Notorious

There are a multitude of reasons why you should read NOTORIOUS by Michele Martinez. A fast-paced experience? Check. Believable good guys? Check. Ruthless, though intriguing, bad guys? Check. Compelling plot? Check. Great cover? Well, that's not a reason to read it, but certainly a reason to buy it. And once you do so, you'll open it and read it all the way through --- top to bottom and beginning to end. If you are unfamiliar with Martinez and her heroine, federal prosecutor Melanie Vargas, you need not fear jumping right into NOTORIOUS, the fourth book in her series. The author does an excellent job of making new readers feel welcome by backing up what has gone before with a sentence or two. NOTORIOUS begins with a bang --- literally. Vargas is on the cusp of trying a high-profile murder case against Atari Briggs, a drug dealer turned rapper. Briggs is defended by Lester Poe, a world-famous criminal attorney. In an informal sidewalk meeting, Poe asks Vargas to delay the trial in exchange for testimony from his client concerning a notorious terrorist who is running drugs into the United States. Poe also hints at continuing --- on a social basis --- his relationship with her after the trial is over. She is interested in both propositions. Her happiness, however, is cut short seconds later when Poe is murdered before her eyes. Vargas is determined to see Po's killer brought to justice, but as a potential witness, she is boxed off of the case by her own office. Still assigned to prosecute Briggs, Vargas finds that Briggs's new counsel, Evan Diamond, is less pleasant to deal with. Diamond has a bad reputation personally and professionally, and while he shared office space with Poe, the two attorneys were known not to get along. To make matters worse, Diamond denies that Briggs has any information for the prosecution or ever wanted any sort of a deal. When her key witness is attacked, Vargas desperately seeks other testimony to convict Briggs. Her quest takes her to Las Vegas and a chance meeting with an old flame, but it ends in tragedy --- one that has its etiology in her own office. Racing against time, Vargas sets a trap that she hopes will catch a conviction, little knowing that her own life will be in danger before everything is resolved. Martinez is an absolute master of infusing her novels with an over-the-shoulder look at office politics at the federal level, and she outdoes herself in NOTORIOUS. It is the ultimate irony that a government bureaucracy, particularly one involved in law enforcement, is often hindered in pursuing its mission as much from within as without. Intra- and inter-agency turf wars, support staff with influence out of proportion to rank, and supervisors out of touch with the job (if they ever were in touch to begin with) are but a few of the elements comprising the 10-ton bureaucratic millstone that Martinez describes so well. Add believable characters, a perfectly paced plot and a satisfying, if ironic, ending, and

This book was great, it was given to me by a co-worker, and I loved it. I had to get Michele Martinez's other books!

From start to finish this book managed to keep me in suspense. Michelle Martinez is a fabulous mystery writer she has become one of my favorites.

Michele Martinez is making her name in legal thrillers, and she's doing it by offering rapid-fire action, legal expertise, and solid characters that grow with every novel. NOTORIOUS is her fourth book, and it once again features her New York City assistant district attorney heroine, Melanie Vargas. Before turning to a life of crime-writing, Michele Martinez also worked as a prosecuting attorney in New York City. Her cases involved narcotics, smuggling, and murder. When she writes about something, she puts in a lot of authenticity. Melanie Vargas is a hard-working single mother with an ex who was a lousy husband but a great father to her two year old daughter. As of this novel, she's currently estranged from her FBI boyfriend Dan O'Reilly. I enjoy reading about her, getting to know her co-workers and family, and watching her struggle with emotional entanglements with those people as well as her cases. She's cleanly written and feels like a real person. NOTORIOUS begins with a bang - literally. After Melanie talks to Lester Poe, the famous defense attorney she's presently bumping heads with while attempting to put his rapper client away, Poe's car gets blown to bits. Poe dies with it, and Melanie is deeply affected by his death. In just that small scene, Martinez won me over to the pursuit of vengeance/justice throughout the rest of the novel. I believed in Poe as a character as well, he was a lot like other attorneys I've gotten to meet. And I totally understood Melanie's need to ensure the world still made sense and the good guys could still win. The action picks up intensity as the police and FBI get involved. The scenes (and chapters) are short and brisk and made the read both easy and pleasant as the pages turned and turned. I was on the trail with Melanie, and there was no way either one of us was going to back down. The tension didn't go away when Melanie returned home, either. New dilemmas came at her from family and her ex-lover. It seemed like the world had suddenly conspired to turn on Melanie and beat her down, and I cheered her on the whole way. The legal action was cool and felt real, from the impromptu visit to judge's chambers and the legal brinksmanship regarding the rapper client, Atari Briggs, to the protection of the witness list and the prisoner who offers to turn state's evidence for a reduced sentence. Martinez is equally at home with physical action as well. Her road trip to separate fact from fiction ends in disaster and in the death of a close friend. Those scenes ratchet up the suspense and ring true. The mystery deepens as Melanie looks into Lester Poe's life, though. What she knew of him was only the surface and he has a lot of secrets, a lot of people who were willing to kill him. Evan Diamond, Poe's partner, steps in as Atari Briggs's lawyer and immediately seduces the newest addition to the district attorney's office. He's a good villain and I couldn't wait for Melanie to get the upper han

I was so happy when I found out the 4th Installment in Michelle Martinez's series about a Federal prosecutor was being published. I pre-ordered it and got it within a day of the early release date. And, it was worth waiting for. The fast paced plot kept me up turning pages well into the night. I like the characters, the story line, and the thrilling glimpse behind the scenes of how our government operates at the federal level. My only complaint is that none of her books are available on audio, so my mom can't enjoy them with me! Thank you, Ms. Martinez, for taking the time and effort to write a great book. I look forward to reading more of them! Linda Holman (L A Jewel)