Reckless Endangerment [AUDIOBOOK] [UNABRIDGED] (Audio Cassette)

by Robert K. Tanenbaum (Author), James Daniels (Reader)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Like a canvas by Bosch, the frenetic 10th installment in the popular Butch Karp and Marlene Ciampi series (Irresistible Impulse, etc.) is all foreground, a three-ring circus of mayhem and mystery. Here Tanenbaum pits Deputy DA Karp, his detective cronies Raney and Fulton and his security-expert wife, Marlene, against an amorphous army of Palestinians terrorizing New York. When Arab youths are implicated in the murders of two elderly Jews, Karp finds himself having to placate local Arab and Jewish leaders and at the same time convince the brass that the crimes point to a conspiracy. Meanwhile, a Mexican hit man linked to two jailed drug dealers is threatening to shoot up the metropolis and murder Karp's rival, Homicide Bureau head Roland Hrcany. Back home, Marlene is caffeinating herself to delirium to balance work and family. Then the teenage sister of one of the Arab suspects, on the lam after stabbing a pimp, lands improbably in a shelter for battered women run by Marlene's friend. Should Marlene inform Karp, or protect the girl? As always, there's much to cheer in Tanenbaum's work: quirky characters, snappy cop-talk, even a slam-bang car chase through a Hasidic neighborhood in Brooklyn, and the rousing action resonates with deeper themes as Karp, a lapsed Jew, tentatively accepts his ethnicity. But the constant jumps between subplots are wearying, the large casts of racist cops and racist terrorists run together and the resolution is strained as absolutely everyone is tied together into a too-perfect knot. Mystery Guild selection. (June) FYI: Media-alert readers will recognize Tanenbaum as the lawyer for a teenage defendant on trial in Delaware for killing her newborn baby.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
Butch Karp and Marlene Ciampi discover themselves working on two sides of the same case when a set of double homicides rocks downtown Manhattan. A bloody warning scrawled on the wall above a murdered elderly couple sends the Jewish community reeling into a tension-filled confrontation with the city's Arab population. In neighboring Brooklyn, a 16-year-old Arab runaway seeks refuge in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen, where she becomes caught up in the ugly world of prostitution and drugs. After murderously defending herself against a malicious pimp, she escapes into a woman's shelter on the Lower East Side, into the helping hands of Marlene.

As special prosecutor, Butch joins the hunt for the double murderers, finding himself in conflict with his own Jewish heritage, and with the realization that Marlene's case is inextricably linked with his own. As tensions build and fear escalates, New York City becomes a powderkeg of twisted emotions in a case of kill or be killed.

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Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Unabridged Library Edition; Unabridged edition (June 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1567405886
• ISBN-13: 978-1567405880
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.3 x 2.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #5,215,456 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 10 in The Butch Karp and Marlene Ciampi Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Now You Have To Pay Attention, August 2, 2001

By	Untouchable (Sydney, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Reckless Endangerment (Paperback)

You've really got to keep your wits about you when you're reading this story. There are about 5 different threads of storylines that are gradually woven together tighter and tighter until something just has to give. And when it does, the effects are devastating.

It's New York City, 1981 and the racial tensions between the Arabs and the Jews are simmering. A plot is being hatched and put into place by a small Arab group to start a holy war by bombing the Jewish part of town. Separate to this, yet delicately connected are a couple of Mexican brothers who have been arrested and charged with murdering an undercover officer during a drug bust. This is where Deputy D.A. Butch Karp comes into the picture, he's interested in getting a conviction, you see. Marlene Ciampi, Butch's wife is a private detective, specialising in protecting abused women and is also tenuously drawn into the picture after an Arab girl flees the family home. Now just add a murder or two, stir and let the fun begin.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Badda bing, badda bang, badda boom!, December 27, 1999

By	J. Marinelli "kingbong" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Reckless Endangerment (Bookcassette(r) Edition) (Audio Cassette)

Another winning installment in the Butch Karp-Marlene Ciampi saga. As a member of the California Bar, I consider Mr. Tanenbaum's recreation of the legal arena to be right on. If you're new to the series and want to achieve maximum effect, begin with NO LESSER PLEA, then work your way through the entire series. I've read them all and each time, anxiously await the latest. Thank you Mr. Tanenbaum!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A bit over the top but still a great read!, August 10, 1998

By	Christine C. Godin (San Antonio, TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Reckless Endangerment (Hardcover)

For those who have followed the trials (literally) and tribulations of Butch Karp and his one-eyed, gun-totin', walk-on-the-wild-side wife/lawyer/partner in crime Marlene Ciampi, "Reckless Endangerment" should prove to be as endearing a story as the titles preceding it. Read in order they paint an interesting hindsight picture of the late seventies and early eighties as Robert Tanenbaum relates the gruesome, thrilling and sometimes hilarious life and times in the NYPD Homicide Bureau. In this episode, Marlene and Butch's daughter, Lucy, really takes top billing. The polyglot (she has learned Mandarin, French, Tex-Mex Spanish, and some Arabic) kid, along with her shady Vietnamese mentor/babysitter, Tran, leads her parents and the cops around the Big Apple in search of Arabs, Jews, and a sadistic/wounded/crazy Mexican killer-child named El Chivato among others. The escapades often reach the height of unreality but who cares?? The ending was a bit! too pat, but I did not want the story to end. So, Mr. Tanenbaum, give up the law career and write full time, okay?