Prime Witness

Rating:
Summary: Great book up until the end
Review: Prime Witness kept me glued to my seat for several evenings. For about 380 of the 400 pages, it is a real page turner. In the second book in the Paul Madriani series, our hero ends up being the District Attorney of Davenport county, a small rural county in which several serial murders have been committed. When the killer is caught, Madriani feels there is another murderer, probably a copycat at work. From there the book keeps a steady pace and the pages begin to turn themselves until about page 380. Then, all of a sudden Steve Martini must have either run out of steam, or maybe he just wanted to get the book over with. The end seems unbelievable and just comes too quickly. Still worth reading though.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating in and out of courtroom action
Review: Steve Martini serves up more of his intriguing courtroom drama in _Prime Witness_. Martini specializes in taking his plot in and out of the courtroom, with all of the events intimately linking up to a surprise conclusion. Prime Witness is no exception, opening with a mysterious event, and building through turns and twists until all of the seemingly random events connect. In addition, Martini's protagonist, Paul Madriani, receives extensive characterization due to this novel's backdrop of marital difficulties, which adds depth the the problems Paul faces. Martini does an excellent job of keeping the book active and avoiding the legal dryness rampant in others in this genre, but does keep the legal issues believable. His practice of describing facial expressions also adds a believeable aspect to the conversations, since it communicates the unspoken aspects of discourse. For me, another interesting facet is the book's apparent setting around Sacramento, California (Martini's stomping grounds), but the author's strange practice of renaming some cities and places, yet leaving other names intact keeps one guessing from the descriptions about where things really are. For example, Sacramento seems to be renamed Capitol City.

Rating:
Summary: In and out of Courtroom action
Review: Steve Martini serves up more of his intriguing courtroom drama in _Prime Witness_. Martini specializes in taking his plot in and out of the courtroom, with all of the events intimately linking up to a surprise conclusion. Prime Witness is no exception, opening with a mysterious event, and building through turns and twists until all of the seemingly random events connect. In addition, Martini's protagonist, Paul Madriani, receives extensive characterization due to this novel's backdrop of marital difficulties, which adds depth the the problems Paul faces. Martini does an excellent job of keeping the book active and avoiding the legal dryness rampant in others in this genre, but does keep the legal issues believable. His practice of describing facial expressions also adds a believeable aspect to the conversations, since it communicates the unspoken aspects of discourse. For me, another interesting facet is the book's apparent setting around Sacramento, California (Martini's stomping grounds), but the author's strange practice of renaming some cities and places, yet leaving other names intact keeps one guessing from the descriptions about where things really are. For example, Sacramento seems to be renamed Capitol City.

Rating:
Summary: In and out of Courtroom action
Review: Steve Martini serves up more of his intriguing courtroom drama in _Prime Witness_. Martini specializes in taking his plot in and out of the courtroom, with allof the events intimately linking up to a surprise conclusion. Prime Witness is no exception, opening with a mysterious event, and building through turns andtwists until all of the seemingly random events connect. In addition, Martini's protagonist, Paul Madriani, receives extensive characterization due to this novel's backdrop of marital difficulties, which adds depth the the problems Paul faces. Martini does an excellent job of keeping the book active and avoiding the legal dryness rampant in others in this genre, but does keep the legal issues believable. His practice of describing facial expressions also adds a believeable aspect to the conversations, since it communicates the unspoken aspects of discourse. For me, another interesting facet is the book's apparent setting around Sacramento, California (Martini's stomping grounds), but the author's strange practice of renaming some cities and places, yet leaving other names intact keeps one guessing from the descriptions about where things really are. For example, Sacramento seems to be renamed Capitol City.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating in and out of courtroom action
Review: Steve Martini serves up more of his intriguing courtroomdrama in _Prime Witness_. Martini specializes in takinghis plot in and out of the courtroom, with all of the events intimately linking up to a surprise conclusion. Prime Witness is no exception, opening with a mysterious event, and building through turns and twists until all of the seemingly random events connect. In addition, Martini's protagonist, Paul Madriani, receives extensive characterization due to this novel's backdrop of marital difficulties, which adds depth the the problems Paul faces. Martini does an excellent job of keeping the book active and avoiding the legal dryness rampant in others in this genre, but does keep the legal issues believable. His practice of describing facial expressions also adds a believeable aspect to the conversations, since it communicates the unspoken aspects of discourse. For me, another interesting facet is the book's apparent setting around Sacramento, California (Martini's stomping grounds), but the author's strange practice of renaming some cities and places, yet leaving other names intact keeps one guessing from the descriptions about where things really are. For example, Sacramento seems to be renamed Capitol City.

Rating:
Summary: OK but not great
Review: This book is pretty good, but falls short to others in the Madriani series. Some of the things happen by chance- people being lucky. It was easy for me to figure out who was the real killer, even though the author tries to make it look like there is more than one possibility. It's a good read, but other Martini books are MUCH better. (For example, the Attorney or The Judge)

Rating:
Summary: Awful
Review: This has to be one of the worst"court drama" book ever. The ending is ludicrous.

Rating:
Summary: You might want to read this one to enjoy his others
Review: This novel was confusing, slow and disjointed. No continuity or any attempt to tell a decent story. You have to be a real hard core Martini fan to enjoy this one.

Rating:
Summary: Boring Book
Review: Very disappointed in this book.