*****
The story: Alex Ives, a journalist for an online news site, is investigating a Washington, D.C. lawyer named Olinda Serna for a tell-all exposé he's writing.
After a beautiful stranger inveigles Alex into attending a high-class party at a California mansion.....
.....the reporter is involved in a deadly crash that kills attorney Serna.
Alex ends up in the hospital, charged with drunk driving and manslaughter. The thing is, Alex remembers nothing beyond arriving at the party and having one drink.
Alex's DUI case seems like small beans, but attorney Paul Madriani takes the case at the behest of his daughter, who knows the defendant.
Madriani - working with his partner Harry Hines and investigator Herman Diggs - learns that Alex was drugged and the crash was staged.
Knowing this isn't enough however. To get Alex exonerated, Madriani will have to find out why the accident was arranged, how it was pulled off, and who did it.
Unfortunately, there are several people who are determined to keep the truth from being revealed. These include: Cletus Proffitt - the managing partner at Serna's law firm;
'The Eagle' - a mysterious, older gentleman who walks with a cane;
and General Cheng - a government official in China.
Moreover, a powerful U.S. Senator named Maya Grimes - whose wrongdoing has put her into the clutches of a power-hungry manipulator - also has a stake in the case.
To top things off, a brilliant female mercenary - who designed the device that caused the cars to crash - is hanging around.....trying to get her hardware back.
For much of the book, each of these people has his/her own storyline, which is a LOT to keep track of.
In many ways this is more like a spy novel than a legal thriller. All the antagonists seem to have top notch espionage devices - regular microphones, hyperbolic microphones, hidden cameras, phone taps, GPS devices (in short, all manner of surveillance equipment) - most of it aimed at Madriani and company.
Thus, every move the lawyers make is closely scrutinized.....and people they interview tend to end up dead. I thought the lawyers were a bit naïve about this - going on their merry way without realizing they had a trail of followers.....until they finally caught on.
In any case, Madriani realizes that Ives' life is in danger, and the reporter is spirited off to a safe house in Mexico.
For their part, Madriani and Hines travel to the Caribbean and Europe to 'follow the money' that's at the heart of the trouble. The surveillers stay on their tails, though, and all kinds of mayhem ensues.
Steve Martini injects some of his political opinions into the story, and - if U.S. politicos are as venal, greedy, and corrupt as he suggests - we're in a sorry state for sure. (Sadly, I don't think he's totally wrong.) In some ways the book is very relevant to current affairs, with foreign countries allegedly sticking their fingers into U.S elections and so on.
The basic plot of the story is intriguing but there's too much going on - and it gets a little tedious. Moreover, the scoundrels are more like comic book supervillains than real people. They can see and hear everything that's going on everywhere, follow people without being detected, line up thugs as tough as Navy Seals at the drop of a hat, and so on. Even the good guys get hold of some nifty devices. It's just not credible - and some parts of the book seem more like science fiction than mystery thriller.
Martini is a good writer, but this isn't one of his best books - and I can't wholeheartedly recommend it. Still, the story has lots of action and some nifty tech devices - so readers who like that type of thing might enjoy the story.
Rating: 3 stars
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