Customer Reviews

True Justice

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The three infant deaths in Manhattan in a week all share in common that an outsider found the abandoned corpse of an unwed mother. By the third death, the media leads a public frenzy seeking to lynch someone for the rash of infanticides. The police catch all three "monster moms". They turn out to be a fourteen year old African-American who thought she had a stomach ache, a sixteen year old Puerto Rican who claimed the child was caused by rape, and a white adult who seemed retarded. The obvious target of the New York County DA is sixteen year old Lourdes Bustamente, who appears to be the only one with premeditated causes. The case is assigned to Butch Karp to prosecute.

Meanwhile Butch's wife attorney Marlene Ciampi is thinking of retiring from her work of legally protecting battered women after a recent incident turned ugly. However, a case in Delaware to defend a woman accused of murdering her infant lures Marlene back into the courtroom.

TRUE JUSTICE is an intriguing look at similar cases from the perspectives of the DA's office and the defense attorney. The plot also provides readers with an insightful look at how a tense case can impact the personal lives of the players. The story line at first appears to simply manipulate the tale to allow Ciampi's subplot to occur rather than flow from events. Still, Robert K. Tanenbaum makes it work through his intelligent gaze at the junction of the legal, moral, and political systems abetted by the strong relationship between the lead couple. Legal thriller fans will thrill to the latest Ciampi-Karp tale.

Harriet Klausner

Once again Tanenbaum brings back his characters shaping this book into a legal thriller.

While I always enjoy this author's work, I can never quite get over the feeling that I am reading short stories instead of one novel. It always seems that Marlene, Butch and Lucy are all living out their lives separately and that although the stories do cross over, are never really intertwined properly.

This last novel is no exception to this. While I admire Tanenbaum's attitude of "strong women - no victims" approach in all his books, I never get the feeling that the characters complete themselves.

Nonetheless, a good read and of course, as always, the somewhat "dry humor" is always great.

I haven't missed a Tanenbaum book yet and cannot wait for the next one. Marlene, Butch, Lucy, Zik and Zak, Harry-- all of em are my favorite characters. oops--missed Sweety and Tran.I've enjoyed following them from the beginning, and especially like the development of Lucy, as the adventures continue. Wonder when the twins will start solving crimes? It is after I finish a new book that I go back to previous Karp adventures and re-read. My husband thinks re-reading is silly , so please Mr. Tanenbaum, start on a new one soon! An insatiable reader in NWFla

No one can match Tannenbaum for his marvelous stories about the crime fighting family of Butch Karp and Marleen, to which you can now add daughter Lucy. The suspense in these stories consists of whether or not Marleen will have to take the bad guys in hand and dispose of them. She's shot a few and creamed a few others. Her thought processes are marvelous, as are Lucy's, her mother's daughter but with a different slant. Whether in the courtroom or out, Butch and Marleen will keep you thrilled with inside knowledge of how the justice system works. Tannenbaum is about the only writer that has been able to turn out 11 or 12 books without running out of steam. His latest is just as good as his first, and there aren't many you can say that about.

The latest installment of Tanenbaum's Karp-Ciampi series is up to the high standards set by its predecessors. Whatever you're seeking at the higher levels of escape fiction - legal thriller, police procedural, extended family saga, commentary on contemporary culture, manners, and morals - it's all to be found here. Tanenbaum is one of those happy few who rise above the ranks of genre writers by virtue of a keen sense of observation, a multidimensional worldview, and a fluid prose style - think of Patrick O'Brian or Ursula K. Le Guin. Read this, then go back and read them all.

It isn't easy to write a series that remains entertaining even after the protagonists get married and have children. Where do you go when the couple settles down and has children? Robert Tanenbaum continues to deliver laughs and excitement even though Butch Karp and Marlene Ciampi are an "old married couple" with a sixteen-year-old daughter and seven-year-old twin boys. As usual, Tanenbaum's dialogue is crisp and street-smart, with lots of amusing repartee. In this novel, Tanenbaum explores the moral dilemma of prosecuting women who are guilty of infanticide. Should the state prosecute these women to the full extent of the law? Karp and company struggle with moral and legal dilemmas, and they must find a way to win cases and live with themselves at the same time. Marlene is back in the courtroom and Lucy is learning how to deal with the agony of being spiritual in an imperfect world. Unfortunately, some of the plotting is contrived and unbelievable, especially at the end. In spite of this flaw, Tanenbaum's knowledge of the law and his talent for creating memorable characters make "True Justice" an engrossing and entertaining novel.

I've always enjoyed Tanenbaum's series on the Karps, but this was possibly the best one yet. Lucy Karp is becoming more and more significant, and she's turning out to be a great character.

This is the first Tanenbaum novel I've read, and except for the blurb on the back I would not have realised it was one of a series. That I never had the sense I was getting 12 volumes of backstory nor did I need it speaks highly for Tanenbaum's writing skills; whether his long time followers are as blissfully unaware I'm not at all sure.

As to the story itself, Tanenbaum has taken a somewhat unconventional approach. Rather than lots of gunplay, powerful courtroom drama, or devious legal manueverings, we are given decent people struggling with what the role of the law is, and what it should be. The story is largely dialogue and character driven, with little action and only a minor mystery that appears quite late in the book. Mostly Tanenbaum waxes philosophical--an approach that will drive some readers mad, but I thought it was quite fresh and more like real life than any Grisham potboiler. I'm not sure I'd like an entire series with this approach--nor do I know that the author takes it in the other books of the series--but on its own merits, True Justice is definitely worth a read.

"True Justice" by Robert Tanenbaum, is another fine entry in the fantasy lawyer series featuring the husband and wife team of Butch Karp and Marlene Ciampi.

Butch Karp, the Assistant District Attorney of New York City, is faced with an outbreak of infanticide. His job is to prosecute the wrong doers and bring evil people to justice. Marlene Ciampi his wife takes a case in Delaware, but conversely her job is to defend the mother of a dead baby that is being persecuted by the Wilmington District Attorney. Even their daughter Lucy gets into the act when her friend's family is assassinated by persons unknown.

What makes these stories fun to read are Tanenbaum's characterizations. You know that these people cannot possible exist and as a matter of fact they are almost superhuman. Karp is everyone's ideal DA, tough, fair, and honest. Ciampi is almost superwoman she's smart, aggressive and sexy. Lucy their daughter is a child protegee with languages, street wise and practically a saint.

Sometimes you get the feeling that the story is merely a way for Tanenbaum to present new problems for this gifted family to overcome. But who cares, half the fun is getting there anyway, so close your eyes, suspend reality, sit back and relax. Tanenbaum is a fine writer and his world of super lawyers, Karp and Ciampi will take care of everything...with panache.

I recommend "True Justice", but don't take it too seriously.

I am almost afraid to start Tanenbaum's latest book (The Enemy Within, which is sitting at my elbow as I type this) because I fear it will be a let-down after his wonderful tale of True Justice.

I have enjoyed all Tanenbaum's books and have been made aware of much about the spirit of the law from them. But even though his writing is always irresistible, his characters have not always been appealing. It seems as though over their years of living and loving together, Butch Karp and his wife Marlene Ciampi have become better people. It is the way a good marriage should be. The protagonists do not lose their edge, but they become somehow easier to identify with. This is ludicrous, because any people more unusual than Butch and Marlene and their daughter Lucy would be impossible to find in real life, but Tanenbaum is a master at making the unbelievable believable.

There was one tiny thread that was left a little frayed at the book's conclusion and this nagged at me; it was the philosophical acceptance of fate by one well-centred character who did not deserve it. But knowing Tanenbaum, it is quite possible that this interesting person will appear again in later books, and perhaps we will learn more then.

The author's characters are never truly archetypal. They all have good and bad points and are not defined in one-dimensional aspects. It gives the impression that Tanenbaum has, in his lifetime, actually met every single one of these people, and probably he has.

And he can be very funny. I laughed aloud in at least one scene. This humour was an unexpected bonus that caught me by surprise.

Tanenbaum's knowledge of the law is admirable in itself, but the fact that he is so compelling when he reveals it is a gift, God's grace, as his character Lucy might say. We are fortunate he chooses to use it in this way, sharing it with so many of us.