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Summary: Marlene's vigilantism comes home to roost.
Review: If memory serves, this is the first Tanenbaum/Karp book that shows Marlene's ardor for action cooling. She endangers her daughter, her twin sons and herself and, in the climax of the book, faces a .44 Peacemaker and a round of double ought buckshot in the street in front of her home. Gulp. She lives. To . . . well, who knows?
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Summary: intricate and depraved twists
Review: My first taste of the author's work, I've since gone back and read most of his catalog. While I'd recommend any of his books, this probably stands as my favorite. I find nothing more vapid than a mystery that I can clearly see through before the books last pages, and this one kept me off balance until the very end.Excellent characterization: likable, dysfuntional types that come across as distinctly out of the ordinary and believable all at the same time, a difficult task for any author and doubly difficult with characters the author has lived with for so long. Yet Each of Tanenbaum's books stands as a story on their own, one can jump on board anywhere in the series and not miss a beat. Surprisingly, Lucy has become one of my favorite fictional characters, which is a stretch for me, as I normally detest when an author feels the need to introduce a "cutesy" kid into the mix. Nothing "cutesy" about Lucy, she's every bit as complex and quirky as Tanenbaum's adult characters. Heh, and Sweetie gets the nod as fictional dog I would most like to own.
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Summary: This is an extremely well-crafted book-a must-read thriller
Review: One of life's great pleasures is to find a talented writer with whose books the reader is unfamiliar...and to discover a whole series of prior books to order. This is simply a great read from a very talented guy. As a retired lawyer who avoids books & movies about the profession, I'm a hard sell for this kind of book. But I'm sold! I just ordered 5 of his other books.Try it and see if you don't want to read more. Great plot( mafia vs tong) and memorable characters with some heart-jolting action. But don't plan on reading this one in segments!
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Summary: People Magazine loves Butch Karp & Marlene Ciampi ....
Review: People Magazine selected Tanenbaum's last two books, RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT and IRRESISTIBLE IMPULSE as "Page Turner of the Week" and "Beach Book of the Week." They're right. If you haven't yet tried Tanenbaum do it now with ACT OF REVENGE. You'll love it .... and then have his ten backlist Karp titles to truly indulge yourself.
Rating:
Summary: People Magazine loves Butch Karp & Marlene Ciampi ....
Review: People Magazine selected Tanenbaum's last two books, RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT and IRRESISTIBLE IMPULSE as "Page Turner of the Week" and "Beach Book of the Week." They're right. If you haven't yet tried Tanenbaum do it now with ACT OF REVENGE. You'll love it .... and then have his ten backlist Karp titles to truly indulge yourself.
Rating: 
Summary: Overall, a disappointment.
Review: Tanenbaum knows New York. He is the master of the wisecrack and his description of how the wheels of justice turn is masterful. However, "Act of Revenge" is a misstep. Tanenbaum weaves a plot that is so complicated and overdone that one needs to take headache medication halfway through the book. He is also repeating himself. Do the cases that Marlene and Butch work on always have to intersect? It is time to retire these characters. I don't think that there is anything new that Tanenbaum can do with them.
Rating:
Summary: ho-hum
Review: Tanenbaum really knows NYC. As a native New Yorker, one of the things I enjoy most about his books is his intimate and accurate descriptions of NY neighborhoods, travel, food, accents, and attitudes. He really nails it. Why does he live in California? He's obviously still in love with NYC. So am I, and so I enjoy his books' settings. I also enjoy the character of Butch and Lucy. Marlene, though, is becoming tiresome in a wonderwoman, action heroine way. Act of Revenge is an interesting phase in the chronicle of the Karp family, but next book around he should send Marlene on an overseas assignment and concentrate on Lucy and Butch.
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Summary: Native New Yorker
Review: Tanenbaum really knows NYC. As a native New Yorker, one of the things I enjoy most about his books is his intimate and accurate descriptions of NY neighborhoods, travel, food, accents, and attitudes. He really nails it. Why does he live in California? He's obviously still in love with NYC. So am I, and so I enjoy his books' settings. I also enjoy the character of Butch and Lucy. Marlene, though, is becoming tiresome in a wonderwoman, action heroine way. Act of Revenge is an interesting phase in the chronicle of the Karp family, but next book around he should send Marlene on an overseas assignment and concentrate on Lucy and Butch.
Rating: 
Summary: Overwritten blah
Review: The story is an interesting one. The plot is made difficult with three main threads that do not come together until late in the book. The overwritten character exploitations obscure the direction the story is taking. And there are just too many gee whiz dramas happening to the girl, the mother and the father. This author has apparently gained the level of experience where the product gets lots of slaes hype and is really just a throwoff of lazy skill application. Boooooooo
Rating:
Summary: Overwritten blah
Review: The unfortunate thing about reading a series is I personally feel you have to read them whether they're bad or not. Otherwise you feel out of the loop on the next one that comes out. This has been a long time favorite series of mine, but for some reason that eludes me still, this installment didn't quite satisfy me. The writing style is excellent as always, tight, gritty, with Tanenbaum's usual edge but the plot and subplots in this one were so tightly intertwined that it was sometimes too hard to follow. It took longer than usual to get into the story itself, it took some effort to keep me interested and I was also glad to finally wrap it up. Let's hope the next one is a more interesting read.
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