Rating: 
Summary: Really liked it
Review: I really liked this book though the mysteries were more or less open and shut, it was how people thought of them, moralized through them. Lucy, the daughter comes off as a bit incredible, in her talents and religious convictions but it's a nice addition. The concept that a teenager is thinking deeply on the Universe was a welcome change. I would definitely keep my eyes open for another book about this family.
Rating: 
Summary: A disappointment
Review: I wish I could share everyone's enthusiasm, but to me this wasn't either a mystery or a police procedural: It was a religious panegyric.The Catholic overtones that have entered the books since Lucy's character has come to the fore completely took over this one, informing every element of the plot and leading to a preposterous conclusion. I'm not saying anything against religion: Just that this wasn't the book I was hoping to read. I really miss the give-and-take of the characters from Karp's office that made the earlier books so vivid and realistic. Then the series moved away from that milieu to focus on Marlene, who I don't much like, but who at least is interesting, and then moved to Lucy, who I abhor and whose religiosity I find unbearable. Again, I emphasise that this is not a "thing" against religion, but a warning that anyone who wants a good solid mystery is likely to be disappointed, as I was. My three-star rating is a tribute to the excellence of the writing. Otherwise, it would have been down to one, with great regrets.
Rating: 
Summary: Tanenbaum just keeps getting better
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Los Angeles Times - "the mood is wryly upbeat" ....
Review: In Robert Tanenbaum's "True Justice," the mood is wryly upbeat. Butch Karp is chief assistant district attorney for the county of New York. Marlene Ciampi, who ran a private security service for women being stalked but gave it up after shooting yet another over-intrepid brute, is now a lawyer. Both Karp and Ciampi are literate, articulate, fun and so are their children, especially Lucy, the elder, a student of the "ladies"--teaching nuns--of the Sacred Heart and a paid-up member of the Save-the-World Marching Band. Karp and Ciampi are also smart, honest and aggressive (most lawyers are just two of the above), and their marriage rolls merrily along on a diet of wary semi-adversarial relations and jocular remarks spiced by buoyant affection. Karp manages a system in which more than 400 assistant district attorneys deal with 300,000 serious crimes each year, including three murders a day. But his attention will be focused on a small rash of infanticides: three abandoned neonate babies in one week, one dead of exposure, one smothered and one torn to pieces by dogs fighting over its nutritional possibilities. While courts and press gnaw on the new flavor of the month, the parents of one of Lucy's friends are offed in a high-profile double murder. Lucy's missionary instincts get her and her father into hot water, and her mother--warm, delicious, but always half-a-bubble off center--is drawn into another high-profile case, also about an infanticide. After much discussion of the moral complexities of legal complexities, everything works out in the end: infanticide, of course, but also scumbag-on-scumbag murders, the American romance with violence, the law as "a sort of prosthesis society had invented to substitute for justice," the administration of law by prosecutorial foot soldiers less concerned with carrying it out than with moving the system along and by judges whose prime qualification for office is being some politician's pal. These and other encouraging apercus, deftly handled, for once enhance the text rather than retard it. A respected trial lawyer and derisive Daumier of the legal trades, Tanenbaum teaches advanced criminal procedure at Boalt Hall, UC Berkeley's law school. His wit alone is worth the price of admission. If you're as familiar with the system as he is, you'd better learn to laugh if you don't want to cry. - - - Eugen Weber Is a Contributing Writer to Book Review and the Author, Most Recently, of "Apocalypses." Los Angeles Times Book Review July 16, 2000
Rating:
Summary: Another entertaining installment in the Karp-Ciampi series.
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Very enjoyable Book!
Review: Mr. Tanenbaum's books are the kind you stay up at night to finish. I for one love it that there is a major character that is a devout Christian (intelligent too). Lucy's faith is very deep and it is interesting to read about as well. I enjoy Mr.Tanenbaum's books and all the characters. I find Marlene somewhat disturbing however.
Rating:
Summary: Very enjoyable Book!
Review: Mr. Tanenbaum's books are the kind you stay up at night to finish. I for one love it that there is a major character that is a devout Christian (intelligent too). Lucy's faith is very deep and it is interesting to read about as well. I enjoy Mr.Tanenbaum's books and all the characters. I find Marlene somewhat disturbing however.
Rating:
Summary: Still the best writer
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Not bad...
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Dialog and philosophy
Review: One of the great things about reading a Robert Tannenbaum book is the dialog - it's always believable in context and for the character. You can say it aloud and it sounds like real people talking. All of his major characters - Butch Karp, Marlene, Lucy and Tran - constantly face moral dilemmas that conflict with one another and it's a major source of the tension in his books. This one for example has Lucy with her attitudes on abortion vs Marlene's live and let live. And somehow the philosophy of Simone Weil sneaks in. Great stuff!
| 
