The Judge

Rating:
Summary: The Verdict is in: This is a GREAT Murder/Mystery!
Review: I have long considered Mr. Martini one of the best (if not THE best) legal/thriller author writing today, and this is MY personal favorite of all his great novels. If you have read any of Martini's previous Paul Madriani novels, you know that he and 'The Coconut' Judge Acosta have crossed paths a few times in the past--always an unpleasant experience, especially for Attorney Madriani. Judge Acosta just doesn't like him--pure and simple--actually 'doesn't like' isn't strong enough.

As the story begins Judge Acosta finds himself in a most awkward position of being accused of soliciting a prostitute. He is removed from the bench pending an investigation. But it doesn't take long before the leading witness for the prosecution against the Judge is found deceased...uh oh. The Judge is now in SERIOUS trouble...so much so that he actually contemplates something that he never EVER would have thought could happen in a million years: He hires the attorney that he despises, Paul Madriani. This murder/mystery/courtroom drama is impressive from beginning to its surprising and absolutely fantastic ending--in MY opinion this has Martini's best ending to date and certainly one of my favorites in fiction. The courtroom drama is clever, surprising and utterly compelling. Several laugh-out-loud moments, too (which came as a complete surprise to me) and an all-around tremendous plot. Easily one of the best in this particular genre I have ever read, and also ranks (again in MY opinion) as Mr. Martini's best novel to date (that includes 'The List' and 'Critical Mass'). Get to know Paul Madriani, the sooner the better, but I recommend starting with 'Compelling Evidence' the novel that debuted Madriani and continue from there. Highly Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: I'm the JUDGE of this book....it is excellent
Review: I just finished reading The Judge by Steve Martini. I checked the book out of the local library on the advice of a friend. I had a hard time getting into the first four of five chapters and thought perhaps it wasn't going to be any good. But my friend assured me that if I stayed with it, I'd become fixated with it. He was right. I couldn't put it down. I could kick myself for not being aware it was a television movie and I missed it. That's what I get for being a reader instead of a tv watcher. I can only attest that if the movie was anywhere as good as the book, I would have thoroughly enjoyed it. Martini's style of writing is a little different and it took me a while to get used to it. But once I finally was "fixated" on the story, then I didn't seem to notice it any longer. Attorney Paul Madriani is truly the kind of attorney a client hopes to find for representation. Martini proves his character to be full of intelligence and wit in a world where attorney's have to stay on their toes. Only a master of story-telling could have written such a story, unless of course, Martini might be drawing on real life experiences. I have already checked out another novel by Martini, The Attorney. I can't wait to get started on it.

Rating:
Summary: Fast read and a great story
Review: I like Martini's style. He is concise and he wastes few words, which is fine by me. The characters are neatly developed and, despite a couple painful stereotypes, all fit nicely. Martini writes with a dry humor and the book goes by n a hurry.

I was surprised by the ending. Nothing I read would have prepared me for the late action.

Rating:
Summary: I liked the humour in the conversations so much that
Review: I read it twice .... looking for books with similar flavour ... got any suggestions

Rating:
Summary: Annoying style but interesting story
Review: I really, really disliked the author's style. Paul Madriani's way of telling the story didn't impress me at all. Fortunately, the story itself overcame that flaw. Enjoyed reading about lawyers' tricks. For most of the book, Lenore gave me a pain because of her foolish actions, but she made up for it at the end. Part of the solution was a definite surprise(it *was* irritating that Paul took so looooonnnnggg figuring out the significance of the bear, though). I'll have to give Mr. Martini points for having Lenore miss the first part of the conversation with the cable guy -- after all, Lenore might have read women's magazines, in which case she could have warned Paul that he was being major league moronic. Of course, an action-packed scene that led to a nicely nasty payback wouldn't have happened if she had. I'm not sorry I read the book, but I don't plan to keep it. What's with the yawn of a cover? I hope the artist didn't ask much for the design. Ann E. Nichols

Rating:
Summary: A TRUE Legal Thriller...
Review: If you are a fan of 'Legal Thriller' books, and have NOT readSteve Martini, NOW is the time to get to know attorney Paul Madriani.Like most people I enjoy Grisham -- however NOBODY writes a better clear-cut legal thriller than Martini. I first caught the bug with 'Compelling Evidence' and I've been hooked. I'm not a big fan of novels written in 'first person' but I don't mind it in this case because of how GOOD Martini's writing style is. And 'The Judge' is Martini at his best. I LOVED THIS BOOK. I can't say it any better than that. And the ending, what a GREAT way to wrap up a story. I DO recommend reading the earlier Paul Madriani novels before getting into this one, however it DOES stand on its own, but one of the characters is developed in the earlier books to the point where you appreciate the situation Paul is in better if you 'know' his relationship with the murder suspect from the other novels. Even though, don't put off reading this story. Legal thrillers don't get any better than this. And Grisham's talent notwithstanding, Martini's least entertaining legal thriller is superior to anything Grisham has written -- and that isn't to say I DISLIKE Grisham, it just shows how MUCH I enjoy Martini. Give it a shot, and thank me later (I KNOW you will). Let me know what you think, e-mail me and tell me what YOU thought of the book. I welcome positive AND negative responses, although I can't IMAGINE someone NOT completely enjoying this book. Enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: Martini must hate the law
Review: In Steve Martini's "The Judge," the title character is accused of the murder. The victim is a woman who was preparing to testify against the judge in a solicitation (of prostitution) case and who worked with the police vice squad from time to time. As it happens, the judge was overseeing a case on police corruption before the prostitution sting, and he (the judge) claims that he was set up by corrupt police officers.

After the woman turns up dead, the judge hires two corrupt lawyers to defend him. What follows is an almost nihilistic tale of progress through the courts. Martini's faith in the judicial system must be next to nothing, as even the narrator, one of the lawyers defending the judge, almost blithely breaks the law and violates as many of the ethical precepts as he can find. While kudos is due Martini for keeping the courtroom scenes on the side of realism (thus avoiding the problems that plague so many films and other books in which the courtroom scenes are wildly improbable), the inability of the characters to obey major ethical and legal rules is very disconcerting.

"The Judge" reads easily enough, but without a moral center or anything approaching one, the book does little to engage. The legal give and take are reasonably interesting, but the characters are not especially so. Though the two defense attorneys are supposedly rather bright, they're constant misdeeds seem difficult at best to reconcile with their mental abilities. Yes, smart people do stupid things, but not this stupid this often. Finally, one of the problems that must be overcome is that of the defense attorney, who will represent even guilty clients because she or he believes in the process and the defense attorney's role in it. But the zealousness with which the attorneys break the law for their client cannot be justified by their abiding belief in their client's innocence. Rather, they seem to break the law because they don't care. And the protagonist(s) in a legal thriller don't care about the law, there are serious problems.

Rating:
Summary: great courtroom drama!
Review: Judge Armando Acosta is not Paul Mandriani's favorite person and yet he ends up defending him in a murder case. Judge Acosta has been involved in a case involving a cover-up by the police of a murder. During the investigation, he, himself, gets arrested for solicitating an under-cover prostitute. The under-cover woman is later found murdered and Judge Acosta is accused of her murder. Assistant DA Lenore Goya, who Paul is interested in, has an interest in both cases, but is fired by DA Kline and ends up taking the judges case until her fingerprint is found at the home of the murdered victim, so she has to quit because of a conflict of interest. Paul gets the case by default and even though he isn't fond of his defendent, finds himself involved in a case full of intrigue and many questions as he works to defend his client.

I found the book quite interesting and I got a good look at how trials are conducted. If you are looking for a good legal thriller, then you won't be disappointed in this book. I highly reccomend it.

Rating:
Summary: Blind-sided by the ending....once again
Review: Martini has yet again quickly undone an entertaining story with a shockingly improbable ending. If
you've read Prime Witness you'll be subjected to the very same ending. I'm surprised it was
allowed out the door. It's like someone just took an ax and cut the tail off some dog of a story and
jammed it on to page 378. I don't understand why Martini goes through all that work only to
destroy it..

Rating:
Summary: Excellent most of the way
Review: Nothing dry about this Martini. Commands attention until probability gives out and Hollywood takes over near the end.