Most helpful customer reviews
|
|
2.0 out of 5 stars
A Depressing Read: The Jury by Steve Martini, Feb 14 2004
Overall, I have liked the Paul Madriani books for the most part, but this one becomes more depressing with every page. This is one that I personally could have done without.As the novel opens, Madriani is attempting to defend Dr. David Crone, a highly respected genetic researcher from murder charges. He is charged with killing coworker Kalista Jordan, a twenty six year old research physician and colleague, who worked under him at the lab funded by the local university. Kalista was skilled at office politics and played hard. She had filed a sexual harassment claim against him after stealing some of his research papers. He wanted them back and she wanted more funding for her portion of the project. After being seen publicly arguing with her, her dismembered body washes up out of the ocean. Not only does he seem to have motive for killing her, Forensics links items in his garage to the killing. With such evidence against him, Dr. Crone won't cooperate with his own defense. Many avenues of investigation remain closed, as Dr. Crone won't discuss the highly technical research he was working on or what Kalista's role in the research was. All he knows is that it was something at the forefront of genetics research and implications could be staggering. Madriani becomes increasingly frustrated as the case goes against him and the Doctor remains oblivious to the situation. The only reason he is defending the Doctor is that the Doctor was the only person helping the ill friend of his daughter. Penny Boyd has Huntington Chorea, a rare hereditary disease that attacks the brain and central nervous system. Over time, it destroys brain tissue, causes the loss of the ability to control the muscles and finally, death. While it rarely attacks children, Penny has it and is wasting away before her family and Madriani's eyes. Madriani tried everyone and everything to help her and the only one that helped in anyway, was Dr. Crone. As part of his research, Dr. Crone was trying to get Penny into a drug trial program when he was arrested for murder. Now on leave from the university, and removed from heading the program, his life is at stake as well as Penny's. I admit that my review maybe somewhat biased against this book. After dealing with a lifetime of my own children's medical problems, I don't really want to read something about terminally ill children. While this book is well written and the characters are interesting, I found the illness of a child terribly upsetting. While there are no easy answers in life, one of the reasons I read is to escape reality, and to the last depressing page, there was no escape. Considering the ultimate subject matter, this is not a book I would recommend lightly to any parent.
|
|
|
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not as dry as some, but still lacks zest and suspense, Jul 4 2003
We liked Martini's first novel ("Simeon Chamber"), but found another of his non-series books, "The List", as well as "The Attorney", a Paul Madriani story, to be pretty dry going. Before we gave up on the author, we thought we'd try one more in the defense attorney Madriani series. Defending Dr. David Crone, a geneticist, charged with murdering a colleague, the trial scenes which dominate much of the book held our attention reasonably well while further clues and developments unfolded outside the courtroom. The interludes with Madriani and his sidekick Harry Hinds are also mildly entertaining. Finally, when a key witness apparently commits suicide, the prosecution's case is in jeopardy, leading to a rather surprising outcome near the end. (We also agree with numerous other reviewers that the title is a misnomer...)We wish we could put a finger on what's wrong with Martini's books. While he crafts a good enough plot, either he just can't handle 300+ pages without going bone-dry or he just doesn't have the knack for sustaining suspense for more than few chapters at a time. Compared to others in this genre, we would be hard pressed to label Martini's books "thrillers"; decent mysteries is about the highest praise we can muster. As our closing argument, we feel we just might be better off uncovering some new lawyers turned writers, and suggest Martini go back to court in real life.
|
|
|
4.0 out of 5 stars
Jerks are not always guilty, May 30 2003
Okay, I'll admit I'm not sure what the title has to do with anything, but it is a legal thriller and these things tend to have juries every so often.Paul Mandriani and Harry Hines take on Dr. Crone, a brilliant geneticist. He's described as a man with a Cray computer between his ears. This is a book where the answer is sitting before you the entire read, but you have to follow the clues. Crone is accused of killing a beautiful, black female colleague. So does this have something to do with his research stretching back 25 years earlier about racial graying? Maybe. Aaron Tash is his number 2 man, who has the personality of gum on the bottom of shoe. He meets with Crone in the county lock up and they discuss DNA codes, or maybe it is something more sinister. Through out, this is Mandriani's patient manner as he discovers one lie after another - most of the coming from his client. Harry Hinds, Mandriani's partner, continues to quip and wisecrack his way through the story. There is a tight symmetry that really works for the book. A couple of things to keep in mind: Figure out the motive and you'll discover the murderer, and follow Mandriani's advice, "Lawyer's like to keep you looking at one thing while they do another." Novelists like to do the same thing. We are a sneaky bunch.
|
|
|
Most recent customer reviews
|
