Rating: 
Summary: Wow!
Review: This is a page turner. Not great literature but a superb story that keeps your interest all the way.
Rating: 
Summary: Fun if not High Quality
Review: All people who enjoy reading should pick this book up. Overall this is just a fun book, it moves fast and is easy to read. The insight into the publishing world are a very interesting set of facts. I really did believe all of he story. I actually liked this book better then his last one Undue Influence - just from the point of view of the book publishing story line. The story is fun if not a little on the "yea right" side of the bench with the main plot - surely there is a better way to do this?. The plot is a little light, there really is not much going on except the main story line and the writing could give us more depth and details, bur becuase it was exciting I let it pass. Go into this book not expecting a lot and you will enjoy it.
Rating: 
Summary: Sub-par
Review: A less-than-enthralling story. From the very start, I was totally unable to respect Abby for thinking she was doing the right thing by pulling a Remington Steele with her book, and the prose got in the story's way on numerous occasions. Plus, the plot was full of holes and inconsistencies--for one example, when the literary agent gushes over the book's "insight into the female mind," and a hundred-ish pages later Abby mulls over the "strong male voice" of her book. The action scenes at the end were well-written and suspenseful, though, so all was not lost. But it's hard to care how it ends when you don't care about the characters.
Rating:
Summary: The List?
Review: I was so disappointed with this Martini book. The villain was obvious from the beginning, the characters not at all defined and the plot just boring. I didn't even get the title. What has happened to Steve Martini?
Rating: 
Summary: A page turner
Review: This was a welcome change from the Madriani series which has been dragging a little since The Judge. The legal maneuvering was outside the courtroom and Martini borrowed a little of Clancy's style in this one with multiple plot lines tied together at the end. Interesting insights into the world of bestseller marketing; fast paceed, with lots of mystery and misdirection. Martini fans will guess the plot twist about 2/3 into the book but will still be spellbound waiting to see how he does it.
Rating:
Summary: Good tape for a long, hot drive
Review: Three of us just listened to the unabridged tape of this novel through 1200+ miles of July in the high plains. While it is hardly a great novel, the book did a solid job of making the miles go by. It had enough complexity and red herrings that our meal breaks were filled with friendly debate on who each of us thought was the "real" killer. There also was plenty of humor - the "leopard skin butt flosser" will be an inside code for a good laugh for years.There's also some pathos in the novel. The insider's view of the manipulation of the bestseller's list and, more generally, the popular reading offerings is saddening. The "maleness" of the small elite francise authors list is fundamental to the plot of the book. Likewise, Abby's need to escape from her publishing past. This compenent is a message that elevates this book from being a simple commercial thriller. The book isn't perfect. Abby seems to forget much of her legal training at critical times. Also, the final 10% of the book dragged on far to long after the resolution of the plot. Still, it's a perfectly fine book for passing the time (and the miles) on a hot summer day.
Rating: 
Summary: The BEST Legal Thriller author doesn't pull it off here...
Review: I am of the opinion that Steve Martini is THE BEST Legal Thriller author out there. Have you read 'The Judge' or 'Undue Influence'? Just two examples of what a true legal thriller OUGHT to be. After reading all of his novels, I got to wondering when Mr. Martini was going to travel into different waters other than the courtroom...out comes 'The List'. I was anxious to pick it up and devour it as I had his previous books but as I managed to trudge through the first 200 pages I kept thinking, 'When is it gonna get better??' This is TOTALLY unlike ANY of his other books which were great virtually from page 1. Maybe I was just expecting too much, I don't know, all I DO know is that if you expect ANYTHING like a Paul Madriani novel here (OR with 'Critical Mass' which is anything BUT a legal thriller) you will be horribly upset. If you have yet to read anything by Mr. Martini, maybe this is a good place to start, because it can only go uP from here if you ask me. Looking for a great legal/thriller courtroom murder/mystery? I have long held the view that Mr. Martini has forgotten more than Grisham ever learned in this particular field, and if you are looking for an example, check out 'Compelling Evidence', or either of the two books I cited above, FANTASTIC examples. Don't get me wrong, 'The List' wasn't all bad, but c'mon! It was just so boring by comparison that I--against my better judgement went ahead and gave this 2 stars, heartbreaking as it was since I LOVE Martini's books, but deservedly so. Sorry Steve.
Rating:
Summary: THE LIST - A novel 'A list' thriller
Review: In the publishing world, there are no second chances at a first impression. Writers that get published with novels that loose money are not encouraged to try again. But previously published Attorney Abby Chandlis thinks she has written a bestseller, but she is afraid to proceed under her own name. So she decides that a 'Milli-Vanilli' stand in could fake being the author of her book. Her phony friend becomes Jack Jermaine, a brutally handsome 'first-time' novelist. The required deception quickly spirals out of control. But can all of the deceit eventually take this book to the top of the bestsellers LIST? The story reveals several surprises in the closing chapters, including a very satisfying finish. The subtext of the novel is an interesting look into the cutthroat world of publishers, book editors and the movie studios who are eager to produce something on the shirttails of a runaway book. THE LIST, when it was first released, did in fact make it onto the 'list' where it deservedly belonged.
Rating:
Summary: Unbelieveable premise propped up with unrelated action
Review: This book was clearly written with a view towards creating a best seller and probably a blockbuster movie. In other words, the author did not have anything in particular to express in a novel, except the desire to sell a novel. Lots of copies. The fact that it works (he did sell lots of copies) is frustrating to actual aspiring writers who write to express an original idea. The whole premise of this novel is unbelieveable. The female thriller writer, with a track record, creates a male persona in order to create a bidding war for her next book. One reason is that she feels a man would command more money. There are many female authors who do very well thank you very much. Major publishers do not lavish huge advances on writers with no previous publishing credentials unless they are celebrities. In other words, the real author who had a track record would have a better shot at selling to a major house than her fictional alter ego would, no matter how handsome he was. The bidding war over the book is the kind of thing that would only happen with a celebrity author where there was an almost guaranteed best seller in it for the publisher. This would not be the case with an entirely unknown writer. No thriller, no matter how well crafted, would immediately strike all the major publishers as being a surefire best seller in the making. If you are willing to suspend your disbelief about the premise then you are treated to a cliched thrill ride containing a surprise, totally unrelated subplot that appears to have come in as an afterthought as a method to artificially set the scene for a dangerous chase. (It would be the big pyrotechnics scene in the movie) I enjoy a little escapist reading myself from time to time. This is not an example of how to do it right.
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put it down!
Review: This was the first book that I read by Steve Martini, and now I must read more. He developed his characters so well that I was actually sad to see them go when the book ended. It's the type of book that you want to never end because it's so cleverly written and the characters are so enduring! The story has a twist that virtually no one will see coming! They should make a movie out of this book! Read up Hollywood!
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