Shadow of Power

by: Steve Martini

Published by: William Morrow

Reviewed by Patricia E. Reid

In Shadow of Power, Terry Scarborough’s best-seller is Perpetual Slaves, The Branding of America’s Black Race Scarborough has brought to the eye of the public, words regarding slavery that have never been removed from the Constitution of the United States. These words sent his book to the top of the bestseller list and caused unrest throughout the world.

Terry is on the brink of revealing on a late show that his next book will center on a letter known as The J letter written by one of our nation’s founders. But Terry won’t be appearing on the late night show. He is violently murdered in his hotel room prior to the show.

Carl Arnsberg, age 23, is arrested for that murder. Carl is the son of a good friend of attorney Paul Madriani’s, so Paul agrees to take the case. The police feel that they have enough proof to send Carl to his death for Terry’s murder. Carl is an employee with the hotel where Terry was staying and was in the room just after the murder but the police are convinced he actually committed the crime and haven’t done much of a job looking for other suspects.

Now it is up to Paul and his staff to prove Carl’s innocence. Paul is seeking more knowledge regarding The J letter but no one seems to be able to tell him much. He feels that the letter, Scarborough and a Supreme Court Justice are all linked together in some way

Shadow of Power takes you through the investigation, the courtroom drama and all the behind-the-scenes happenings. The book will no doubt score 5 stars for most readers but it didn’t for me. I didn’t really get excited about reading until I was almost to the end but the ending was great and made reading all the previous pages worthwhile. Herman, Paul’s investigator, is a great character and I totally enjoyed his comments in court.

Armchair Interviews says: Slow start, good ending.

Author’s Web site: http://www.SteveMartini.com