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weaselweader's review against another edition
3.0
A legal procedural ... defnitely NOT a thriller!
Terry Scarborough is a very unpleasant and self-serving author who's quite willing to cause race riots in the furtherance of his climb up the best-seller list. Having written a book about the offensive language of slavery that is contained in the US constitution, he's giving public hints about a sequel that will reveal the existence of a divisive document - a document whose contents are so controversial, he boasts, as to make the LA Rodney King riots look like a Sunday afternoon walk in the park. But, at the eleventh hour, just as this book is due to hit the shelves, Scarborough is brutally bludgeoned to death with a hammer. Carl Ansberg, a white supremacist who contends he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, is charged with the murder and is facing execution.
The dust jacket and any marketing information would have us believe that SHADOW OF POWER is Steve Martini's ninth thriller in the extensive Paul Madriani series. But, in my opinion, "thriller" rather overstates the nature of a novel that is interesting but never really reaches the level of a compelling, page turner. In fact, it would much more correctly be categorized as a legal procedural that focuses almost exclusively on the courtroom drama of Ansberg's trial and Madriani's tactics for a defense that is clearly a difficult uphill battle with little prospect of success. The minutiae of the admissibility of evidence, endless side bars on legal haranguing, and the tactics of courtroom examination and cross examination are certainly interesting but definitely do not give me goose bumps of anticipation.
A readable novel to be sure but I confess to feeling somewhat deflated by its low level thriller power and the lack of credibility of the basic premise of the novel. Recommended reading as part of the continuation of a generally strong, enjoyable series but a weak sister as a stand-alone novel.
Paul Weiss
Terry Scarborough is a very unpleasant and self-serving author who's quite willing to cause race riots in the furtherance of his climb up the best-seller list. Having written a book about the offensive language of slavery that is contained in the US constitution, he's giving public hints about a sequel that will reveal the existence of a divisive document - a document whose contents are so controversial, he boasts, as to make the LA Rodney King riots look like a Sunday afternoon walk in the park. But, at the eleventh hour, just as this book is due to hit the shelves, Scarborough is brutally bludgeoned to death with a hammer. Carl Ansberg, a white supremacist who contends he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, is charged with the murder and is facing execution.
The dust jacket and any marketing information would have us believe that SHADOW OF POWER is Steve Martini's ninth thriller in the extensive Paul Madriani series. But, in my opinion, "thriller" rather overstates the nature of a novel that is interesting but never really reaches the level of a compelling, page turner. In fact, it would much more correctly be categorized as a legal procedural that focuses almost exclusively on the courtroom drama of Ansberg's trial and Madriani's tactics for a defense that is clearly a difficult uphill battle with little prospect of success. The minutiae of the admissibility of evidence, endless side bars on legal haranguing, and the tactics of courtroom examination and cross examination are certainly interesting but definitely do not give me goose bumps of anticipation.
A readable novel to be sure but I confess to feeling somewhat deflated by its low level thriller power and the lack of credibility of the basic premise of the novel. Recommended reading as part of the continuation of a generally strong, enjoyable series but a weak sister as a stand-alone novel.
Paul Weiss
lisahelene's review against another edition
4.0
More like 4 1/2 stars. I really enjoyed his writing, will have to try some more.
embingham's review against another edition
4.0
I don't usually enjoy the lawyer books too much, but this one was the exception. The book took me a while to get into, because the beginning had so much build up. However, once the trial began, it was very interesting to me to see all of the details involved in the courtroom. I've never read a book that gives so much detail about the actual case trial, and I was surprised to find that I thoroughly enjoyed learning all of the ins and outs of the judicial system. (I should mention that there was some strong language during some parts of the book.)
jadenbru's review against another edition
2.0
I read this book to the end and didn't give up on it... But I just didn't like it that much. I got it off of a list of supposed page-turners and I thought it was pretty boring. Not many twists or turns until the end, and at that point it was sort of womp womp. Through the whole novel I kept wondering if there were going to be any subplots, but there weren't. Meh.
aksharpes's review against another edition
3.0
I listened to this book on CD to and from work, out of 11 CD's it took until #5 before it even became interesting. The first 5 were a bore and I almost quit listening. But after CD 5 it did pick up, once the courtroom drama started up it became really good and interesting. I like that the ending kinda tied up everything.
ttnnllrr's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
it kept me excited! was pretty interesting, i enjoy cop shows/books sometimes and this was like that, but from a different angle which was cool! I really liked the court scenes when the main character basically obliterated the prosecution’s witnesses lol
sally_loves_animals's review against another edition
5.0
Excellent story, brings up real life controversies. Well done. Relevant today.
markacanada's review against another edition
3.0
Bit slow in parts but enjoyed the drama - was not big on the court room scenes like other books.
aksharpes's review against another edition
3.0
I listened to this book on CD to and from work, out of 11 CD's it took until #5 before it even became interesting. The first 5 were a bore and I almost quit listening. But after CD 5 it did pick up, once the courtroom drama started up it became really good and interesting. I like that the ending kinda tied up everything.