Depraved Indifference

Rating:
Summary: This series just gets better.
Review: Each and every book Tanenbaum is always on target! 5 stars are always the best rave and review I always can give them. What a joy to read.

Rating:
Summary: poor addition to the Karp series
Review: Ohhh the pain of reading such poor prose wrapped up in the guise of a second rate novel by yet another lawyer who thinks he is a writer. I am not a writer myself and don't think that I could do much better. But Tanenbaum is massacring a fine series with this drivel. For some reason that I can't remember anymore, I enjoyed picking up a couple of the books in this "Karp" series a couple of years before. Now that I am picking up the one or two loose books that I missed the first time through, I find myself often gazing off into the nothingness before me in horror. I think to myself, how could I have enjoyed these books the first time around? Well. This review might piss you off, but I am being honest when I say, stay away from this book. It's implausible, and stale, as if Tanenbaum is going through the motions as he gets another chapter in his moneymaking machine out to the public. This is like the Hardy Boys for adults, or high school age children still fed with the pap of TV plots and Hollywood films. You can see the plot to this book on other reviews here; it's just not as good as other people say it is.

Try Hillerman or Block for consistent good books in a mystery series, or `Becker's Ring,' by Steven Martin Cohen for a good mystery read. On the more adult side try Quincunx by Palliser or `Wind Up Bird Chronicle' by Murakami. Try Hammett, Chandler, Jim Harrison, or Edward Bunkers Dog Eat Dog. Just pause before you read this book.



Rating:
Summary: Croatian terrorists in NYC
Review: Robert K. Tannenbaum (who I believe is or was Mayor of Beverly Hills) has produced a couple of these lawyer novels, with the main character, in contrast to Grisham et al, a prosecutor. Butch Karp (don't you love that name?) is a young ambitious Assistant DA in the NYC prosecutor's office, with the twist that things all take place when Tannenbaum was apparently there as a young man, in the mid-70's. This time he's trying to put Croatian Terrorists behind bars for killing a bomb squad cop. There are some amazing twists of the plot, and a few that stretch credulity or are rather sudden, but the whole thing is entertaining reading, if a bit long. It also has a rather anti-climactic ending that some might find offensive (a disabled person impersonates one of the main characters and disgraces him). If you can overlook these rather minor flaws, it's a good book.

Rating:
Summary: Kind of Muddled...
Review: This is my third Butch Karp novel - and I really like the series. However, I think this one was my least favorite. There are way too many characters (CIA, FBI, NYPD, The Catholic Church, the Mossad, Croats, Serbs, Nazis... get my point?) Also there were many plot points that are left undone. What happened to Leventhal? Why did Karavitch set the bomb or hijack the plane?
It just felt kind of unfocused. I won't give up on Tanenbaum yet, though. I'll definitely read a few more, and hope that he can redeem himself.

Rating:
Summary: 2nd in the series, was he just warming up?
Review: This was the 5th book I have read of the series. I am hooked on his books, but this one didn't hold my attention as well as the others. I think it was just to in depth with the CIA, FBI, Croats, ect. Still a good read, but not the best. I strongly urge people to read them all though. Just be sure to start at the begining with No Lesser Plea and work your way to Hoax. Following the Karp family from the start makes for a better read.