Immoral Certainty (Signet) [Paperback]

Robert K. Tanenbaum (Author)

Book Description

Series: Signet | Publication Date: April 7, 1992

Assistant D.A. Butch Karp and his colleage Marlene Ciampi investigate the suspect in three savage murders and follow a trail of murder and insanity from a posh day-care center to the Mafia to a monstrous killer. Reprint. AB. LJ. K.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Tanenbaum--currently a candidate for Los Angeles D.A.--cooks up a shocking and credible addition to his N.Y.C.-based Butch Karp crime series. More than a million copies of Tanenbaum's books are in print, and his next, Reversible Error , will be a Dutton April release. Author tour.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This cynical, fast-moving novel, the third in the Butch Karp series, concerns the workings of the judicial system in the Big City. The neat plot combines Satanism, pedophilia, Mafiosi, good-looking cops, corrupt judges, sociopaths, a pregnant one-eyed assistant district attorney who roller skates, and a love story, into something special. Tanenbaum, coauthor of two nonfiction crime books as well as De praved Indifference ( LJ 7/89) and No Lesser Plea (Watts, 1987), is also a former assistant district attorney and chief of homicide. As timely as tomorrow's nightly news, but not for the squeamish.
- Lynn Thompson, Ozark Regional Lib., Ironton, Mo.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Signet (April 7, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451171861
• ISBN-13: 978-0451171863
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #109,696 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

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Tanenbaum's better books, April 29, 1999

By 

[e-mail] Dr. John B. Parr (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Immoral Certainty (Signet) (Paperback)

First off, you did Mr. Tanenbaum a distinct dis favor in only publishing one review; I find that review totally out in left field. You have cost him many sales, I am sure; I bought several of his and passed up on that one just because of that re view, and had an opportunity to read someone else's copy wanting to find out why it was so bad. It was not, it is one of his better stories. It is different, I admit, but Tanenbaum has the art of making almost anything highly enter taining, as he did with this. His technique of keeping up with the lives of his characters are one of the series's strong points. I very highly recommend this book to any Tanenbaum fan, to any police story fan.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A pleasure for Tanenbaum fans, October 28, 2001

By 

Renee V. Cox (British Columbia, CANADA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Immoral Certainty (Signet) (Paperback)

Although Immoral Certainty is one of Robert K. Tanenbaum's older Butch Karp novels it is well worth a read by fans, or even readers new to the series.

First published in 1991, this book goes back to the earlier days of the Karp-Ciampi association. Admittedly, this oddball couple may be an acquired taste. But their sizzling relationship is buttressed by a deep respect for each other's legal abilities. The author's own experience and understanding of the arcane world of the legal system enables him to lift improbable plot into the realm of logic and feasibility.

In fact, as Tanenbaum points out, the art of successfully nabbing criminals consists in a large part of the attending to boring minutiae by the foot soldiers of the prosecutorial staff. In the writer's own words, "The law radiates tedium the way a ballet does grace or an orchestra harmony." Fortunately for the reader, Tanenbaum sweeps us through the crucial humdrum of a criminal trial and highlights the nexus, so we all can delude ourselves, briefly, that we are as clever as a Butch Karp or a Marlene Ciampi. He connects the dots for us even as we are seduced by his seemingly far-fetched plots and sub-plots.

In this book, Marlene becomes acquainted with firearms and we are introduced to her bewitched fascination with their violent potential. "I don't know," she says after an initial visit to the firing range, "it had an effect on me I didn't expect." It turns out she's a natural. It is one of the ongoing talents of her character that becomes both useful to her and repelling to this reader.

Tanenbaum's characters are always interesting, although occasionally conveniently naïve. An example is the schoolteacher Anna who buys her sociopath boyfriend's explanation that the reason he uses a variety of credit cards with other people's names on them is because they are "corporate cards." True, the author says she has a reasonably sharp brain that is disengaged in the boyfriend's company "in favor of another set of organs entirely." But Anna is not unattractive and this descent into bimbo-ism stretches the imagination.

Yet overall, the writer pulls this intense story together. Tanenbaum is always engaging.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Somewhat Contrived, May 1, 2009

By 

Gerald Swimmer "manursing" (Rye, New York United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Immoral Certainty (Signet) (Paperback)

This is my introduction to the Karp Ciampi series. I was not impressed. The story moves along pretty well. There were so many characters in the book, especially the people in the DA's office that I was often confused. Also the book had too many coincidents to be believable. On the other hand the story moved along. I will read the next book in the series at some point but it is not on the top of my list.