Whenever an Italian-American author makes a big splash, I’m interested in sampling one of his books. Steve Martini, who grew up in the San Francisco area, has cracked the NY Times Best Sellers list several times with legal thrillers. Two of his novels, Undue Influence and The Judge, have been adapted as TV mini-series. He began his career as a journalist. He attended law school at night and eventually practiced in both the public and private sectors. In the mid 80’s he gave writing a shot and found immediate success. 12 of his 15 novels feature Paul Madriani as the main character. I just finished The Jury, published in 2001. It has an authentic tone. The prose and dialogue are solid. I thought the story ordinary until the resolution, which was sound, plausible and sad. I kicked myself for not realizing, sooner, who the perpetrator was. The story is grounded in realism. Nothing outlandish occurs. I enjoyed it much more than the John Grisham novel, The Appeal, I sampled. My hunch is that The Jury would appeal more to fans of the genre than to the general reading public, which is the case with almost every type of book. Rarely does one have almost universal appeal. The title is odd, as the jury has little to do with the events. Maybe I missed something. On a scale of five, three. As far as legal fiction goes, the most entertaining for me is the original Law & Order TV series. Watching repeats on Channel 9 on Saturday and Sunday night at ten, I’m still impressed by what the cast and crew accomplished in less than 50 minutes. It was as intelligent as a TV show ever gets.
I guess Paula Dean doesn't know that use of the N word is exclusive to rappers and screenwriters. These days I hear teenage white girls use it casually on the street. I suspect her apology was insincere and self serving, an effort to save her career, but she seems the target of an intolerance her detractors denounce. People have been forgiven for behavior a lot worse.
I always enjoy Bad News Billy's visits to the floating book shop. He is a kind soul taken advantage of by friends and family. His troubled grand daughter got all dressed up for her eighth grade graduation, and went into panic mode as the car pulled up to the school. She screamed and cried as Damian did when faced with going into a church in The Omen. She had to be taken home. She lives with her grandfather, whose wife left him. Her mother isn't married. She is grossly overweight. She needs a lot of help.
My thanks to Billy, who bought eight VHS tapes, and Jack, who purchased two thrillers, the teenage female who bought the remaining six of the Charlaine Harris Sookie Stackhouse series, on which the cable show True Blood is based, and Richie, one of my former charges during my coaching days, who donated about 100 hard cover best sellers. The trunk of my car is full. I had to put the least marketable of my non-fiction wares on the back seat.
Vic's 4th Novel: http://tinyurl.com/bszwlxh
Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
Vic's Website: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/
Vic's Short Story Collection (Print or Kindle): http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/6b86st6
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/94t5h
Vic's Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3
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