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Summary
Summary
Robert K. Tanenbaum's electrifying new thriller, District Attorney Butch Karp battles a failure of the system, a police detective desperate to solve a case for his own ends, and a homicidal maniac who will stop at nothing to protect the truth.
Months after a brutal double homicide in uptown Manhattan shocks the city, sensational newspaper headlines herald the arrest and indictment of Felix Acevedo, a shy Bronx teenager who confessed to the horrific crimes. But downtown, in the district attorney's office, Butch Karp is seething.
No sooner does he bask in the relief of successfully closing the case on murderous imam Sharif Jabbar than he is thrust into the center of a high-profile prosecution that threatens the integrity of his office. An ambitious young assistant district attorney, seeking career advancement, cuts corners to indict Acevedo, disregarding Karp's fundamental rule: Never charge the accused unless the evidence leads inexorably to proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Now, damned by a coerced confession and a frenzied media bent on lynching him, Acevedo sits in jail while a vicious killer stalks the city.
Karp's wife, Marlene Ciampi, one half of the "crime-fighting family" proclaimed by the media, hits the streets for clues that will save the unjustly accused defendant. What she discovers puts her on the trail of the true perpetrator--a drug-addicted psychopath with an ax to grind--and a disgruntled police detective who is willing to lie, withhold evidence, and kill to be labeled a hero. But it also puts her in the center of a dangerous race to be the last man standing and if she's not careful, one of the other players will take the prize.
From the gruesome crime scene to a trial that will leave readers on the edge of their seats, Robert K. Tanenbaum's unstoppable novel unfolds at breakneck speed as Karp and Ciampi fight for justice in a dramatic and challenging case that will thrill readers to the bone.
Author Notes
Robert K. Tanenbaum was born in Brooklyn, New York. He received a B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley and a J.D. from Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. He is one of the country's most respected trial lawyers and has never lost a felony case. He has been the Homicide Bureau Chief for the New York District Attorney's Office and Deputy Chief Counsel to the congressional committee's investigations into the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. He is the author of the Butch Karp-Marlene Ciampi Thriller series. His non-fiction books include Badge of the Assassin, The Piano Teacher: The True Story of a Psychotic Killer, and Echoes of My Soul.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Tanenbaum wisely dials back the terrorism themes and wild excesses that have plagued recent entries in this long-running series (Betrayed, etc.) with this straightforward legal thriller. Mild-mannered, mentally challenged Felix Acevedo, who came to New York City from Puerto Rico with his parents as a boy, has been arrested for a double homicide-of a professor's wife and her mother-in the Columbia University Slasher case. Physical evidence points to Felix's involvement, and far worse, he has confessed to the horrific murders. The crimes were in fact committed by a Chechen immigrant who looks Hispanic, methamphetamine junkie Ahmed Kadyrov, but New York City D.A. Roger "Butch" Karp and his department don't know that and are set to prosecute Felix. When Felix's mother persuades Karp's attorney wife, Marlene Ciampi, her son is innocent, Marlene decides to investigate. The final pages of the trial reveal a clever trick that Tanenbaum has neatly played on the reader. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Readers ready to give up on Butch Karp will be pleasantly surprised by this book, leaner and better plotted than the last several Karp mysteries, in which, fortunately, Tanenbaum lets Karp be a district attorney again, abandoning most of the antiterrorist-crusader nonsense that has cluttered previous books. Butch's office is about to put a man on trial for murder, but Butch's wife, Marlene Ciampi, has serious doubts about the veracity of the man's confession. Butch and Marlene determine to find the real culprit, but no one, including the NYPD, is inclined to help. The novel still has problems, most notably Tanenbaum's decision to weaken the suspense by revealing very early on the fact that the confession is untrue and also the identity of the real killer. On the other hand, it's a step several steps, actually in the right direction. For the first time in quite a while, Tanenbaum captures some of the spark that once made this series so enjoyable.--Pitt, Davi. Copyright 2010 Booklist
