Double Tap (A Paul Madriani Novel) - Softcover

Steve Martini worked as a newspaper reporter in Los Angeles and as a capital correspondent at the state house in Sacramento, California. An honors graduate at the University of California at Santa Cruz, Mr. Martini holds his law degree from the University of the Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law. He has written widely on the law and politics, having covered both state and federal courts, the state legislature, and the administrations of governors Ronald Reagan and Jerry Brown. In 1984 Martini turned his talents to fiction, quickly earning positions on bestseller lists and garnering both critical and popular praise for his New York Times–bestselling novels, including The Simeon Chamber, Compelling Evidence, Prime Witness, Undue Influence, The Judge, The List, Critical Mass, The Attorney, The Jury, and The Arraignment. Mr. Martini lives on the West Coast.

The "double tap" of the title refers both to ballistics evidence--two shots, only an inch apart, to the victim's head--and to the way wars have of reaching out to veterans, spattering past trauma into the present. Martini's latest legal thriller starring California defense attorney Paul Madriani weaves the theme of the past infiltrating the present throughout a daunting case. The body of an extremely wealthy businesswoman, CEO of a corporation specializing in defense, is found with two tightly grouped bullet wounds to the head, suggesting the work of an expert marksman. Enter the most likely suspect: a career soldier who was on the victim's security detail and with whom she was having an affair. As Madriani attempts to defend the uncooperative soldier, he discovers that the victim's company was involved in a potentially devastating antiterrorist program. The plot progresses in a satisfyingly logical way, from first interview with the suspect through legal machinations and on to a tense, utterly believable courtroom battle. Plot and legal knowledge are Martini's strength. Dialogue, however, is his weakness. Characters continually deliver off-the-cuff, incredibly detailed descriptions of scenes that seem much more writerly than conversational. And Martini is often guilty of overdescription--three pages of the businesswoman handing her keys to a valet parking attendant. Still, in this case, the plot carries the prose. Connie Fletcher
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