Shadow of Power: A Paul Madriani Novel (Paul Madriani Novels)

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.

it has in all the expectations of a book that was very well writen by a master writer.crafty

Martini does an excellent job with this courtroom thriller. The step-by-step discovery of evidence during the pre-trial investigation keeps the story moving, and the legal tricks and strategies that both sides use during the trial itself with each witness and each piece of evidence make for very entertaining reading.

As other reviewers have pointed out, the book isn't perfect. Martini spends more than a few pages setting up one particular part of the story-line, that people today would riot over something that's been in plain sight in the Constitution for over 200 years. That idea's a bit of a stretch, so the time he spends on that is pretty much wasted and slows the story down a bit. But once you get past that, the rest of the book is excellent.

This was the second Martini novel I've read (The other being The Jury - a novel so unremarkable I can barely recall what it was about) and on at least some level, I was impressed. I found the legal wrangling and courtroom chess game to be quite fascinating. A lot of legal thrillers (yes, I know - it's an oxymoron) have courtroom antics that feel artificial and melodramatic, but not so in Shadow of Power. What I especially appreciated is that the prosecutor in this case wasn't a buffoon, but a worthy adversary to our hero lawyers.

Now...to the elephant in the room.

The premise of this novel is absolutely preposterous. The notion that a book pointing out that the US Constitution still contains old inactive language that suggests the US Founding fathers condoned slavery over 200 years ago, would result in controversy and cause rioting in the streets is just ridiculous. An obvious case in point is that this novel, Shadow of Power, does exactly the same thing (albeit in a crime fiction novel) with nary a protest sign anywhere in the Country. It just isn't that controversial. Jefferson himself had hundreds of slaves decades after the US Constitution was signed. Most people are fully aware of this. The fact that political horse-trading was necessary to keep the Union together and that slavery was central to those discussions isn't a shocker. For crying out loud, parts of the US had segregation less than 50 years ago. The idea that people would take to the streets because of a 200 year-old document is laughable.

If you can get past the shaky premise of the novel, it is a reasonably entertaining legal thriller - at least until you get to the ending. Once again the popular `killer inexplicably confesses when confronted with virtually no evidence because they feel compelled to unburden themselves' plot device is deployed. The mystery of who killed the author is nothing special; uninspired, standard fare.

Bottom line: The novel is worth reading for the courtroom drama (if you like that sort of thing) provided you are willing to ignore the far-fetched premise of the novel (after all, it just provides a potential motive for a murder, nothing more). The ending is rather blah, but all in all, it's not a bad novel.

After some books that lacked the typical Martini style, this one gives us back Harry and Paul like we first met and loved them. Warm, human and full of humor even at their difficult moments.
A very good story, with excellent rythm, many upside downs and fast pace. Strongly recommended