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Steve Martini made a mistake when he stopped writing legal thrillers. "Critical Mass" was poorly written and uninvolving. Here, Paul Madriani is back as the attorney in the title. He has been hired to find the granddaughter of an elderly lottery winner named Jonah Hale. It seems that Jonah's daughter, Jessica, is a drug addict who ran with a fast crowd and disappeared with her daughter, Amanda. At the time of her disappearance, Amanda was legally in her grandfather's custody. Also involved in the intrigue is Madriani's lover, Susan, who works on behalf of abused children, and a Mexican drug lord, among others. Before long, an unpleasant woman named Zolanda Suade is murdered and Madriani's client is on trial for Suade's murder. Hale had threatened Zolanda, because he thought that she had helped Jessica and Amanda to disappear without a trace. The courtroom scenes in which Madriani defends Hale are well done (Martini has always been a master at depicting courtroom theatrics), but the ending is unbelievable and full of holes. A number of key questions are left unanswered, which is a weakness in a mystery/thriller. Martini loves surprise endings, and I do, as well. However, I also expect that endings should make sense. In this case, "The Attorney" fails the test. This is unfortunate, since Madriani is an engaging character and the story held my interest until the shaky ending.

I hadn't read many of his books and was really pleased when I read this one. Mandriani is an attorney and one of his clients, who he had defended before with good results, comes to him again. Jonah Hale, who has since won one of the biggest lotteries, wants Mandriani to find his grand-daughter who has been kidnapped by his daughter, a drug user and released felon. The woman who he feels helped his daughter with the kidnapping ends up murdered and he is accused of the murder. Mandriani has his hands full trying to keep up with all the different angles and suspects. The ending may surprise you. I enjoyed the book and I think you will too. I am looking forward to reading another of his books.

This is our third Martini -- er, the author's books that is. We enjoyed "Simeon Chamber" (his first outing), but felt the "List" was too dry and set too sluggish a pace for our taste. We tried the "Attorney" to see if the defense attorney Paul Madriani series, which now has some half dozen entries, might be more entertaining. Alas, a rather mundane plot gets us off to a lackluster start -- Jonah Hale's granddaughter Amanda, of whom he has legal custody, is kidnapped by her recent ex-con natural mother, with the help of a feminist activist, Zolanda Suade, who specializes in skirting the law and resisting the Establishment. Hale hires Madriani (instead of an private eye?), but little more happens until some 100 pages later, when Suade is discovered murdered. Hale is arrested on a fairly extensive list of evidence that points to him, coupled with his incentive, motive, and opportunity. At that point, Paul switches into the true mode of defending his client, with some helpers (and some inside scoop from his lady friend, director of Child Protective Services). Some reasonably interesting courtroom scenes follow as first the accused is arraigned without bail and then actually tried for the murder.

Near the end, in what we thought was a somewhat unfair plot development, Hale suffers a heart attack, suspending the trial. While he's hospitalized, a new Mexican drug-runner-type villain surfaces, who has been hunted half-heartedly through the book, and sheds enough doubt on the case that for all practical purposes the prosecution is motivated to declare a mistrial and not bother with a second go-round. A twist at the end tells us readers who the perp actually was.

This novel is sort of like a car running a 300-mile car race in first gear for 100 miles, second gear for 280 miles, and then a mad dash to the finish line without realizing one is 50 laps behind -- hardly a compelling run. Such is the nature of this book; while Madriani is a nice enough guy, the plot lacked zest and suspense, nor could the court scenes seize the moment "Perry Mason"-style. In fact, we're thinking maybe a third martini cocktail might be more fun!