Rating: 
Summary: Don't waste your time or your money
Review: I was looking forward to this book - Martini has been one of my favorite authors of this genre.However, the plot is absolutely terrible - to the point of being absurd. As the title says, don't waste your time or your money on this one. I may never pickup a Steve Martini book again.
Rating: 
Summary: Not one of his better novels, but not bad...
Review: I'll have to say I've enjoyed some of Martini's other work better than this one. But still, I read the book almost without stopping because I enjoy this author's style of writing. I think what disappointed me more than anything is the fact I had the plot figured out from the beginning and the story ended as I thought it would. Regardless, I would recommend the book to anyone for a good read and I'll be waiting for another Martini book in the future. I'll have to admit the beginning of Chapter 7 on page 82 really tickled me. Apparently, Martini/Madriani has his own views on journalism's "spin" nowadays.
Rating: 
Summary: For Paul Madriani Fans - Probably A Better Movie Than Book
Review: If you are a Steve Martini - Paul Madriani fan, this latest book is worth your time but not up to his best work. If you are a new reader and are looking for legal mysteries that involve complicated cases and courtroom strategies, I would suggest that you read some of Martini's other books first. If you like action adventure with some legal twists, then you will enjoy this book and probably rate it four stars. Nick Rush, friend and lawyer at a prestigious San Diego firm, approaches Paul Madriani to take on Gerald Metz, a client who supposedly poses a conflict of interest for Nick. After a conference with Metz, Paul declines and Metz and Nick are soon gunned down in front of the courthouse prior to Metz's grand jury testimony. Dana, Nick's trophy wife, requests that Paul investigate her insurance benefits, and interesting legal manueuvering ensues between Nick's employer, the insurance carrier, Dana, and Nick's former wife. This is vintage Paul Madriani (and Harry Hinds, his partner), clever and interesting. It also intoduces us to Adam Tolt, managing partner of Nick's firm whose apparent attempts to protect the firm's reputation and replace Nick lead to several interesting developments. For various reasons including loyalty to his dead friend and inconsistencies regarding the events concerning Nick's death, Paul (with reluctant help from Harry) decides to supplement the police homicide investigation with his own efforts. Eventually additional violence ensues, and Paul and Adam follow the confusing trail of Metz and Nick and the other assorted unsavory individuals that Paul has unearthed to Mexico. While any of the individual incidences of violence and danger might be believable, the cumulative effect defies belief. Of course, almost nothing is what it appears, and misdirecton is rampant, both for the reader and the participants. Paul repeatedly and often unnecessarily puts himself in incredibly perilous situations, and often his escapes defy belief. This seems totally out of keeping with his character in previous books, especially given his concern for his role as sole parent for his daughter since the death of his wife. It almost seems as if Martini was writing this book with the goal of maximizing it's potential as a movie project and wanted to create additional complexity and action a la James Patterson. While almost all the loose ends are tied together in the final chapter, and while the action and several clever plot twists kept me totally involved, my final reaction was one of disappointment. Steve Martini can undoubtedly write a good altough implausible action-adventure story, and the major elements of this story were well thought out. But I was in the end let down not just because it was not what I expected as a Paul Madriani fan, but because the result of the attempt to meld the two genres (legal mystery and action story) was less than the sum of the parts. It suffered from the conclusion being both unbelievable and complex, and my reaction upon finishing the book was disappointment even though in some ways justice and right prevailed.
Rating: 
Summary: Half Action Half Lawyer - Half Baked
Review: In his other books when he fully concentrates on law or on thriller (e.g. critical mass) he is able to put his full heart behind his writing. This book really meanders. It starts off as a legal stories wanders as a narrative in the middle and ends up as a half baked thriller story. There are two stories intertwined but neither is explained easily. Suddenly our dear lawyer has become an action hero. How he survives multiple spots where he would get killed beats me. When you try to do a number of things you often end of doing none of them well.
Rating:
Summary: A lawyer is gunned down and Madriani investigates.
Review: In Steve Martini's "The Arraignment," criminal defense attorney Paul Madriani is horrified when a friend of his is gunned down before his eyes. For a variety of reasons, Madriani does not leave it up to the police to catch the killer. He starts an investigation of his own, hoping to uncover the truth behind his friend's death. Madriani has his friend's electronic organizer, which he conceals from the police, and he uses this vital piece of evidence to track down leads. Along with his partner, Harry Hinds, Madriani crosses the border into Mexico, where he risks his life to confront his friend's killer. "The Arraignment" does not work as a legal thriller or as a mystery. All of the characters in this book are one-dimensional stick figures, such as Dana, the blonde and shallow trophy wife, Margaret, the bitter ex-wife who was replaced by Dana, and Adam Tolt, the power-hungry head of a large law firm. Madriani has very little reason to neglect his law practice and risk his life doing police work. Nor does he have any good reason to obstruct justice and withhold vital evidence from the authorities. Since he is a single parent with a child, one would expect Madriani to be more circumspect with his health and safety and more concerned with his professional ethics. The plot of "The Arraignment" is extremely complicated and the ending makes very little sense. Martini tediously stretches the book out to four hundred pages for no apparent reason. "The Arraignment" is one of Martini's weakest books and I do not recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Paul Madriani is back!
Review: In this compelling legal thriller Paul must find out who killed his friend on city streets. Madriani is one tough lawyer and his friends murder left up to him will not be unsolved. He will encounter many dangerous characters including people who murder for money. What can I say I love all of Paul Madriani series. He's always in the middle of a mystery. This was definetely a page turner.
Rating:
Summary: A lightweight Diversion
Review: It's been a long time since I've sat down and read a novel all the way through in a short period of time. This one was given to me by one of my sons as a Christmas gift, so I decided to give it a priority.
I had hoped that the author's credentials as a lawyer might develop some underpinning of credibility for the story, but rather it seems that Mr, Martini might do better to keep his legal pad writing restricted to briefs in the courtroom.
Another reviewer suggests that the last third of the book might have been inspired by a visit to Cancun, a place which I have enjoyed, and I agree. One of the building blocks of any good novel must include the suspension of the reader's belief, and I fear that I found myself suspending my belief that Mr. Martini really was a writer.
He introduces characters the way that Emeril adds his essence to a stew with a sudden "POW!", and then lets them evaporate when it appears he cannot think of anything further useful for them to do in the plot. He permits murder and mayhem to splatter his pages with blood, yet at a moment when the book might have been mercilully shortened, a naughty razor wielding man runs away without helping us out by slitting the throat of our protagonist.
I'm not quite sure why I gave this pup two stars -- perhaps it's because of my fondness for Cancun, and Chichen Itza. To the best of my knowledge, if you stay at the Moon Palace, you won't get sprayed by gunfire from a two-man ultra-light aircraft. Can such craft even fly?
Rating:
Summary: A different novel from his usual
Review: Martini has strayed from his well-established and successful themes that had catapulted him to his position as a legal thrilled author. In this novel, he has moved to the action thriller. Gone is the court room drama that I had so much enjoyed in many of his prior efforts. It is a stretch to take Paul Madriani from his role as a legal eagle, single parent and turn him into a daredevil crime fighter operating outside the police driven investigation. I suppose that if you are not familiar with Martini's earlier works, this would satisfy, however those who are long term fans will be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: John Grisham He's Not
Review: My first impression of Steve Martini's writing style was certainly not a good one. I have a pretty good opening sequence where two lawyers are gunned down gangland style, the story creeps into a boring state. Shallow character development and poor introduction of other players in this novel cause me to wonder,"What's going on here?" A few action scenes emerge to wake me from slumber. The description gets a little better. An interesting betrayal than takes place. However, the ending is about as realistic as a poor Stephen Segal movie. I will consider try reading another book by Stephen Martini. He seems to have several legal thrillers on the market. However, The Arraignment novel did not strike my fancy in the least.
Rating:
Summary: Hmmm. This doesn't feel right.
Review: OK. It's a small thing. The point of all of the folks getting together in the lawfirm of his deceased buddy's employer, the evil senior partner, the hot trophy chick-wife, the tired but savage ex-wife, the wise-cracking partner, is the division of the "key man" policy of insurance, a cool 2 mil. Savage ex-wife will lose it all to her lawyer to prevent the blond size 5 from getting a cent. And the blond, blue-eyed 'whatEVER' current wife feels the same. Tension. Witty arguments. Insurance executives who laugh too hard. Points and Authotities on 'accidental death.' So it's a small thing and probably to Steve Marrini fans, of which I am one, it will make me appear petty. But you see, so much is made of this "key man" insurance policy that you wonder if someone didn't tell Mr. Martini . . . wives, ex, future, current, sizes 5 to 25, these folks don't get key man insurance benefits. They are not the beneficiary. Or husbands for that matter. Or beautiful, obedient children. It's for the company who has a really important Doctor or Lawyer or Salesperson or Broker and will suffer if that man or woman becomes unexpectedly (aren't they all?) deceased. See. It's not for the wives of Nick Rush, gunned down by accident on a San Diego street corner in a hail of automatic rifle fire. It's for his employer for whom he, the deceased Nick Rush, was a "key man." So this is kind of irritating. And so much swings on this. And subsequently it seems like a lot of effort wasn't put into the groundwork. And for me, again liking Mr. Martini, it went downhill from there. Paul Madriani lacks the history of wisecracking of Elvis Cole or Spenser so instead he comes up scripted and shallow. And as a character he lacks the painful introspection of John Connolly's characters or James Burke's Dave Robicheaux. So overall, a disappointment. I'll read him again. But this story was a let down.
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