Absolute Rage

Rating:
Summary: Top-Notch Tanenbaum
Review: "Absolute Rage" is the latest entry in the long-running Butch Karp-Marlene Ciampi series about two lawyers who marry and have kids, but who otherwise lead unusual lives. Butch works as the chief assistant District Attorney in New York City, where he encounters endless bureaucracy and constant political pressure from his superiors. Marlene runs a business training guard dogs, and she is determined to avoid the violence that marked the earlier part of her life. She has always had a penchant for trying to right wrongs, which more than once has placed her family in the line of fire. However, Marlene has decided that the satisfaction and excitement of bringing bad guys to justice is not worth the risk to herself and her loved ones.

Alas, resolutions are made to be broken. Marlene and Butch meet the Heeny family on Long Island. The Heeneys include Rose, her volatile husband, Red, and their three children. Red Heeney is a firebrand union agitator who is trying to clean up the corruption in the coal-mining town of McCullensburg, West Virginia. However, Red's outspoken stand against corruption has tragic repercussions. Before long, Dan Heeney, Red's son, calls on Marlene to come to West Virginia to help him. Butch also gets involved in the ugly situation in West Virginia when the governor makes him a special prosecutor. It is Butch's job to bring justice to this lawless town.

Tanenbaum's books all have several common threads. The dialogue is hip and saucy, and is often laced with sarcasm and flip humor. The prose is effortless and entertaining, and there is almost no objectionable language or gore. His books usually deal with important social issues. In "Absolute Rage," Tanenbaum's effectively describes how a small town gradually becomes completely corrupt. In McCullensburg, the mining company owns everything, including all of the elected officials.

The characters in "Absolute Rage" are, as always, colorful and vivid. One of the most fascinating characters is Butch and Marlene's daughter, Lucy, who has grown up before our eyes. She is now a student in Boston College. Lucy has been a language prodigy for years and, unlike her parents, she is an ardent Catholic. In this novel, she experiences her first romantic encounter. Tanenbaum also brings back the fascinating Tran, a former guerilla fighter from Vietnam who has been a Karp family friend since the early days.

"Absolute Rage" has a number of predictable elements. As always, Marlene and Lucy are offbeat and unconventional. It is a foregone conclusion that the Karps will be up to their ears in danger before the final page is turned. However, Tanenbaum writes so engagingly and his books have such heart, that most readers will fall in love with the Karps and will root for them to prevail over the forces of evil.

Rating:
Summary: Marlene spins out of control.....
Review: I don't think that Robert Tanenbaum is really very fond of character Marlene Ciampi Karp. Over the years that this series has evolved (this is the 14th book in the series), Marlene and her over-the-top personality have been involved in any number of violent encounters. Her choice of professions (personal security for women) and friends (Tran,
A violent Viet gangster, devoted to Marlene and daughter Lucy) have embroiled her, husband Butch, and even the children in many unsavory situations. Butch has remained sort of a "devoted rock", while Marlene has flirted with guns, drink, toyed with the idea of an affair, etc.

In "Absolute Rage", Marlene has settled into a different type of lifestyle, on Long Island, training guard dogs in the manner of her own devoted Neapolitan mastiff. Daughter
Lucy, now at Boston College, is back, and really shines in this novel; much of which is told from her point of view. The Karps become entangled with another family at the beach, West Virginians, the Heeneys. Violence directed at the Heeney family soon touches the Karps, and no one is safe. While Butch tries to stop the violence through legal channels, wife Marlene unleashes the fury of a woman whose family is threatened.

Still entertaining, with sharp characterization and a feeling that Karp will soon be deserting the DA's office for something different, Tanenbaum gives us another tale of family woven with violence that will keep your heart pounding until the end. Still, one hopes that in novel 15, Tanenbaum will give Marlene's wild side a little rest......

Excellent!!

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely fascinating
Review: This is the first Tanenbaum book I have read, and halfway through found myself wishing that the author had written a series with the same main characters. To my delight, I discovered that there are 14 books in the Karp/Cianni series, and tonight I ordered the first 5 - I am looking forward to reading all of them! What fun to discover a "new" author!

Rating:
Summary: A FINELY PACED READING
Review: Voice artist Lee Sellars gives a finely paced reading to the latest thriller from New York times best selling author Robert. K. Tannenbaum.

In this, the fourteenth Karp family tale, the big city swelters in summer heat while the Karps are enjoying a leisurely respite at their Long Island farmhouse. Wife Marlene is training guard dogs, while Karp, New York Country's assistant district attorney, is asked to serve as special prosecutor in a West Virginia murder case. Actually, the victims were summer friends of the Karps: a coal mine union leader, his wife, and their daughter.

Karp finds more than killing in the little coal mining town - corruption and black crimes abound. Marlene soon joins her spouse, adding fuel to the already glowing fire of imminent death.

Daughter Lucy plays a larger than usual part in this story, while the ten-year-old twins provide mostly background.

Fans of Tannenbaum will find much to their liking in "Absolute Rage," and, undoubtedly, eagerly await the next one from this prolific author.

- Gail Cooke