Gaurdian of Lies Review

Steve Martini has developed-the character Paul Madriani through many novels. He is a criminal defense attorney in the San Diego area, Del Coronado is his main stomping ground. He seems to have a knack for falling into high profile murder cases worthy of a novel. Guardian of Lies is no exception.

In this novel his partner Harry plays mostly a bit part. Their investigator plays a major supporting role. Paul has a chance encounter with Katia Solanez, a Costa Rican beauty, in a supermarket one Sunday. She is looking for some fruit to practice making a dinner at the home of Emerson Pike with whom she is currently staying - maybe against her will.

Emerson Pike, a former CIA agent and currently rare coin dealer, ends up murdered and Katia is later arrested and charged. She has Madriani's business card and he becomes her attorney. The story develops as a mystery intrigue involving escaped Guantanamo Bay prisoners,  Columbian drug lords, a Russian defector with an atomic bomb, local police, the prosecuter in the case, the FBI, and the CIA. Madriani, of course, is in the middle of all of it trying to defend his client. The local prosecuter suspects Madriani as a co-murderer since all the rare gold coins were looted during the murder.

When Madriani goes to Costa Rica in search of some mysterious pictures which seem to be at the center of proof of innocnece he is charged with the murder and becomes a fugitive. In the meantime the FBI is tracking him hoping to discover if the suspected atomic bomb is real and what plans there might be for it. The suspense converges in Costa Rica and the action moves to Mexico and right back to Madriani's back yard.

This is one of the typical but, I feel, better plot developments that Steve Martini has penned. It is definitely a page turner that grabs the reader early and pulls him quickly through its 448 hard-bound pages. It is hard to put down.