Customer Reviews

Enemy Within

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

"Enemy Within" is Robert Tanenbaum's thirteenth novel in the Butch Carp-Marlene Ciampi series. Butch is now the Chief Assistant District Attorney for Manhattan. Marlene is working for a private security firm that is about to trade its stock publicly and she is happily contemplating the prospect of becoming enormously wealthy.

Butch, meanwhile, is knee-deep in an investigation of corruption in the police department that is also tainting the District Attorney's office. Butch's boss, Jack Keegan, is facing a tough election, and Keegan would prefer that Butch turn a blind eye to certain questionable cases that are passing through the system. However, being the white knight that he is, Butch feels compelled to investigate a police shooting that is not what it seems, as well as the murder of an unarmed homeless man by a woman who claims that she acted in self-defense.

Tanenbaum presents a large and colorful cast of characters, from a group of wretched and pathetic homeless men and women to Marlene Ciampi herself. Marlene goes beserk after she is involved in a shooting and, at the same time, she discovers that she has millions of dollars to spend. She becomes an alcoholic and a shopaholic and her behavior is both outrageous and terrifying. Butch and Marlene's daughter, Lucy, is now seventeen and she is as rebellious and unhappy as ever. She cuts school regularly to visit, feed and nurture the homeless and she is also suffering the pangs of her love for an "older man".

Tanenbaum wisely brings back characters from his previous novels for cameo appearances. Roland Hrcany, Guma, and V. T. Newbury (each a former or present colleague of Butch) add spice to the novel as they help to move the plot along. Tran, the former Vietcong who has helped the family in the past, coaxes Lucy out of her scholastic doldrums, and Father Dugan aids Butch in his investigation and participates in the final climactic chase scene.

The dialogue is witty, fast-paced and politically incorrect. "Enemy Within" is filled with insights about what really passes for justice in the political town known as New York City.

This novel does have several weaknesses. As usual, Tanenbaum likes coincidences and it just so happens that Lucy's homeless friends are involved in the very case that her father is investigating. In addition, Marlene's recovery from her addictions is abrupt and unrealistic. One does not "snap out" of alcoholism, which is a serious illness, not a phase. Finally, the ending is a little too pat, as Tanenbaum struggles to tie up the many loose ends which dangle at the end of the novel.

In spite of these quibbles, "Enemy Within" is an entertaining and engrossing legal thriller that will undoubtedly please the many fans of this long-running and successful series.

is what you will get with a Tanenbaum novel. Enemy Within captured my imagination and attention a little less than earlier books in the series.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still quite taken with the Karp daughter, Lucy, although the freedom she is granted to move about any and all dank corner of NYC, making friends of the homeless, is a little bit of a stretch. Some old friends from the series return, although their bits are far too small -- Hrcany, Guma, Newberry and one of Tanenbaum's best, Tran. Butch himself is
worrying his way through middle age, and is believable in his motivation and his frustration at the lack of normalcy in either his work or family life. (Oh, if only he realized that this is true of everyone in their 40's!)

The sour note is the author's decision to drive Marlene to drink. And spend. And drink. And spend. And drink. And, having tried to fit this zany, opinionated Italian lady into that mold, Tanenbaum does not do the reader any favors by asking us to believe that she can then shake herself out of it without professional help, simply because she is motivated to take down some bad guys and stop ignoring her daughter and help resolve the murders she is involved in.

Marlene takes the book from 4 stars to 3. Is it time for a change in the series? Perhaps so, the DA's office has been thoroughly dismembered in the series, perhaps Butch needs a judgeship. Perhaps Marlene needs to have at least one child learning disabled, so she can devote her considerable skills to something that matters.

Still, the series that best showcases all the slices of life that are NYC, continues to appeal, even when exploring the wildly rumored underground terrors that haunt the city and maintain the myth.

Perhaps best purchased used or borrowed from the library!

This may not be the Butch and Marlene story that Tanenbaum has written, but mediocre Tanenbaum is better than the best of John Grisham. Marlene goes on a tangent that is one of the best parts of this book when she gets filthy rich and cannot get enough shopping or enough vintage wine. Lucy is her mother's daughter all the way. Butch is really left more confused than usual, but manages to cope. If you are not yet a Butch and Marlene fan, start with the first and read them in order. Wouldn't you love to see Cher play Marlene in a movie!

Butch Karp and his wife Marlene are not the typical married couple and their children are anything but average. Butch is the chief assistant district attorney for New York City while his wife is vice president for a mega-security company that is going public on the stock market. Their oldest daughter Lucy can speak any language after hearing it for three days and their twin sons are total opposites who communicate telepathically. Lucy is very involved in the homeless, going into their warrens and working in a shelter.

A serial killer is stalking the street people, but Lucy is heedless of the danger. Marlene thrives on being out in the field while Butch has two moral dilemmas to deal with in his professional life. The main one is a police officer who shot a man; the DA's office and the police department want to close the case because the cop is a hero. Butch thinks that the officer did something wrong and wants to investigate the case. He also has to deal with a boss, running for reelection, playing politics in a death penalty case. It is never a dull moment in the Karp family.

Robert K. Tanenbaum writes a fascinating legal thriller and police procedural that blends well together in ENEMY WITHIN. He not only deals with social issues such as the homeless, but also takes on the problem of the police blank wall of silence. He also shows the linear connection between the police department, the judicial system, and the political machine. Mr. Tanenbaum writes about unpleasant truths in a fictionalized setting but lightens the story line up by delving into the home life of his protagonists. This is another winner from the pen of Mr. Tanenbaum

Harriet Klausner

We once again check out an instalment in the lives of Butch Karp, Chief Assistant District Attorney and his wife, Marlene Ciampi, a director of an international security agency. Butch finds himself faced with challenge after challenge, both professional and personal.

On the professional front, cases are being assigned priority in the DA's office based on their political appeal rather on their prosecutorial merits. A police cover-up is being rushed through the system, much to Butch's disgust. And a man faces the death penalty for a crime that he probably didn't commit.

The problems on the personal side are just as worrying for Butch. Lucy, his 17 year-old daughter is ditching school and choosing to hang out at the local soup kitchen, helping the homeless. Marlene has just become independently wealthy and uses this newfound wealth to go on outlandish buying sprees by day and drinking binges by night.

Quite a good deal of the book deals with the political aspects of Butch's position as Chief Assistant District Attorney. This doesn't exactly make for edge-of-the-seat thrill a minute drama. Between dwelling on the psychological problems faced by Butch, Marlene and Lucy, there is not a lot of time left to actually expand on the mystery side of the plot, that is, who is the bum-slasher. As a result, the bum-slasher was virtually revealed as an afterthought and just as quickly, dismissed.

This really is an update of the story so far of a day in the lives of Butch Karp and family. Consequently, I would recommend this for people who have read previous books by Tanenbaum and are aware of what has happened in the past.

I am a die-hard Tanenbaum fan. I wait for my yearly Butch and Marlene fix like a heroin addict awaits that tiny sting of the needle. That said, I must say I was disappointed in this year's offering. Problems large and small prevented Enemy Within from being a completely satisfying read. Previous editors have failed to catch the odd typo or grammatical error (insure vs. ensure and that sort of thing) but in this case, the editor went on vacation. Harry Bello is now sporting a W at the end of his name, and Marlene's co-workers are using her pet phrases, like "girlhood dream." I could live with such things, but as a previous reviewer pointed out, Marlene's sudden left turn into alcoholism was way too simplistic and unbelievable. A kind editor would have said, "You might want to re-think this one." Marlene an alcoholic? Why, because a job protecting a ditzy rock star goes wrong? The old Marlene would have crawled into the electroplating tub, had a tumbler of red and a good cry, but this was too much. Tanenbaum suggests that her company's covert dealings to increase the stock price and the money shower that follows contribute to her condition, but even this is hard to believe. Marlene is the party-hard girl, the tough city woman who whistles up cabs, flings pizza dough, performs sleight-of-hand tricks, and wings rather than kills bad guys. She's not a woman to crawl into the bottom of a bottle and stay there. After all, she hauled Harry out of the same mess with lasagna and stern words. The rest of the book has its moments, but reads more like "Duane's Depressed." Karp is feeling old and disillusioned by Keegan's need to win the next election no matter what. Lucy can whip him in a game of basketball, and Marlene has gone around the bend with her windfall. Veteren characters are disappearing quickly--one has retired and is dying of cancer, while another has fled NY altogether. Even Lucy is not left unscathed, for a man she admires turns out not to be so admirable. Don't get me wrong. I'm still a fan, and Tanenbaum is still one of the few writers who can make me laugh out loud. I'll buy his next book, but probably not on the first day at full price.

At his worst, Robert K. Tanenbaum is a good read. At his best, he is a fabulous read. The Enemy Within is neither his worst nor his best. In his latest book, the plot relies heavily on coincidence, and the closing sequence is nothing short of surreal.

Nonetheless Tanenbaum is still excruciatingly funny. Had I ever entertained ambitions to belong to New York's social glitterati, Marlene's brief sojourn therein would have cured me forever. Marlene has regressed back into a character rather more unlovely than she has been for some time, and the scope of her exploits makes even Nancy Drew sound plausible. But at her strangest (and with questionable motivation) Marlene is still fun and funny to read about.

And Tanenbaum manages to make Butch and Marlene Karp's daughter Lucy palatable which is no small feat since she has evolved from being not merely a linguistic phenomenon but additionally a mystic one. Not content with conquering the world's spoken languages, Lucy is now tuning in words that no one else can hear. I do care about the compelling Lucy, but Marlene is more interesting, just as in Milton's Paradise Lost, Satan is the more engaging, at least in a literary sense.

Tanenbaum has an annoying tendency to toss his secondary protagonists aside before their time, which is not fair when all of them are so vivid and so well defined. If he absolutely promises to live forever and never to stop writing, he may yet redeem himself (Tran is thankfully brought back here in one of the book's many coincidences) but the author had better eat all his veggies and otherwise look after his health, because otherwise even his fans will find certain omissions unbearable. Quick, how long till the next Tanenbaum?

This volume, and the last one, are not as good as prior volumes, though all are quite well written. I've read about Marlene and Butch since before they were married. I think the series is loosing some of its punch. On the other hand, it may just be a transitional novel from Marlene/Butch to their daughter, the language genius. Where is it going? I hope the author has a plan. This is definitely a series to read from the start. Find the earliest dates you can and try to read in chronological order to get the big story along with the episodes.

This was my first book by this author and my last. This book has over 500 pages; gave it my best shot to get through
the wordiness of this book that goes nowhere. I put it down at 200 pages and can't read anymore. 200 pages and the
story droans on with no life. Its about cops the D.A. office and his family, but who cares.
On to something better.
Dont bother with this

I read constantly and I read many police/lawyer/crime novels. I was very disappointed with this one. Aside from the crucial chase/shooting scene, the book was so dull that I stopped reading it after 84 pages. It is so filled with mind numbing descriptions and conversations that I had to force myself to plow through the dialogue. Being a detective myself, I was also put off by the author's obvious feeling of superiority to cops that seems to permeate his writing. In addition, the author, being a lawyer, talks too much without making a point. I have read other novels written by attorneys and have enjoyed them, so I am not just attorney-bashing here. This is the first and last Tanenbaum novel for me.