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A review by weaselweader
Shadow of Power by Steve Martini
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