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Michele Martinez's taut, crisp debut combines deft word choices with a riveting story line, creating euphonious dialogue that is perfect for Isabel Keating's expert narration. With Keating's unique voices, character development is honed to an art form. Melanie, a young federal prosecutor, is the gutsy, strong-willed Latina heroine who has not quite left behind her poverty-stricken Brooklyn roots and the tragedy that tore apart her parents' marriage. Secondary characters include gang leader Slice; Melanie's sister, Linda, a Latina princess; FBI Agent Dan O'Reilly, whose deep, confident, resonant voice never falters, even during high-speed chases; and Bernadette, the boss from hell. K.A.T. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

January 24, 2005
Martinez's effervescent debut thriller comes on like a series pilot, with a winning heroine and a large cast of colorful supporting characters drawn in broad strokes and primed for future episodes. Young, ambitious Melanie Vargas, a federal prosecutor in Manhattan gets the big break of her career almost by mistake: she's pushing her baby daughter through the nighttime streets when she walks into a crime scene. A fire has nearly destroyed the house of hotshot attorney Jed Benson, and cops are everywhere. Melanie fast-talks her way into the apartment where Benson has been brutally murdered. Melanie desperately wants the case—and she has to fight to get it—but she's hard-pressed to put in the hours it requires. She's booted out philandering husband Steve, a development she has yet to disclose to her nosy sister or her meddling mom, and she has a prima donna nanny. Martinez gives equal time to Melanie's balancing act and the complicated case, which begins as a probe of the C-Trout Gangsta Blades gang, but widens to include Benson's white-shoe law firm. Though still contemplating reconciliation with Steve, Melanie finds herself drawn to FBI agent Dan O'Reilly. The plot doesn't quite gel, but Martinez has crafted an enormously appealing heroine and a breezy, entertaining tale. Agent, Meg Ruley. (Mar.)

Forecast:
Can we say J. Lo vehicle? Blurbs from Evanovich, Johansen and others, plus Martinez's street cred (she was a New York City federal prosecutor herself), should give this debut a kick.

Melanie Vargas is a complicated woman struggling to negotiate her job as a prosecuting attorney and her life as a new mother whose marriage has crumbled. Her efforts are complicated by the childhood memory of her father's assault and subsequent abandonment. Anne Twomey masterfully relates Melanie's conflicts through her controlled pace. During her expert performance, the listener becomes engrossed as the plot gains intensity, the characters become more desperate, and the bodies pile up. As the story closes, the listener is left hoping to see more of the Martinez/Twomey team. S.K.P. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

November 15, 2004
Simultaneous with the Morrow hardcover.

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.