, including staying up until 2:00 or so reading (I had made the mistake of napping earlier in the evening and wasn’t too sleepy; I sure was today at work though). I knew who the killer was right from the get-go, but it doesn’t really matter because it’s still fun to see how it all plays out and how the killer manipulates things. Hopefully the library will have some more Martini books waiting for me when I drop by later this week!

For some reason, I am a sucker for the protagonist in this - Paul Madriani. I sort of wondered where this one was going, but followed it as it went and enjoyed the trip to San Diego in my mind...I'd recommend this one.

This is the fourth book about the lawyer Madriani that I've read and I just love how real the characters seem. They have very human attitudes and problems and feelings. The courtroom scenes seem extremely realistic, and the stories keep me up late!

Recently finished this title. I've enjoyed other Martini novels before and enjoyed this as well. It was not my favorite of the series but still I'm glad I took time for this book.

Recommended.A highly enjoyable legal thriller very well written with only a few inconsistencies that gum up the works. I had read the previous book in the series (The Judge) and had decided that I would read the further exploits of this character at some time. After reading this one (# 5 in the Paul Madriani series) I will be ordering the 6th.The plot doesn't break any new ground but the telling is far above average. Also, I became very invested in the characters. I had an idea about one of the main "surprises/twists" near the end, but the confirmation of this suspicion did not take away from any of the enjoyment of arriving at the conclusion.There were a few inconsistencies that I had to overlook or take in stride and I seem to recall feeling the same frustration with the previous book in the series. But certainly not enough to stop reading this author.

Martini is a good story-teller and provides satisfying character descriptions - enough to allow you to imagine the characters in detail and develop an opinion of them.There was very satisfying courtroom procedure/drama and twists. However I found there was too much detail to the travel and the chases (and the surveillance), which made my eyes glaze over once or twice. Martini always provides enough description of events for the reader to connect the dots and he has a gift for using intelligent and varied vocabulary so that the reader doesn't feel as if the dialogue or descriptions are repetitious! It's one of the reasons I choose to read Mr. Martini's novels.In The Attorney, however, when the novel wraps up I was left with questions about how the evidence fit the solution of the mystery!So, I Googled my question and found the answer and the explanation for why Mr. Martini didn't spell it out:"My editor and I actually debated whether we should include an explanation of the above in the final chapter of the book, but felt it wasn’t necessary as it smacked too much of a Hercule Poirot mystery. Perhaps we were wrong.” Yes, sir! You were wrong! Lesson learned!

Mystery series - it has been a four year gap between books but Martini cleverly treats it as if Madriani has aged in the same time. Hinds and him have moved to San Diego to allow Madriani to get closer to his new girlfriend. No references to past books nor is there any continuation of plot lines. Madriani is hired by a millionaire lottery winning friend to get his granddaughter back from his drug addict daughter. Lots of politics, Mexican drug cartel, dead witnesses and large fish play together throughout the plot. And once again, the ending surprised me.No Canadian references.Pharmacy references - mention of a pharmacy in Mexico.

The main problem Madriani has in this story is that his client has one thing on his mind, and clearing himself of a murder rap is not it. Jonah Hale is innocent, he is so secure in his innocence that he can not fathom that he could be found guilty. Paul if fighting an uphill battle for information. Good twists, as he tries to identify someone who they can point to as "the other dude" who did it. The only part that was hard to swallow was that he would leave his daughter for the length of time indicated.