Escape [Paperback]

Robert K. Tanenbaum (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 24, 2009

In New York Times bestselling author Robert K. Tanenbaum's most explosive thriller yet, Butch Karp takes on a controversial defense in the courtroom, as a deadly terrorist plot unfolds in the heart of Manhattan.

Claiming God commanded her to gruesomely murder her three small children, a radical political science professor with a high-profile politician husband pleads insanity, leaving New York District Attorney Roger "Butch" Karp the arduous -- and incredibly unpopular -- task of proving that she's not. Meanwhile, an American-born jihadist detonates a suicide bomb inside a Manhattan synagogue. A harrowing question links the violent crimes -- is there any defense for a killer who believes committing murder is God's will? As Karp, his wife Marlene, their daughter Lucy, and a cast of eccentric accomplices begin a deadly manhunt, they uncover an intricate terrorist plot to paralyze New York's emergency response system and cripple the economy. They must find an assassin known only as "The Sheik" before he orchestrates a bloody massacre that could devastate the country forever....

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In bestseller Tanenbaum's improbable 20th Butch Karp legal thriller (after Malice), Karp, the New York County District Attorney, is as usual juggling multiple challenges--including the prosecution of Jessica Campbell, a politician's wife who murdered their three children, allegedly in response to a divine command, and yet another Islamic terrorist plot aimed at the Big Apple. While the sheer horror of Campbell's crimes, along with a psychological defense based on post-partum depression, could have been the basis for a thoughtful legal debate, Tanenbaum stacks the deck by saddling the defense with hack expert witnesses and makes a heavy-handed effort to parallel the defense theory with the suicidal jihadists, who also claim to act in the name of their god. The ability of Karp's family members to wander into apocalyptic terror plots and emerge not only unscathed but with a quip on their lips will be off-putting to many readers.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"A fast-paced, provocative legal thriller that Tanenbaum almost has a copyright on." -- Vincent Bugliosi, former Los Angeles District Attorney and bestselling author of Helter Skelter

"One hell of a writer." -- New York Post

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 736 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Star (February 24, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416546790
• ISBN-13: 978-1416546795
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 4.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #701,453 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Robert K. Tanenbaum is one of the country's most successful trial lawyers -- he has never lost a felony case. He has been homicide bureau chief for the New York District Attorney's Office and deputy chief counsel to the congressional committee investigations into the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Most recently, he has taught Advanced Criminal Procedure atthe University of California at Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law. His previous works include the novels Escape, Malice, Fury, Hoax, Resolved, Enemy Within, and Absolute Rage and two true-crime books, The Piano Teacher: The True Story of a Psychotic Killer and Badge of the Assassin.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars but better, June 21, 2008

By 

Julia M. Walker (NY Finger Lakes) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Escape (Hardcover)

Ok, this isn't wonderful, but it's certainly better than the last four (2004 Hoax, 2005 Fury, 2006 Counterplay, 2007 Malice.) The first 15 Karp/Ciampi novels - ghost-written by Michael Gruber - are among my favorite reads. If you haven't had the pleasure, run right out and start at the beginning. It was gruesome to see the series change when Tanenbaum got a new ghost. The errors alone were staggering - Butch forgot where his children were born; the dog changed breeds; Lucy became stupid.

This, as I said, is better. The plotting is much better (it had reached a subterranean nadir in Malice) and the settings are more carefully drawn. Here we get a lot of preaching, but the number of coincidences is down to a manageable level and Lucy is of average intellect. Sadly, everyone sounds the same, sort of mid-Atlantic bland. Gruber had a gift for languages that the new ghost has noted, but can't emulate. Butch says "Guck!" something Gruber's Butch would never have said; VT sounds the same as Guma except for vocab; and Father Jim is now being called by his last name. But there is some interesting play with Arabic and Swahili, and the stuff on Muslim saints is good. The minor characters once again have charm - Moishe and Goldie, especially, also Miriam.

But for all the book's bloated length, we don't get to dwell in people's lives; we just hear about them. We hear that Marlene cooks, but we don't see it. We hear that Lucy is spiritual, but it's like being told she's left-handed. I miss the immediacy and the detail of the early books, but at least these characters are on the same page.

So if you share my fantasy that Marlene and Butch and the kids are really out there somewhere, cut off from us by new narrators, this is a much less painful way to keep up with the dear folks. It's a good beach read.

Here's hoping for more next time.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed in Maryland, May 8, 2008

By 

Richard E. Kaye - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Escape (Hardcover)

After reading all of Robert Tanenbaums books I was waiting for Escape in anticipation of another great story , however am very disappointed. Although the attempt was to write a book with up to date real world situations there was way too much time and importance wasted on the Islamic world and culture so the reader was lost in the suicidal "jihadi" followers. Not much of Butch and Marlene and family. The book was way too long and the story line hard to follow.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Escapist, June 5, 2008

By 

G. Ware Cornell Jr. "anotherlawyer" (Weston FL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Escape (Hardcover)

Tanenbaum has created the perfect summer thriller. A shadowy WASPish group, together with an even more shadowy Islamic terrorist cell conspire to change the world as we know it. Aided by former Harlem gangsters and a Chechen amazon warrior the plan cannot fail.

Of course on the othe rside we have the courageous District Attorney Butch Karp, and his private eye wife Marlene and their twins, his daughter Lucy, an undercover translator, his memory-impaired father-in-law and a baker who survived the Nazi death camps to produce the "finest cherry cheese coffee cake in the five boroughs." If that weren't enough they are aided by a couple of saints-one Christian and the other Muslim.

In spite of the fact it sounds a bit like Mom and Dad Save the World, and the outcome is never in doubt, it is cleverly plotted and thoroughly entertaining.