Double Tap - Softcover

Duncan Anderson,Steve Martini,Steve Martini,Marian Walls,

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0755309308 ISBN 13: 9780755309306

Publisher: Headline Publishing Group, 2006

Synopsis

Retired professional soldier Emiliano Ruiz has been charged with the murder of Madelyn Chapman with whom he had been conducting a love affair. Seemingly irrefutable evidence points to Ruiz as the perp, not just the exotic and exclusive pistol used to kill her, but also the method employed - a 'double tap', by which members of the military kill assailants in kidnap situations with two bullets, one to bring them down and one to keep them down. But when defence attorney Paul Madriani learns that Chapman had been involved in developing the biggest and most comprehensive 'spying' software programme ever commissioned by the US government, it looks to him as though the murder was about more than just a lover rebuffed. Determined to clear his client, Madriani exposes himself to the potentially deadly attention of greedy, corrupt and ambitious men with everything to lose.

About this title

About the Author:

Steve Martini, a former trial attorney, has worked as a journalist and capital correspondent in the California State House in Sacramento. He has been engaged in both public and private practice of law. He lives on the US West Coast with his wife and daughter.

From Booklist:

The "double tap" of the title refers both to ballistics evidence--two shots, only an inch apart, to the victim's head--and to the way wars have of reaching out to veterans, spattering past trauma into the present. Martini's latest legal thriller starring California defense attorney Paul Madriani weaves the theme of the past infiltrating the present throughout a daunting case. The body of an extremely wealthy businesswoman, CEO of a corporation specializing in defense, is found with two tightly grouped bullet wounds to the head, suggesting the work of an expert marksman. Enter the most likely suspect: a career soldier who was on the victim's security detail and with whom she was having an affair. As Madriani attempts to defend the uncooperative soldier, he discovers that the victim's company was involved in a potentially devastating antiterrorist program. The plot progresses in a satisfyingly logical way, from first interview with the suspect through legal machinations and on to a tense, utterly believable courtroom battle. Plot and legal knowledge are Martini's strength. Dialogue, however, is his weakness. Characters continually deliver off-the-cuff, incredibly detailed descriptions of scenes that seem much more writerly than conversational. And Martini is often guilty of overdescription--three pages of the businesswoman handing her keys to a valet parking attendant. Still, in this case, the plot carries the prose. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About this edition

• Publisher: Headline Publishing Group
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0755309308
• ISBN 13: 9780755309306
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 512