Good read

I found this book moved too slowly, with too much dialogue for my liking. I read as far as page 60 and had to stop. Too much work.

Steve Martini is one of my favorite authors. I especially like his novels about attorney Paul Madriani. In Double Tap Madriani faces a dwarf ADA who is renowned for his courtroom antics and victories and the federal government which does not want information released. This makes it tough to defend the accused whose own weapon was used in the murder.

Surprise Ending

I enjoy the following the main character, Paul Mandriani, Esq. and enjoy following his legal exploits in all his other books

I don't think I have read many legal thrillers other than John Grisham and Perry Mason. This was a very enjoyable read! This was my first ever Martini and I would love to read more of him.

n  This review is under construction...thank you for your patience!

SPOILERS Ahead. Consider yourself warned!!n

The prologue is very well written...and the super succesful CEO has been murdered!!

The attorneys go to interview their client but are interrupted by a lock-down at the jailhouse.

Paul and his partner are planning a defense. He goes to meet the new CEO of the victim's company.

It's like Snowden's revelations about NSA...

Templeton...the charming dwarf public prosecutor makes the opening statement at the trial...

Templeton brings the doctor who performed the autopsy to the stand. He tells the jury that there were two different types of bullets fired in quick succession.

So the defence has a slightly better day on cross-examination of the forensic expert.

The book ends with Madriani's ruse working and the federal government shutting down the case proceedings indefinitely for national security. But the judge declares mistrial and allows Ruiz to go home declared innocent.

The best part...Madriani figures out who actually murdered Chapman after the case ends...

Funny! I would never pick this up at the library or bookstore, just not my genre.
Someone leaves books in my lobby & this was one of them, a worn paperback to boot.
I loved it! I couldn't put it down. I woke up this morning, weeks after finishing it, and thought of
Paul Madriani, funny old Harry, Emiliano Ruiz, all the characters stayed with me they were so well-drawn.
(And it's weird the way the title character Paul Madriani can stay so much in the background yet be the protagonist.)

It's a good book to read if you are writing a novel also. Flashbacks take him out of the murder mystery and into the
Korean war, dealing with the mental deterioration of his uncle and thereby covering a whole range of the effects of war
and how the soul and mind can break down from it. Heartbreaking.

Yet there's also humor.

I'm actually going to go find more Steve Martini. Thanks Steve, pretty cool story!

Paul Madriani is found with daunting ballistics evidence, a so called double tap - two
bullet wounds tightly grouped in the victims head. Paul's client Emiliano Ruiz is an
enigma, a career soldier who refuses to discuss his past though it is clear he is a battle
tested pro. He is accused of killing a beautiful business woman and geru of a high tech
software empire catering to the military. A key to the case is the murder weapon it is
used solely in speed operations where the double tap has become the signature of most
assassins. Ruiz is sitting on a seven year gap in his military resume for which
Madriani can find no details and more troubling the victim and her company were
involved in a controversial government computer program designed to combat
terrorists. Madriani finds himself in a deadly legal quagmire with a client who is unwilling
to co operate and prosecutors who stonewall every question about the victims shadowy
business and his clients past. Finding justice has never been so elusive or so dangerous.
This is the eighth book in the Paul Madriani series. The story isn't to bad but I usually
find lawyer books boring and this was no exception. I gave it a 3.

Review of Double Tap

This was a very interesting and timely story. It had Government Conspiracy, the Military Industrial Complex and the legal system The author understands the power of The Military Contractors and the lengths that the Federal Government will go through to protect their Political Power.

This is a brilliant novel written by Steve Martini. One of the best legal thrillers that I’ve read in a very long time. The character of Paul Madriani is captivating and humorous, and the courtroom scenes were great.

I haven’t read a book from this series in a very long time. Martini is a bit like Grisham. I really like both authors.
While Grisham writes stand alone thrillers, Martini has a series that includes Paul Madriani and Harry, his partner.
In this book, Madriani uses a personal story, that of his uncle Evo, to compare to the story of his client Ruiz. In addition, Martini is a master of creating a legal thriller that is geared toward assisting a reader understand legal terms and process. In addition, Martini used hot topics like Cyber Security and Government intervention throughout the storyline. He’s done his research.
This book was about a murder of a high society executive. Madriani’s client is the man who is falsely convicted of her murder. What makes this case difficult is he was set up and there is a lot of circumstantial evidence pointing his way. The finally resolution of the mystery made sense but it was a abrupt, almost shocking. Once explained, it made sense, however, I think it deserved more pages.
This was a book that I was invested in. Always looking forward to get back to it. A little disappointed in the ending but it didn’t take away from the writing or the mystery. I may just go to the next book in the series....If I have it laying around.

I'm a fan

I read this a lot time ago and enjoyed reading it again. Paul Madriani is smarter than most and the plot is very thought provoking, more now sadly than when this was written.

This is a schizoid review, but that's because of the book, not me. The first half of the book is bloated and boring - good content editing would have helped. The second half is a thrilling courtroom drama, with some of the best legal stuff I've seen in any novel. I rate the first half 2.5 stars, and the second half 5 stars, which gives an average of 3.75, which I rounded up to 4 stars.

The author has a very tedious style by telling not showing, with over-descriptions and too many clauses. The first 12 pages is like this, and without one word of dialogue. In fact, this style dominated much of the book. A side narrative that references Madriani's Uncle Evo was totally unnecessary and destroys the pace.

The book is written in the first person, i.e. the attorney Paul Madriani, who unfortunately comes out flat. I kept thinking while reading, "I don't know anything about this guy." At the end, I still didn't.

As mentioned, the courtroom scenes are full of strategy and psychological sparring, which was really enjoyable. The most unique character is the prosecutor who is a dwarf, but at times Martini goes over the top - a board placed over milk crates to form a plank to address the jury, and he sits on a box that serves as a booster-seat when at the prosecutors table. At times, references to this character verge on offensive.

Maybe I should have rounded down to 3 stars, but I was feeling generous.