Guest Review: Trader of Secrets

Summary: Defense attorney Paul Madriani is embroiled in a case as perilous as any he has ever faced: one that involves an angry killer who will stop at nothing short of vengeance, and two missing NASA scientists who are holding secrets that a hostile government desperately wants to purchase—in blood if they must.
Madriani's daughter, Sarah, has evaded the man known as Liquida, who has stalked her all the way across the country. For her own safety, she is being kept under armed guard on a farm in Ohio. 

But one morning, itching for a predawn run to shake off the tension that has grown in the hours she's spent waiting for word from her father, Sarah slips from her ring of protection. What she doesn't know is that at the same moment her assailant is outside, waiting patiently in the dark. 

Meanwhile in California, two men in a parked car argue over millions in cash that could be slipping through their fingers and a scheme involving government technology for sale that could rock the world. 

Paul Madriani, his companion Joselyn Cole, and his longtime law partner, Harry Hinds, track Liquida, not knowing that their quest will carry them deep into the vortex of international terror. It is a journey that will lead them toward a bizarre and cruel twist of nature—and the ultimate weapon of mass destruction. From the nation's capital to California, from Bangkok to Paris and the jungles of Mexico, Madriani and his party race against time to find Liquida and the scientist who is the "trader of secrets" before he can unleash the weapon that could set the world ablaze. -- Willliam Morrow

In my pre-blogging days, I used to read all of Steve Martini's Paul Madriani books. I enjoyed the characters and Mr. Martini's writing; and I thought the legal parts of the story were terrific. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at things), I knew I wouldn't get to his latest novel TRADER OF SECRETS in a time manner, so I ended up passing it along to my dad -- he does write terrific reviews. I admit that TRADER OF SECRETS looks a little different from the past Paul Madriani books, and I'm not sure it's ideal for my current tastes. Anyway, here are Booking Pap Pap's thoughts:

TRADERS OF SECRETS by Steve Martini features defense attorney Paul Madriani, a popular character in other Martini books. In this novel Madriani chases a Mexican killer- for-hire named Liquida who has a vengeance against Madriani. Liquida has already killed a friend of his daughter, wounded his security guard and attempted to kill his daughter who was in hiding because of this threat. Madriani concludes he either gets Liquida or Liquida gets him. Madriani, his partner, Harry Hinds and his girlfriend, Joselyn Cole begin to track Liquida from Washington D.C. to Bangkok to Paris to the jungles of Yucatan.

Concurrently, a top secret U.S. defense research project has been compromised by two of the engineers working on the project. Liquida has been hired by an international terrorist arms dealer to expedite the transfer of information from the engineers and it’s not long before Madriani and his team are in the middle of a worldwide terrorist plot involving political espionage and sophisticated space weapons. To add more interest to the novel, Martini throws in a Doberman named Bugsy, a few double agents, Israeli Special Forces and an exciting concluding battle with lots of gunfire, killing and explosions. Madriani and his team also find time for some amusing conversations that will make some readers laugh and some readers question the timing of the levity.

Martini conveys some interesting political and social positions through the novel’s characters. His characters question some aspects of liberalism, discuss the need to bear arms and display more than a little contempt for government, portraying the FBI as a bungling bureaucracy.

Although I found the book to be very exciting, the plot is a little farfetched. I had difficulty picturing two attorneys and a girlfriend chasing international terrorists around the world. Also the space weaponry is a little beyond my imagination.

Setting aside the lack of plausibility of the plot, the reader will find an easy to read, fast-paced exciting thriller. TRADER OF SECRETS is a great summer vacation read and will raise the reader’s curiosity to research other Steve Martini books featuring Paul Madriani.

Thanks to Booking Pap Pap for his review and thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.