22 May 2016

Review #438: Blood Flag (Paul Madriani #14) by Steve Martini



My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“Anyone can deal with victory. Only the mighty can bear defeat.”

---- Adolf Hitler



Steve Martini, an American best-selling author, pens an exciting yet thrilling new book from his Paul Madriani series, Blood Flag and it is the fourteenth book in the series. This series is centered around a quite renowned Californian attorney, Paul Madriani, flanked by his partner, Harry Hinds and each book in the series unfolds an electrifying chapter and adventure and mystery in Paul's life. Similarly, in Blood Flag too, Paul comes face-to-face yet with a new case and a new challenge to win over until this challenge turns life-threatening and deadly, killing off people, Paul cares about.




Synopsis:

Defending a client accused of killing her father, attorney Paul Madriani is drawn into a treacherous conspiracy dating to World War II in this enthralling installment in the New York Times bestselling series.

Paul Madriani and Harry Hinds have a new client: Emma Brauer, a woman accused in the “mercy killing” of her aged father, Robert Brauer. Insisting she’s innocent, Emma tells Paul about a package sent to her father shortly before he entered the hospital. Bequeathed to him by a member of his unit from World War II, the box contains a key and a slip of paper. Emma fears that this package is connected to her father’s death.

When Paul’s young assistant Sofia is murdered Madriani is blindsided by the realization that Emma’s fears are well-grounded.

Digging into Robert’s military history, Madriani discovers that other members of the Army unit Robert served with have recently died—under similarly suspicious circumstances. When he finds that the box sent to Brauer relates to a mysterious talisman that went missing at the end of the war—a feared Nazi relic known as the “Blood Flag”—Madriani and Hinds realize they are in for the fight of their lives.

With Emma’s life on the line and their own safety in jeopardy, Madriani must uncover the truth before the evil of the Blood Flag is allowed to spin a new web.



Paul finds his new client, Emma, an aged woman, amidst the scandal of "mercy killing" of her already dying father. And Paul realizes that there is more to it, than just the accusation of "mercy killing", but before he could dig more about the confusing revelation made by Emma, Sofia, Paul's assistant-cum-friend, is found dead near Emma's house, where she went to take care of Emma's pet dog. Paul is baffled with the news and before he can recover, he jumps into the investigation to find out what led to the death of Sofia. And also to figure out on whether the murder of Emma's father is somehow connected to Sofia's, before the the body count stops decreasing. The path is not an easy one, as his investigation opens the secret door to Hitler's rule in Germany, where there are dark secrets that not many are aware of. Can Paul and Harry figure out what caused the deaths of handful of innocent souls?

This is the first book that I ever read by Steve Martini and I must confess that right now, I'm looking for Steve's previous books on Amazon as the series simply hooked me and I couldn't get enough of Paul and his "cool and sharp" demeanor. The story is fantastic and has lots of information about Hitler that can enlighten lots of minds. It seems the author has not only research well but has also portrayed the lesser known facts quite strikingly.

The author's writing style glittered with an unique sense of panache which is unmatchable with many popular crime fiction writers. The narrative is engaging to the very core and will keep the readers hooked into the depths of this very story till the end. The pacing is really fast and the story freely flows with unexpected twists and sudden development that will leave even the seasoned crime-fiction readers as puzzled.

The mystery is concocted by the author remarkably as he first builds up his mystery laced with enough suspense, misdirection and tension for his readers, and then peeling those layers of suspense one-by-one, hence each and every page will demand reader's attention to stay focused and keep anticipating.The author has not only portrayed the mystery with suspense, but has also painted with lots of actions and frightening moments that will make the readers feel it through their skin.

The characters are simply fantastic and the author did a great job in featuring the dynamic set of cast for this book. The primary character, Paul has an unbeatable flair found quite a handful of heroes. His sharp mind and his concern towards his own people will make him stand out in the rest.l The author succeeds in making his readers feel connected with Paul as his character his justified with a backstory. The supporting cast is a myriad of realistic characters among whom some are depicted with their insecurities and some with their scheming mindset.

Overall, this is a captivating story that will keep the readers turning the pages of this book till the very end.

Verdict: Crime fiction readers do not miss out this series, particularly this book from the intriguing series.

Courtesy: Thanks to the author, Steve Martini's publicist for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book. 
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Author Info:
Steve Martini was born in San Francisco and grew up in the Bay Area and Southern California. An honors graduate of the University of California at Santa Cruz, Martini’s first career was in journalism. He worked as a newspaper reporter in Los Angeles and as a correspondent at the California State Capitol in Sacramento, specializing in legal issues, before gaining his law degree from the University of the Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law.

In 1974 he entered private law practice in California where he appeared in both state and federal courts. During his law career he worked as a legislative representative for the State Bar of California, served as special counsel to the California Victims of Violent Crimes Program, and was an administrative law judge and supervising hearing officer.

In 1984, Martini turned his talents to fiction. COMPELLING EVIDENCE, the novel that introduced attorney Paul Madriani, was published by Putnam in 1992. A national bestseller, that novel earned Martini a critical and popular following.
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