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Rating: 
Summary: Badda bing, badda bang, badda boom!
Review: Another winning installment in the Butch Karp-Marlene Ciampi saga. As a member of the California Bar, I consider Mr. Tanenbaum's recreation of the legal arena to be right on. If you're new to the series and want to achieve maximum effect, begin with NO LESSER PLEA, then work your way through the entire series. I've read them all and each time, anxiously await the latest. Thank you Mr. Tanenbaum!
Rating:
Summary: Great Read! Hard to put down.
Review: As with all of Tanenbaum's books, I find it hard to put down once started. The fast pace, comedy and surprises around every corner make Butch and Marlene two of my favorite fictional characters. Lucy is every bit her mothers daughter, I would never want Tran on my bad side and who wouldn't want a loyal and obediant dog like Sweetie! The great mix of characters and their personalities in addition to great storylines, makes Tanenbaum number one in my "book".
Rating: 
Summary: Wild Ride
Review: by Robert Tanenbaum - second in the series, but this doesn't interfere with NYC thriller that takes you into the DAs office, drug deals in Harlem, Political intrigue in palestine, violent gangs in Mexico, and how they come together for an thrilling, however unlikely, story.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing effort by author
Review: Having previously read and enjoyed IRRESISTIBLE IMPULSE by
Robert K. Tanenbaum, I looked forward to listening to RECKLESS
ENDEARMENT . . . I further wanted to catch-up on what was
happening with two characters i had "met" in the previous book,
Butch Barp and Marlene Ciampi . . . they discover themselves
working on two sides of the same case when several homicides
rock downtown manhattan . . . but was I ever disappointed! . . . it
is an excessively convoluted thriller that starts well, then gets bogged
down with too many characters and subplots . . . I also didn't find it
very believable . . . I'll take a "pass" on other books by
Tannenbaum; i.e., unless somebody tells me that I
just caught the author on a rare bad day/effort.
Rating: 
Summary: Great (Audio) Book-- Terrible Reading
Review: I've read all of Tanenbaum's books about Butch Karp & Marlene Ciampi and enjoyed them thoroughly, so I was looking forward to listening to this book on tape.What a disappointment! James Daniels reads the characters with amazingly bad accents (and there are a LOT of accents), mispronounces the names of NYC landmarks (Zabars, most prominently) and has a flat reading style that gnaws at the listener the entire time. Ruined what could have been a very enjoyable book.
Rating:
Summary: People Magazine: Beach Book Of The Week
Review: Tanenbaum scores again with the further adventures of Ass't DA Butch Karp, wife Marlene and daughter Lucy. For the latest hardcover, Act Of Revenge, from HarperCollins, Publishers' Weekly opined this dysfunctional family will provide wonderful sequels for years to come. If you haven't read Tanenbaum, you are missing a great series. Get started!
Rating:
Summary: Great (Audio) Book-- Terrible Reading
Review: Three young Arabs seriously wound a Jewish elderly shopkeeper and murder his wife. Why? Because they have been ordered to by Ibn-Salemeh, a powerful Arabian megalomaniac. The reason is to start a holy war in New York City pitting the Jews against the Arabs, in what the Arabs hope will make themselves into martyrs. Deputy D.A. Butch Karp is assigned to the case. His job is to solve it, while keeping racial tensions from exploding in the city. More murders are to follow, all related to the Arabian cause. Even Mexican drug lords get tied into the crime spree, as the Arabs do much of their underground business with them to finance their holy war. Sound exciting? It could be, however, Tannebaum's lack of literary skills sure puts a damper on what could have been a good book. First of all, Tannebaum introduces too many characters too soon in the story, and then he neglects to develop those characters. As you read, it becomes difficult to remember who is who and what their role in the story is. I found myself frequently having to flip the pages backwards to refresh my memory of people and events. Also, there is no distinguishable characters in this book. Personalities are rather bland and the dialogue used is in monotone voices. As one reader pointed out, there are mistakes in the book that don't correspond with the book's time frame of 1981. The reader was correct in those errors he pointed out. Another one to add is that there is a scene where two girls sit down and watch the video Purple Rain. That movie wasn't released in theatres until 1984. While those mistakes may not bother some readers, I think it is important to note the carelessness. There are many areas in the story where Tannebaum goes into unnecessary detail on things that are not relevant, while in other parts of the story where clarification is needed, his writing lacks depth and the reader is left in the dark as to what point the writer is trying to convey. On a positive note, there is a good action scene at the end of the book that involves a huge car chase/shootout/bombing in downtown Brooklyn. However, it doesn't make up for the many dull pages that you must plow through to get there. If you are looking for a fast, easy, and fun thriller to read, I'd suggest you look elswhere.
Rating:
Summary: Now You Have To Pay Attention
Review: You've really got to keep your wits about you when you're reading this story. There are about 5 different threads of storylines that are gradually woven together tighter and tighter until something just has to give. And when it does, the effects are devastating. It's New York City, 1981 and the racial tensions between the Arabs and the Jews are simmering. A plot is being hatched and put into place by a small Arab group to start a holy war by bombing the Jewish part of town. Separate to this, yet delicately connected are a couple of Mexican brothers who have been arrested and charged with murdering an undercover officer during a drug bust. This is where Deputy D.A. Butch Karp comes into the picture, he's interested in getting a conviction, you see. Marlene Ciampi, Butch's wife is a private detective, specialising in protecting abused women and is also tenuously drawn into the picture after an Arab girl flees the family home. Now just add a murder or two, stir and let the fun begin.
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