Double Tap
Steve Martini
Putnam, July 2005, $26.95, 432 pages, ISBN: 0399150927
reviewed by Harriet Klausner

Successful wealthy CEO of Isotenics, Inc. Madelyn Chapman enjoys her bi-coastal lifestyle that includes abodes in Manhattan and Virginia. However, one day when she returns to the house she considers her home in La Jolla, California, someone assassinates her with a double tap, two precise bullets to her head. The police follow clues that lead to career veteran Emiliano Ruiz. He hires attorney Paul Madriani to represent him.

Paul faces an uphill battle as not only evidence places the accused near the crime scene; Emiliano had the skill to perform the precision operation. Adding to his dilemma is that Emiliano provides no background information about himself especially a seven-year data hole in the middle of his long military career. The prosecutors cooperate as much as his client refuses to impart information on the victim's link to the military. Still Paul continues to dig to insure he bestows the best defense he can for his silent client.

DOUBLE TAP is a terrific thriller that has the hero frustrated at every turn as his client refuses to cooperate and the prosecution is even less forthcoming. Paul keeps digging for information, but for every step forward he takes two steps backward. Still he wants to put up a strong defense even if he wonders if Emiliano committed the homicide. Steve Martini is at his supreme best with this tale that showcases a struggling legal defense unable to obtain any cooperation.