A lot of folks know the name Ron Martinelli.  Ron is a retired California police detective and owner-operator of Martinelli & Associates, a law enforcement consulting firm based out of Boerne, Texas.  However, his name might soon become known more as a renowned novelist rather than as a police expert.

Absolute Justus is Ron’s first foray into the world of fiction writing. And with Absolute Justus Martinelli has hit a home run.  At the risk of appearing bias, I have known Ron for more than a few years.  We’ve worked together as police experts on a number of cases. 

At 363 pages in the soft cover version, this is no afternoon read.  However, upon starting it one morning, it was well into the evening when I finally put this page-turner down.  For those in the law enforcement community, you’ll find this great read most compelling.  For those not so engaged in the police culture, some might feel this book is too violent.  However, in the world both Ron and I worked in, Ron being a retired detective from the Bay Area of northern California and myself a retired lieutenant from upstate New York, violence was a part of our jobs.  But no doubt about it, some of the scenes described in Absolute Justus are extremely graphic.    

Ron’s main character, retired Texas Ranger Wade Justus, is indeed a noble man.  Several years after an officer-involved shooting Wade was involved in and for which he’s plagued by guilt, he finds himself smack in the middle of a series of violent sexual homicides occurring in Nashville, Tennessee, dubbed the Sleeping Beauty Murders. Wade volunteered to work on the case after his son, Hunter, a Special Agent with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations was put out of commission after being attacked and injured while investigating one of the incidents.  Wade, hired as a pro bono consultant to the Metro Nashville PD, eventually becomes a captive of the deranged assailant. 

Without disclosing the climatic end to this excellent novel, I can attest to the range of emotions the reader will undoubtedly experience; from the professed love between Wade and his wife, Helen, an officer in a neighboring TX agency; Wade’s rage over the violence demonstrated by the demented suspect he’s trying to identify; up through the pride Wade feels for his son, Hunter.  This book will undoubtedly move you.

Martinelli is a very gifted writer and destined to join the list of other novelists in the police genre a la, James Patterson, David Baldacci and Michael Connelly. This page turner will be difficult to put down.  I’m eagerly awaiting Justus for All, Ron’s second book in the Wade Justus series.      

Absolute Justus is available from Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, or iTunes. 

Published by Page Publishing, Inc. (2020).  $21.95