12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A terrifying killer teams up with terrorists., September 24, 2003
"Resolved" is the fifteenth installment in Robert Tanenbaum's series of legal thrillers featuring Butch Karp and his impulsive and volatile wife, Marlene Ciampi. Butch is New York City's Chief Assistant District Attorney. Marlene, a lawyer as well, has given up her practice and she is separated from Butch. Marlene is suffering from depression and guilt over a series of violent actions that she committed in the past. She is living apart from her family while she sorts out her feelings.
"Resolved" has a large cast of villains, including the sadistic and brutal Felix Tighe, a convicted felon with a grudge against the Karp family. Joining Felix is a bunch of radical fundamentalists with explosives, lots of cash, and violent plans. In other subplots, Butch helps prosecute two cops who may have killed an innocent man in cold blood, and Marlene tries to help out an old friend who is in serious legal trouble. As he has done in the past, Tanenbaum expertly explores the moral dilemmas and political machinations that plague New York City's criminal justice system.
Tanenbaum's strengths have always been his witty and amusing dialogue, his marvelously colorful characters, and his insider's knowledge of New York City's criminal courts. Readers who have read all of the installments in this series have seen the Karp marriage evolve throughout the years, and they have also seen the Karp children grow up. Lucy Karp, Butch and Marlene's fascinating and brilliant daughter, has a key role in this novel.
The story in "Resolved" is compelling, timely, and fast-paced. Although the ending is not quite as strong as the rest of the book, "Resolved" is still an engrossing thriller that Tanenbaum fans will find as entertaining as its predecessors.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Don't miss Tanenbaum's latest effort --- it's a keeper!, September 12, 2003
Robert K. Tanenbaum's latest novel RESOLVED is the fifteenth book in his popular Karp/Ciampi series. It comes on the heels of the very successful ABSOLUTE RAGE (2002), when Butch was called to West Virginia to work a case and the family was torn apart by the violence they suffered during that summer. The aftershocks of that assignment have left Giancarlo blind, Marlene Ciampi a victim of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, and Butch Karp torn between his job, his children, his wife, his damaged marriage and his constant state of ennui. Lucy is still a virgin who speaks to saints and who makes a valiant attempt to keep the household together; she is currently on leave from college. And the twins, Giancarlo and Zak, are now 11 years old and roam their neighborhood, finding ways to get into their own kinds of mischief.
These familiar characters play new and powerful roles in RESOLVED --- Butch is now a candidate for the office of District Attorney of New York City; his wife Marlene, a former vigilante, runs an attack dog school on Long Island; Lucy helps out at a soup kitchen, travels the tunnels under the city to help the "mole-people" who live there, and has no idea that she is soon to become the obsession of a madman; and the boys balance the craziness with their humor and energy.
Felix Tighe is a psychopathic killer who Karp prosecuted and sent to Auburn Prison in New York State. While he serves his time, he nurtures his hatred for everyone who put him away, especially Karp. His psychopathology makes him a perfect "cut-out" for the nefarious plans of a prisoner named Feisal Abdul Ridwan, an Islamic fundamentalist. He recruits Tighe to join the murderous brigade he controls on the outside. Ridwan works in the prison infirmary and devises a plan to help Felix escape from Auburn as a "dead man" spirited out of jail in a coffin.
The plan works perfectly and Tighe is delivered to a three-story house in Astoria, Queens where he meets the main man Rashid and the muscle, Carlos and Felipe --- all accomplished killers and terrorists. Felix says he will do anything for money; after all, he is a dead man, which makes him "invisible." The terrorists will use him to place bombs at sites all around the city, to cause death, destruction and fear. Felix's personal targets are the entire Karp/Ciampi family, but he moonlights and sets bombs to kill other people in the justice system out of sheer hatred.
Robert K. Tanenbaum is a very gifted writer. His prose is clean and sharp. He plots his stories with so much care that they come off in perfect form. While his legions of fans have come to know the Karp/Ciampi duo well, they also know that each new book will bring new adventures. One of the most fulfilling aspects of his body of work is how he shapes and reshapes his main characters. He allows them to change and mature in a logical progression and offers readers a fresh vision of them as "individuals." Tanenbaum can also be relied upon to create a supporting cast of always-believable bad guys/gals and good guys/gals. All of his characters do and say exactly what the reader would expect them to do and say, with a few explosive surprises to enliven the story.
In RESOLVED the author captures the angst that haunts New Yorkers and the rest of the world, as we all try to come to terms with our national/international vulnerabilities since 9/11. A bomb in this novel is a metaphor for the explosive rage in the world at large but is centered in the minds of the few who carry their inhumanity to the most heinous ends. This "in-your-face" approach tends to reinforce the individual's inescapable knowledge that "the center does not hold." But RESOLVED is not a preachy, whiny or angry book. Rather, it tries to confront the brutality that readers have come to know in real life.
9/11 is fodder for novels, coffee table books, feature films, TV movies, talk radio and news discussions --- and will remain a central theme in our lives forever. The aftermath of that day is constant in our thoughts whether we are conscious of it or not, and we cannot deny that this horrendous event has changed the way we live and perceive the world. Nevertheless, a sense of optimism and hopefulness is threaded through the fabric of this novel. In the talented hands of Robert K. Tanenbaum, readers can take heart because he approaches this painful topic with dignity and respect that is steeped in grace.
RESOLVED is worthy of a serious read. In this case, art reflects life and in fiction the writer can give us clues to a safe resolution of the issues. Don't miss this one --- it's a keeper!
--- Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum from Bookreporter.com
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
exciting legal thriller, September 2, 2003
His mother and his brother were Satan worshipping pediophiles but Felix Tighe was just a run-of-the-mill psychopath who tortured his wife and tormented before killing a young woman and her child. He was arrested charged with second-degree murder and sentenced to twenty-five years to life in prison. While at New York's Auburn prison a fight breaks out and he gets injured but not before killing a guard. Now he's looking at the death penalty but the chief trustee at the infirmary known as the Arab manages to fake his death and sends him to his Arab brethren.
Rashid is using Felix to go where Arabs would be looked on in suspicion (following the events of Sept 11 in Manhattan) and to plant bombs on vehicles used by people who were responsible for sending The Arab to prison. The terrorists' ultimate goal is to free the Arab using Felix as their mule. Both the Arab and Felix want to kill the entire Karp family because the Chief Assistant District Attorney was the prosecutor responsible for sending them both to prison.
This is the fifteenth episode in Robert K. Tanenbaum's long running series and it is just as fresh and compelling as the first entry. The story is told from the viewpoint of Karp, his wife, their daughter and Felix so reader know what is going on at all times in the minds of the primary characters. RESOLVED is an exciting legal thriller that the audience will keep on reading until the final page is turned.
Harriet Klausner
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