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"Defense attorney Paul Madriani gets caught in a web of deceit and murder involving Cold War secrets, a rare coin dealer who once worked for the CIA, and a furious assassin in one of the most entertaining novels yet in this New York Times bestselling series. A woman pauses in the hallway of a darkened San Diego beach house at night--listening for just the right moment when she can flee before her companion notices that she's gone. A man outside watches the same mansion, waiting for a sign that he can enter on his mission of blood and carnage. So begins this riveting new tale about Paul Madriani and his latest case--that of Katia, a woman accused of an unlikely crime--a trial that will unravel a careful but horrifying conspiracy. Madriani soon realizes that he's signed onto something much more sinister than a botched heist. As he searches for the truth that will clear Katia's name, he finds himself on a path that takes him from Southern California to Costa Rica, and, ultimately, to a secret buried since Castro's rise to power. Together with his partner, Harry Hinds, Madriani must piece together the threads of a decades-old conspiracy involving priceless gold coins, an aging American spy, a disaffected Russian soldier, and a forgotten weapon from the days of JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis. As the separate strands of the story come together, Madriani finds information that will ultimately lead him to the one person who holds the key to it all: a man some call 'The Guardian of Lies'" -- from publisher's web site.… (more)
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I did like how Martini managed to weave a plot to include
The lawyer Paul Madriani talks to a beautiful young South American woman in the grocery store. Soon thereafter she is charged with the murder of the older man she was living with. We know that he
The pace is so fast that it is hard to have time to think about the plot, but the plot is overall a good one, although there were a few unaswered questions. Characterization is pretty good, though the people get lost to some degree in the action. The brst character to me, actually, wasn't in the book for long, she was an agent assigned to get information from Katia, the woman accused of the murder.
A recommened read if you're looking for a thriller.
Katia never knew her grandfather, but now he is in the hands of some Middle Eastern extremist who wants to use his bomb
Emerson Pike, a former CIA agent, recognizes Yakov Nitikin from a photo and befriends Katia in order to get to Nitikin. He is brutally murdered and Katia is arrested. It is thought that Paul Madriani was somehow involved. This leads to exciting traveling, following clues and killers to a suspenseful conclusion.
The only thing that was off-putting was the thought by the District Attorney that Madriani was involved in the murders. It was just silly, based on both the Madriani and D.A. characters. Otherwise, while it was necessary to suspend belief on occasion, Steve Martini has put together a readable, suspenseful espionage thriller.
Will there be a sequel? Won't there? Hmmm. That is the cliffhanger ending.
Now that I have been introduced to Steve Martini, I will be looking for his books...who knows, I may already have some that have not been added to my library.
This was in galley form so there were some missing phrases and other problems.
Martini's
I was also pleased to see a minimum of foul language and no graphic sexual content. The violence, though, is described in detail. While it is not full of hyperbole, the methodical, matter-of-fact, description of someone being killed was a bit unnerving for me. But not so much as to put me off of this book, or any of the others. I'm going to look up a few Madriani novels at the library soon.
Guardian of Lies is an
I really appreciate the research that went into this book. The story line and the way the events are interwoven are amazing! This book was well paced with a lot of clarity. I have only read one other suspense novel prior to this one. I normally only dabble in African-American non-fiction but this novel has opened up a door to another genre that I won't be closing anytime soon.
Overall, it was an entertaining read. A great way to escape for a few hours.
The initial story of the murder investigation of an ex-CIA agent is interwoven with the story of a planned terrorist action and the stories intertwine nicely. Madriani, the main character, is central in the first story thread, which then evolves in both location and focus into the second.
The action in the story holds the reader and although there is no mystery per se, the narrative drives forward and makes the reader want to find out how it will all turn out.
My biggest quibble with the book is that Martini sets up the story arc so well and ties a whole bunch of story elements together, but the book ends very suddenly. In a matter of a couple of pages ( paragraphs really) several of the storylines are wrapped up a little too neatly. Another point about the book that was a little off-putting was the shift between first person present tense and third person past tense for the different narratives. I didn't really see any need to do this, and frankly Martini doesn't pull off the first person POV to where it really adds anything to the character development or plot.
Nevertheless, this is a well formulated page-turning story with elements of legal and political thrillers thrown into the mix. Definitely a recommended read.
However, although the book is jam packed with all these page turning elements, I was left feeling empty. The characters all had development potential, but this potential was never flushed out. Every character seemed to merely be inserted for particular events then basically forgotten. I struggled, hoping to find one character that was not a mere shell of a person. The exciting locales were only touched on. A sense of having visited for a day or a hint of a cultural interest never surfaced.
The book seemed to be written with a checklist on hand, adding the ingredients but not cooking them up. Rather than being thoroughly thrilled, I was thoroughly bored.
Anyone else trying to tie all that together would have left us in a sinking morass of confusion. Martini pulls it into a breath-taking fast-paced, very scary (because it's so believable) story with an acceptable resolution.
I've read several others in the Paul Madriani series. I think this is definitely the best.
A woman pauses in the hallway of a
A man outside watches the same mansion, waiting for a sign that he can enter on his mission of blood and carnage.
So begins this riveting new tale about Paul Madriani and his latest case - that of Katia, a woman accused of an unlikely crime - a trial that will unravel a careful but horrifying conspiracy. Madriani soon realizes that he's signed onto something much more sinister than a botched heist. As he searches for the truth that will clear Katia's name, he finds himself on a path that takes him from Southern California to Costa Rica, and, ultimately, to a secret buried since Castro's rise to power.
Together with his partner, Harry Hinds, Madriani must piece together the threads of a decades-old conspiracy involving priceless gold coins, an aging American spy, a disaffected Russian soldier, and a forgotten weapon from the days of JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis. As the separate strands of the story come together, Madriani finds information that will ultimately lead him to the one person who holds the key to it all: a man some call "The Guardian of Lies."
After Pike is murdered, Katia turns to attorney Paul Madriani, after a chance meeting. Madriani is determined to help Katia, and in the process uncovers much of the mystery behind this novel. The novel works at a fast pace, and makes the reader wan to continue reading, but much of the time is hard to follow. The characters aren't terribly compelling. The villainous characters aren't remotely believable and often times hard to take seriously. There's enough in this novel that makes it worth reading, but not enough that I would highly recommend it.
Carl Alves - author of Blood Street