<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: THE JURY - Is missing in action
Review: A research scientist, in the field of genetics, is put on trial for the gruesome murder of a fellow researcher. Dr. David Crone, an academic type who is clueless about the real world and the realities of his trial, seems to have had the motive and means to have killed his fellow associate, the very bright and attractive Dr. Kalista Jordan. The murder occurred after Dr. Jordan filed a sexual harassment complaint against Dr. Crone; and similar materials used to choke Dr. Jordan were found hidden in Dr. Crone's home. It seems all but certain that Dr. Crone is about to get a new address and a lifetime supply of orange jumpsuits. Enter book series attorney Paul Madriani, and his blunt sidekick Harry Hinds, who do everything, including the courtroom two-step, to get their client freed. Although a conviction seems certain, Madriani is conflicted and confused over the guilt and mental state of his client, Dr. Crone. Madriani actually knew his client before the trial started, during a time when Madriani was trying to get help from Dr. Crone for a little girl who is dying of an insidious genetic disease. Could the good professor really be a proverbial Dr. Jekle and Mr. Hyde? The story pace and depth is not up to the very high book series standard of intricate plot development and complex characters racing at thrilling speeds. And THE JURY, for some inexplicable reason, is actually missing the jury. Descriptions of the jury, their reactions to the testimony, their dynamics among themselves and with the courtroom players, are all under developed to a point of being grossly missing from the courtroom action. We get to know the defendant, the prosecutor and the cantankerous judge, but what happened to the book namesake? Steve Martini and his editors needed more time deliberating this one.
Rating:
Summary: Read it on the beach
Review: Easy reading, light weight, inoffensive. I read this book while on a pack trip in the Sierras and did not regret taking it along. However, the suspect Dr. Crone was never credible. The plot twist (there is only one) is not very satisfying or believable. Like others, I still cannot figure out how he came up with the title. I suppose the publisher pulled the name out of a hat looking to make a set with the other Martini books. If you don't expect a lot you will not be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: You won't deliberate long over this one
Review: If you're looking for a good fix on a cross-country airplane flight this book will just barely tide you over. The Courtroom dialog is exciting and well-written. The rest of the book, however, is difficult to believe and the final plot twist is too silly to take seriously. From a technology perspective, Martini does get into an interesting area of science, but he never develops it. It's not that this is a bad read, it's just that it's not a great read.
Rating: 
Summary: ANOTHER MARTINI WITH A TWIST
Review: Looking for a legal thriller with an appealing protagonist, clever plot line, and never-would-have-gueesed-it ending? Pick up the latest Steve Martini, "The Jury." Add the voice of John Slattery to carry you along on this exciting tale, and you have five hours of pure enjoyment. The character of Paul Madriani is reprised to defend Dr. David Crone, an honored genetic researcher who's accused of murdering a young African-American research physician who had filed sexual harassment charges against the older man. Kalista Jordan's mutilated body was washed ashore on a nearby bay. Crone's research, which was shrouded in secrecy, involved genetic racial profiling. [...] So once again attorney Madriani takes to sleuthing. When a [...] turns up dead the case takes a dramatic turn. But then, Martini knows how to spin, twist, and tie up in one heckuva surprising finish. It's another Martini with a twist.
Rating:
Summary: Jerks are not always guilty
Review: Okay, I'll admit I'm not sure what the title has to do with anything, but it is a legal thriller and these things tend to have juries every so often. Paul Mandriani and Harry Hines take on Dr. Crone, a brilliant geneticist. He's described as a man with a Cray computer between his ears. This is a book where the answer is sitting before you the entire read, but you have to follow the clues. Crone is accused of killing a beautiful, black female colleague. So does this have something to do with his research stretching back 25 years earlier about racial graying? Maybe. Aaron Tash is his number 2 man, who has the personality of gum on the bottom of shoe. He meets with Crone in the county lock up and they discuss DNA codes, or maybe it is something more sinister. Through out, this is Mandriani's patient manner as he discovers one lie after another - most of the coming from his client. Harry Hinds, Mandriani's partner, continues to quip and wisecrack his way through the story. There is a tight symmetry that really works for the book. A couple of things to keep in mind: Figure out the motive and you'll discover the murderer, and follow Mandriani's advice, "Lawyer's like to keep you looking at one thing while they do another." Novelists like to do the same thing. We are a sneaky bunch.
Rating: 
Summary: A Depressing Read: The Jury by Steve Martini
Review: Overall, I have liked the Paul Madriani books for the most part, but this one becomes more depressing with every page. This is one that I personally could have done without. As the novel opens, Madriani is attempting to defend Dr. David Crone, a highly respected genetic researcher from murder charges. He is charged with killing coworker Kalista Jordan, a twenty six year old research physician and colleague, who worked under him at the lab funded by the local university. Kalista was skilled at office politics and played hard. She had filed a sexual harassment claim against him after stealing some of his research papers. He wanted them back and she wanted more funding for her portion of the project. After being seen publicly arguing with her, her dismembered body washes up out of the ocean. Not only does he seem to have motive for killing her, Forensics links items in his garage to the killing. With such evidence against him, Dr. Crone won't cooperate with his own defense. Many avenues of investigation remain closed, as Dr. Crone won't discuss the highly technical research he was working on or what Kalista's role in the research was. All he knows is that it was something at the forefront of genetics research and implications could be staggering. Madriani becomes increasingly frustrated as the case goes against him and the Doctor remains oblivious to the situation. The only reason he is defending the Doctor is that the Doctor was the only person helping the ill friend of his daughter. Penny Boyd has Huntington Chorea, a rare hereditary disease that attacks the brain and central nervous system. Over time, it destroys brain tissue, causes the loss of the ability to control the muscles and finally, death. While it rarely attacks children, Penny has it and is wasting away before her family and Madriani's eyes. Madriani tried everyone and everything to help her and the only one that helped in anyway, was Dr. Crone. As part of his research, Dr. Crone was trying to get Penny into a drug trial program when he was arrested for murder. Now on leave from the university, and removed from heading the program, his life is at stake as well as Penny's. I admit that my review maybe somewhat biased against this book. After dealing with a lifetime of my own children's medical problems, I don't really want to read something about terminally ill children. While this book is well written and the characters are interesting, I found the illness of a child terribly upsetting. While there are no easy answers in life, one of the reasons I read is to escape reality, and to the last depressing page, there was no escape. Considering the ultimate subject matter, this is not a book I would recommend lightly to any parent.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book makes you think
Review: This is a great book. Martini, writing in the first person through his attorney narrator, Paul Madriani, is engaging and colloquial. Paul is a likable person, even though he is an attorney, and so is his sidekick, Harry Hinds. In fact, there really are not any despicable people here in this novel, and that is what is so great, for a novel. Most novels have to ride on the back of some villain. Martini has not done that. There are no real villains in this story.
The perpetrator is a sick man, but he is not evil. In fact, he is an artist, of a sort, a carpentry artist. That is somewhat unusual, too, because usually artists are intropunitive, like Van Gogh (cutting off his own ear, and all that), not extropunitive and murderous, blaming others for their problems. It makes you think.
Anyway, Frank Boyd, the killer in question, is not evil. He is deeply troubled, by the life-threatening illness of his own daughter. Who can't relate to this paternal love?
There are no villainous people here. Tannery, the prosecutor, and his boss, Tate, the head D.A., are somewhat misguided in their goals and objectives, and that's where the real conflict comes into Martini's story. Tannery is prosecuting the wrong man, and is doing so for what appear to be partially self-serving reasons, to further his own career.
Martini has done a lot with a little here, and he therein shows himself to be above the rest of the crowd of novelists, but about at the same level as some of his attorney-novelist cohorts. Attorneys do seem to make good novelists, now that they have seen fit to pass through that gate, following Grisham, Turow, et al.
I highly recommend this book. You'll enjoy it and learn some things at the same time (for instance, what is molecular computing?).
Diximus.
Rating:
Summary: Not as dry as some, but still lacks zest and suspense
Review: We liked Martini's first novel ("Simeon Chamber"), but found another of his non-series books, "The List", as well as "The Attorney", a Paul Madriani story, to be pretty dry going. Before we gave up on the author, we thought we'd try one more in the defense attorney Madriani series. Defending Dr. David Crone, a geneticist, charged with murdering a colleague, the trial scenes which dominate much of the book held our attention reasonably well while further clues and developments unfolded outside the courtroom. The interludes with Madriani and his sidekick Harry Hinds are also mildly entertaining. Finally, when a key witness apparently commits suicide, the prosecution's case is in jeopardy, leading to a rather surprising outcome near the end. (We also agree with numerous other reviewers that the title is a misnomer...) We wish we could put a finger on what's wrong with Martini's books. While he crafts a good enough plot, either he just can't handle 300+ pages without going bone-dry or he just doesn't have the knack for sustaining suspense for more than few chapters at a time. Compared to others in this genre, we would be hard pressed to label Martini's books "thrillers"; decent mysteries is about the highest praise we can muster. As our closing argument, we feel we just might be better off uncovering some new lawyers turned writers, and suggest Martini go back to court in real life.
Rating:
Summary: Dismiss the Jury
Review: What a wonderful read this audiocassett version of this book was. I strongly believe that the quality of the reader impacts on how well received the audiocassett will be. In this case, the reader, William Dufris, understandably was outstanding. I loved the storyline as it revealed some of the undersides of being an attorney for both the plaintiff as well as the prosecuting attorney (state). This story addresses what is supposed to be a typical day in court but it turns out to be an atypical day in court. The attorneys bang it out in court while dabblying into much mischief simultaneously. How this story plays out to the jury is for you to find out after you read the book or get the audio tape--Beverly C.Sanders 11/02
Rating:
Summary: Good Read
Review: Yes, this is a very good read, and a nice mystery. The characters are interesting and keep our attention, and there is
a bit of nice twist at the end.
One negative aspect of it, however, is that it is not quite
believeable that a man on trial for murder would keep so quiet,
and be so uncooperative with his attorneys, as this accused is.
At least not after a few weeks in a high-security jail, eating
prison food, going to court, manacled, in a cheap, ill-fitting
orange jumpsuit, while associating only with thugs and psychotics. So the author stretches our imagination a bit too
much.
However, the victims are interesting and keep the story together, so we do want to go forward, and that makes the story
enjoyable.
A nice read, and it is recommended.
<< 1 >>
|
