The exciting fourth legal thriller from former federal prosecutor Martinez to feature Melanie Vargas (after 2007's Cover-up
) starts with a bang: a car bomb detonated by a cellphone explodes outside the Manhattan federal courthouse and kills Lester Poe, a distinguished defense attorney who was opposing Melanie in her murder prosecution of rap legend Atari Briggs. Melanie, a workaholic single mom who was attracted to Poe, witnesses the horrific crime, which occurs moments after the defense attorney advised her that Briggs was willing to give the feds the goods on wanted terrorist Gamal Abdullah. This Pelican Brief
–like opening, alas, isn't matched by the rest of the book, which takes a predictable course involving a transparently evil attorney who succeeds Poe in representing Briggs and a young female attorney with self-esteem issues who's tempted to compromise the Briggs prosecution. Martinez may yet hit the top rank of suspense novelists if she melds her engaging series sleuth with more sophisticated plot lines. (Mar.)
