Guardian of Lies [Paperback]

Steve Martini is a very solid writer of courtroom thrillers, and I've enjoyed most of his novels featuring defense attorney Paul Madriani. One thing I've noticed about Martini's more recent novels (SHADOW OF POWER; DOUBLE TAP) is that the plots have become less realistic and more over-the-top. GUARDIAN OF LIES continues this trend.

GUARDIAN OF LIES is unusual for a Madriani novel because there are few scenes in the courtroom. This is not a true legal thriller. Instead, the plot is more action-oriented, with lawyer Madriani trotting the globe and trying to foil a terrorist plot to detonate a nuclear weapon in the United States.

The result is just okay. There are a lot of big-scale action scenes in GUARDIAN OF LIES, but they aren't strung together in a way that builds any sense of momentum. The characterization is mostly flat. The novel drags in places, and is probably about 100 pages too long. I found this novel engaging enough to finish, but I wasn't kept on the edge of my seat.

GUARDIAN OF LIES is smartly written and serves as a decent entertainment. My hope, however, is that Martini returns to the courtroom for his next book, and comes up wih a more down-to-earth plot than what I found here.

Although I enjoyed much of the writing and especially the dialogue in this novel, I never got swept up in the plot. Considering it involved a terrorist attack of catastrophic proportions, it should have been an exciting page turner but was not for me. I think much of the problem was believability: too many aspects of the premise and the characters (not Paul or Harry) seemed unreal. Also, the way the scenes were structured and information came out was too slow-paced, repetitive and drawn out. Parts sang and were very well crafted, witty, or admirable, but the whole just lacked punch. The characters of Paul and Harry were still great, however, and the book had many compelling scenes. 3.5 stars.

Steve Martini's early Paul Madriani novels were masterpieces of courtroom drama and suspense. The dialogue and courtroom machinations were crisp and genuine, the plot twists were clever, and the characters had substance. Unfortunately, Martini's recent Paul Madriani incarnations have increasingly forsaken the courtroom and trial suspense for exotic locations and adventures more appropriate to James Bond than to a southern California criminal trial lawyer. And like Bond, the new Madriani is a totally unrealistic superhero who survives hails of bullets, bomb blasts, and the concerted efforts of professional killers to eliminate him.

Guardian of Lies is by far the worst example of Martini's recent descent into shoot-'em-up fiction. Madriani is hired by a young, gorgeous Costa Rican woman accused of murdering a former CIA operative who has discovered a plot to detonate a nuclear device left over from the Cuban missile crisis. Why does this woman -- who was spirited into the U.S. by the CIA operative but supposedly held "captive" in his house -- choose Madriani to represent her? Because she flirted with him over the banana bin in a local supermarket and somehow obtained his business card. From this far-fetched plot device the story degenerates into a boring series of contrived scenes peopled with drug lords, Mid-East terrorists, professional hitmen, and the entire U.S. national security apparatus up to and including the president.

Although this book is purportedly about a criminal trial lawyer representing a defendant in a murder trial, less than ten minutes are actually spent in a courtroom. Instead of courtroom drama, the reader is force-fed Martini's needlessly graphic descriptions of throat-cutting, kidney-slicing, death by bombing, death by shooting, death by knifing, death by uranium poisoning and various other forms of mutilation and death. Martini seems to confuse flowing narrative with flowing blood.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment is Martini's abandonment of reality. His earlier novels were notable for their realistic depiction of complex psychological motives and trial strategy. Guardian of Lies is riddled with characters and situations that are so unbelievable that they would be laughable if they weren't so irritating. Among the biggest offenders: a Russian general hides for fifty years in the jungles of Columbia harboring a left-over nuclear device from the Cuban missile crisis (don't ask why); the Russian general's daughter is able to visit him on a regular basis from Costa Rica, despite the fact that he is hiding out with drug lords (who apparently aren't worried that the daughter will reveal their location); the failure of security agencies from several countries to locate the Russian or his nuclear device despite regular visits from his daughter (apparently they never thought of placing his one surviving relative under surveillance); the escape of Mid-East terrorists from Guantanamo Bay; a prison bus is attacked by a phalanx of heavily armed professional hit men, scores are killed (including prisoners, police and correction officers), except for Madriani's client who suffers a slight concussion and a temporary hearing loss (from the bomb blast that destroyed the bus she was in); Paul Madriani's numerous escapes from both professional assassins and international security agencies; and the list goes on . . .

You know a book is in trouble when the author adds a "factual" discussion at the end that attempts to legitimize the storyline. However, Martini's "Afterword" -- in which he attempts to persuade the reader that there really was a left-over nuclear device from the Cuban missile crisis that went missing and that drug lords and Mid-East terrorists really are forming alliances that threaten America -- cannot rescue this pointless and inhumane bloodbath.

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