Jocelyn "Joss" Cole, a burned-out public defender from L.A., has opted for a quieter life in the San Juan Islands of Washington State. Joss has no significant clients other than a group of commercial fisherman suffering from a strange and serious illness, a condition that doctors cannot diagnose, and which Joss believes has an industrial cause. Then into her office comes Dean Belden, a well-heeled client in search of a lawyer to help him set up a business in the islands. Within days Belden is subpoenaed to appear before a federal grand jury. Less than an hour after testifying, and before Joss can discover what happened in the secrecy of the grand jury room, Belden dies in a fiery explosion of his float plane on Seattle's Lake Union. Gideon Van Ry is a nuclear fission expert and a scholar in residence at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, California. One of his duties is to update the Center's database, an extensive catalog listing fissionable materials and weapons of mass destruction. Gideon is troubled by the apparent failure to account for two small tactical nuclear devices missing from a storage facility in the former Soviet Union.The two weapons were last seen in packing crates, to be shipped to an American company called Belden Electronics. Gideon has been unable to locate this firm, and now he is left with only one possible lead, the lawyer who incorporated the company-Jocelyn Cole. Fraught with tension and suspense, Critical Mass is Steve Martini at his electrifying best. It is the story of what can happen in a world where private hate and public apathy combine to uncork the sleeping but deadly genie of nuclear terror.
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When a handsome stranger walks into Joss Cole's one-woman law office on a sleepy island in Puget Sound and slaps down a hefty retainer to incorporate a fledgling electronics business, the burned-out ex-public defender has a hunch things aren't exactly as they seem. And when Dean Belden, this strange new client, comes back a few days later with a federal grand jury subpoena he swears he can't explain, she still doesn't tie it into the bizarre illness suffered by her other major clients, a group of commercial fishermen. Then Belden skips out on the feds and dies before her eyes in the fiery explosion of his float plane. Or does he? Within hours there are two attempts on Joss's life--clearly someone thinks she knows more than she's telling. Later, a nuclear fission expert shows up on the island tracking two missing tactical nuclear devices stolen from a Siberian storage facility, and the Geiger counter starts ticking. When Joss's fishermen start dying of what is clearly radioactive poisoning, the outlines of Belden's shadowy past get filled out in a tense thriller as topical as today's headlines. Steve Martini ties it all together with a fast-paced, well-plotted story of homegrown militia groups set up by America's enemies. He tosses in a hint of romance--just enough to show off Joss's vulnerable side without slowing down the action. Martini fans will swallow this one whole, while those who haven't discovered him yet can catch up with his several other thrillers on the paperback backlist, including Compelling Evidence, Prime Witness, and The Judge. --Jane Adams
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
A militia group in the Pacific Northwest becomes the world's newest nuclear power in this by-the-numbers thriller by the author of The List and The Judge. Lawyer Jocelyn "Joss" Cole sees a big retainer when she's hired by Dean Belden to handle his company's incorporation filings. But after Belden gets a federal subpoena, Joss sees him die in a fiery seaplane explosion. Now she's the only visible link to Belden's company (which was on the receiving end of two decaying nuclear weapons smuggled into the U.S. out of Russia), and that brings her to the attention of arms inspector Gideon van Ry, of the Institute Against Mass Destruction. After the feds determine that the militia has possession of the weapons, Gideon and Joss join the race to try to avert nuclear disaster. Of course, there are complications: the militia group is being fronted by a foreign power in order to circumvent U.S. nuclear retaliation policy, and the President is in CYA (cover-your-ass) overdrive because his party accepted a campaign contribution from the chief Russian culprit. But even with a SEAL assault on the militia stronghold, double crosses galore and an ingenious ending, the book offers too few surprises, too little suspense and too little emotional involvement. The characters have no inner life, and the plotting is sketchy from the start, when it's explained that dummies were used to cover up for the two missing nukes?dummies that conveniently drop off the weapons count while there's still time to foil the bad guys. The few crucial coincidences stick out like red flags because Martini makes more of them than he makes of the people around them.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Burned out at thirty-two, she'd had enough. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Burned out at thirty-two, she'd had enough. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
By Michael Butts
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:Mass Market Paperback
It's sometimes frustrating to see how some reviewers sometimes spend so much time worrying about some of the technical accuracies in a book. Just sit back and enjoy the ride. Martini is in fine form in this nail-biting thriller. The characters of Joselyn Cole and Gideon Van Ry, in particular, are easily identifiable and likeable. Dean Biedel/Thorn is also an irreprehensible villain. Even though one can identify with Scott Taggart's overwhelming sense of loss, and agree with him on the ineffectiveness of our government, it does not condone his actions in killing innocent people. Written not long after the Oklahoma/McVeigh incident, CRITICAL MASS feeds on our fears of terrorism, that have even been more prominent since 9/11.
I liked this book a lot; it's ending is somewhat sad, but in light of all that goes on, appropriate. Mr. Martini has left us with a possible sequel; will it happen, oh great one?
I liked this book a lot; it's ending is somewhat sad, but in light of all that goes on, appropriate. Mr. Martini has left us with a possible sequel; will it happen, oh great one?
Format:Mass Market Paperback
The exciting style kept my interest all the way through, so I enjoyed it, but the plot was so implausible that I kept gagging on it. The actions of the characters was almost uniformly stupid. I know it was just to keep the plot going, but really! Just one example, why didn't the bad guys burn the lawyer's office after they took the files! There are many worse ones from beginning to end, but I don't want to spoil the plot for anyone.
One of my pet peeves is the absolutely inaccurate science. If someone is exposed to radiation, they do not become radioactive, do not pose a threat to anyone, and do not have to be kept behind lead walls. The plutonium health effects were laughably wrong. No wonder the public is confused on the subject of radiation.
I couldn't put it down, but it was painful.
By Max Y Pong
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Compelling Evidence was the first Steve Martini novel I read and I loved it. I then read Critical Mass and was thoroughly disappointed. The plot was predictable, except for a surprise ending, at which point I had already lost interest. I will stick to the Paul Madriani series.
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3.8 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
It could happen, and in this book, you believe it.
This is a real "can't put it down" book. Often, one hasn't the time to read straight through, but I had to do it on Martini's "Critical Mass. Read more
Published on Aug 27 2002 by Gretchen S. Ellis
4.0 out of 5 stars
Well written and disturbingly plausible
I had not previously read anything by Martini and always assumed he dealt exclusively in the legal thriller . Read more
Published on Aug 2 2002 by F. J. Harvey
5.0 out of 5 stars
Read after 911
I cannot express how happy I was to find and read CRITICAL MASS. The last two novels I started to read were so disappointing, I was unable to complete them. Read more
Published on July 13 2002 by S. M Marson
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gripping
An overused review word, nonetheless it applies here. I read this book a year and a half ago and it still affects me. Read more
Published on May 14 2002
5.0 out of 5 stars
Must Reading for the FBI
This should be a training manual for the FBI on the possibility of dealing with nuclear terrorism. It is scary, to say the least. The action was gripping. Read more
Published on Feb 11 2002 by Paul Skinner
1.0 out of 5 stars
pure drivel
Reviewer: jfarro from Virginia says it best.
Martini seems to have a problem with reality. His Paul Madriani novels which start out soooo good
also eventually slide into... Read more
Published on Jan 23 2002
3.0 out of 5 stars
I Like Any Story That Promises To Blow Up The IRS
The whole point to action adventure novels is to make them believable, exciting and fast paced. Ordinarily Martini writes a good story, his plots are paced well, and the novels... Read more
Published on Jan 23 2002 by "p_trabaris"
5.0 out of 5 stars
The verdict is in this tight woven thriller
***** Exceptionally intrigue thriller by the author of the Judge. Great plotting through out! I just can't believe that Martini can actually make me read every page. Read more
Published on July 6 2001 by Daniel R. Bills
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating thriller!
Wow! What a wonderful book to read. When I finished reading this book (in one 4-hour setting), I put it down feeling completely mentally refreshed - it was that good! Read more
Published on May 7 2001 by twisesq
4.0 out of 5 stars
One to pick up!
Enjoyable! A good read! Steve Martini is a new author on my list. A friend pass on one of his earlier books and I was hooked. Read more
Published on Dec 28 2000
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