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Butch Karp #20
Escape
In New York Times bestselling author Robert K. Tanenbaum's most explosive thriller yet, Butch Karp takes on a controversial defense in the courtroom, as a deadly terrorist plot unfolds in the heart of Manhattan.
Claiming God commanded her to gruesomely murder her three small children, a radical political science professor with a high-profile politician husband pleads insanity, leaving New York District Attorney Roger "Butch" Karp the arduous -- and incredibly unpopular -- task of proving that she's not. Meanwhile, an American-born jihadist detonates a suicide bomb inside a Manhattan synagogue. A harrowing question links the violent crimes -- is there any defense for a killer who believes committing murder is God's will? As Karp, his wife Marlene, their daughter Lucy, and a cast of eccentric accomplices begin a deadly manhunt, they uncover an intricate terrorist plot to paralyze New York's emergency response system and cripple the economy. They must find an assassin known only as "The Sheik" before he orchestrates a bloody massacre that could devastate the country forever....
Claiming God commanded her to gruesomely murder her three small children, a radical political science professor with a high-profile politician husband pleads insanity, leaving New York District Attorney Roger "Butch" Karp the arduous -- and incredibly unpopular -- task of proving that she's not. Meanwhile, an American-born jihadist detonates a suicide bomb inside a Manhattan synagogue. A harrowing question links the violent crimes -- is there any defense for a killer who believes committing murder is God's will? As Karp, his wife Marlene, their daughter Lucy, and a cast of eccentric accomplices begin a deadly manhunt, they uncover an intricate terrorist plot to paralyze New York's emergency response system and cripple the economy. They must find an assassin known only as "The Sheik" before he orchestrates a bloody massacre that could devastate the country forever....
552 pages, Hardcover
First published April 8, 2008
35 people are currently reading
481 people want to read
About the author
Robert K. Tanenbaum
76 books280 followersRobert K. Tanenbaum is the New York Times bestselling author of twenty-five legal thrillers and has an accomplished legal career of his own. Before his first book was published, Tanenbaum had already been the Bureau Chief of the Criminal Courts, had run the Homicide Bureau, and had been in charge of the training program for the legal staff for the New York County District Attorney’s Office. He also served as Deputy Chief Counsel to the Congressional Committee investigations into the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. In his professional career, Tanenbaum has never lost a felony case. His courtroom experiences bring his books to life, especially in his bestselling series featuring prosecutor Roger “Butch” Karp and his wife, Marlene Ciampi.
Tanenbaum was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He attended the University of California at Berkeley on a basketball scholarship, and remained at Cal, where he earned his law degree from the prestigious Boalt Hall School of Law. After graduating from Berkeley Law, Tanenbaum moved back to New York to work as an assistant district attorney under the legendary New York County DA Frank Hogan. Tanenbaum then served as Deputy Chief Counsel in charge of the Congressional investigations into the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr.
The blockbuster novel Corruption of Blood (1994), is a fictionalized account of his experience in Washington, D.C.
Tanenbaum returned to the West Coast and began to serve in public office. He was elected to the Beverly Hills City Council in 1986 and twice served as the mayor of Beverly Hills. It was during this time that Tanenbaum began his career as a novelist, drawing from the many fascinating stories of his time as a New York ADA. His successful debut novel, No Lesser Plea (1987), introduces Butch Karp, an assistant district attorney who is battling for justice, and Marlene Ciampi, his associate and love interest. Tanenbaum’s subsequent twenty-two novels portrayed Karp and his crime fighting family and eclectic colleagues facing off against drug lords, corrupt politicians, international assassins, the mafia, and hard-core violent felons.
He has had published eight recent novels as part of the series, as well as two nonfiction titles: The Piano Teacher (1987), exploring his investigation and prosecution of a recidivist psychosexual killer, and Badge of the Assassin (1979), about his prosecution of cop killers, which was made into a movie starring James Woods as Tanenbaum.
Tanenbaum and his wife of forty-three years have three children. He currently resides in California where he has taught Advanced Criminal Procedure at the Boalt Hall School of Law and maintains a private law practice.
Tanenbaum was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He attended the University of California at Berkeley on a basketball scholarship, and remained at Cal, where he earned his law degree from the prestigious Boalt Hall School of Law. After graduating from Berkeley Law, Tanenbaum moved back to New York to work as an assistant district attorney under the legendary New York County DA Frank Hogan. Tanenbaum then served as Deputy Chief Counsel in charge of the Congressional investigations into the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr.
The blockbuster novel Corruption of Blood (1994), is a fictionalized account of his experience in Washington, D.C.
Tanenbaum returned to the West Coast and began to serve in public office. He was elected to the Beverly Hills City Council in 1986 and twice served as the mayor of Beverly Hills. It was during this time that Tanenbaum began his career as a novelist, drawing from the many fascinating stories of his time as a New York ADA. His successful debut novel, No Lesser Plea (1987), introduces Butch Karp, an assistant district attorney who is battling for justice, and Marlene Ciampi, his associate and love interest. Tanenbaum’s subsequent twenty-two novels portrayed Karp and his crime fighting family and eclectic colleagues facing off against drug lords, corrupt politicians, international assassins, the mafia, and hard-core violent felons.
He has had published eight recent novels as part of the series, as well as two nonfiction titles: The Piano Teacher (1987), exploring his investigation and prosecution of a recidivist psychosexual killer, and Badge of the Assassin (1979), about his prosecution of cop killers, which was made into a movie starring James Woods as Tanenbaum.
Tanenbaum and his wife of forty-three years have three children. He currently resides in California where he has taught Advanced Criminal Procedure at the Boalt Hall School of Law and maintains a private law practice.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 76 reviews
March 23, 2019
In any series that has five or more books, there are bound to be some entries that are better than others. This series has been consistently very entertaining, some more so than others, but this is one of the best so far (being #20 out of a current 29). There are two main story lines. The larger of the two is a terrorist plot for a massive attack on the New York Stock Exchange and associated networks. The background to this story and its participants are introduced while Butch and his associates attempt to prevent this disaster. At the same time, Butch is involved in the prosecution of a mother who admits that she murdered her three young children but claims to have done it by direct orders from God. Also woven into the story line is Marlene's struggle with the loss of her mother and her father's increasing dementia. As always, there is a supporting cast of characters, both villains and victims, that make these books a treat to read.
June 5, 2019
Are you insane if you kill your three children by drowning and stabbing if God tells you to do it? In my book you are not only crazy but sane enough to be punished for your actions by prison or worse.... I don’t want to get into death penalty debates so I’ll skip my thoughts. This book was one of the best of this series and lead up to another great one that I also just finished. The Carp family is once again brought to a horrible place that involves all the players!!! This was one of the best of them all!!
May 31, 2011
Tanenbaum is a master at creating and involving odd characters into his novels. This has been the main appeal to me of his novels. These characters make repeat appearances, sometimes appearing so often that if it was a television series "special guest star" would not appear.
I have also appreciated Tanenbaum's attempt to explore thematic issues such as the use of force to protect women being stalked or abused. This novel is no different, in fact, the entire novel is almost a dissertation regarding people who commit terrible acts while claiming that God was directing them to do so.
In this novel, the theme is explored through two main plotlines that are unrelated, but thematically conincide. First, there are the terrorists who are claiming that their terrorist activity is ordained by Allah (while another group of Islamic people describe this terrorist activity as being condemned as a perversion of the teachings of Mohammed).. Then, there is the mentally disturbed woman who drowns her children, because she believed she heard a voice from heaven telling her to do so. As these two plotlines unfold, characters discuss (or think) about their own personal bias and philosophy, revealing different perspectives in what I felt was a balanced manner.
However, this time, the two plotlines do a great job of presenting the theme of the novel while creating a novel with multiple-personality disorder. Switching back and forth between a courtroom trial and an unrelated terrorist plot (except for the author's theme) is not only dizzying, it is an annoyance. As a result, we have a book that is both a mediocre courtroom drama and a mediocre terrorist plot thriller.
In addition, Tanenbaum expands on a Science Fiction\new Age point of view in a number of places in the novel. Lucy, a recurring character who is a devout character, sees a "spirit" guide (a deceased Catholic Saint) who warns her of danger and guides her. One of the Muslim characters also gets a deceased Muslim saint as a spirit guide. If that isn't enough, another character also gets a "vision" of the deceased Muslim saint with a plot-changing message. It just got silly and became a lame mechanism to explain some plot holes away.
The author includes some interesting exchanges that provide some interesting motion picture trivia, a character with Terrett's (spelling?) syndrom who speaks in a most offensive manner. A nice old Jewish man comes and speaks to a Jewish class about the Holocaust he experienced. In other words, the author tosses in some really interessting stuff into his book. Thankfully, the family attack dogs (recurring in the other novels in this series) didn't make an appearance this time.
This one just didn't work that much for me. I will probably still read some of the other earlier novels, but at this point, Tanenbaum is just trying too hard to be all things to all readers and by doing so, pretty much lost my interest.
I have also appreciated Tanenbaum's attempt to explore thematic issues such as the use of force to protect women being stalked or abused. This novel is no different, in fact, the entire novel is almost a dissertation regarding people who commit terrible acts while claiming that God was directing them to do so.
In this novel, the theme is explored through two main plotlines that are unrelated, but thematically conincide. First, there are the terrorists who are claiming that their terrorist activity is ordained by Allah (while another group of Islamic people describe this terrorist activity as being condemned as a perversion of the teachings of Mohammed).. Then, there is the mentally disturbed woman who drowns her children, because she believed she heard a voice from heaven telling her to do so. As these two plotlines unfold, characters discuss (or think) about their own personal bias and philosophy, revealing different perspectives in what I felt was a balanced manner.
However, this time, the two plotlines do a great job of presenting the theme of the novel while creating a novel with multiple-personality disorder. Switching back and forth between a courtroom trial and an unrelated terrorist plot (except for the author's theme) is not only dizzying, it is an annoyance. As a result, we have a book that is both a mediocre courtroom drama and a mediocre terrorist plot thriller.
In addition, Tanenbaum expands on a Science Fiction\new Age point of view in a number of places in the novel. Lucy, a recurring character who is a devout character, sees a "spirit" guide (a deceased Catholic Saint) who warns her of danger and guides her. One of the Muslim characters also gets a deceased Muslim saint as a spirit guide. If that isn't enough, another character also gets a "vision" of the deceased Muslim saint with a plot-changing message. It just got silly and became a lame mechanism to explain some plot holes away.
The author includes some interesting exchanges that provide some interesting motion picture trivia, a character with Terrett's (spelling?) syndrom who speaks in a most offensive manner. A nice old Jewish man comes and speaks to a Jewish class about the Holocaust he experienced. In other words, the author tosses in some really interessting stuff into his book. Thankfully, the family attack dogs (recurring in the other novels in this series) didn't make an appearance this time.
This one just didn't work that much for me. I will probably still read some of the other earlier novels, but at this point, Tanenbaum is just trying too hard to be all things to all readers and by doing so, pretty much lost my interest.
October 17, 2008
If you are a fan of this series you will probably find that it de3livers all the goodies Tannenbaum is known for, with not too many of the drawbacks. The goodies: wonderful Dickensian characters of all sorts, each more idiosyncratic than the last. The series centers around Butch Karp, currently the DA of the fictional New York City ( as a seperate district equivalent to Manhattan it is really fictional). He is tall, Jewish, funny, twice as smart as you and surrounded by family and friends who adore him, when they aren't furious with him. These include his wife Marlene, who lost her eys when a letter bomb meant for him exploded in her hand, his daughter Lucy and multilingual young woman who assists in the solving of cimes and foiling of plots while herself being assisted by visitations from St.Teresa, which leads her to feel that she is possibly crazy and probably blessed, her twin brothers Zak and Giancarlo, one of whom is an artistic empathic probably genious level artist and musician, and the other is a precocious troublemaker with a good heart, and many others, accumulated over the more than two decades the series spans and all of whom seem to show up in one form or another in the convoluted plot.
The drawback, if you have read the whole series, is that Tannenbaum (if it is Tannenbaum-- how does an attorney who runs a thriving law practice (formerly on the staff of the congressional committee that examined the assasination of JFK)-- have the time to write one of these every year? (He must have great researchers)) has to give the back story of each of these folks, and if you know it already, that's a little tedious. Fortunately he introduces a few new characters, expands the roles of some who were more minor in previous books, and like the deft juggler he must be, adds a few balls into the cyclotron whirling in front of him, without dropping any.
Oh, and the plot? Completely unbelievable! How could he think we would be taken in by the spectacle of enemy conspiracies to undermine the security of America by causing the stock market to crash. Everybody knows the stock market can't crash, like it did in 1929. Can it?
The drawback, if you have read the whole series, is that Tannenbaum (if it is Tannenbaum-- how does an attorney who runs a thriving law practice (formerly on the staff of the congressional committee that examined the assasination of JFK)-- have the time to write one of these every year? (He must have great researchers)) has to give the back story of each of these folks, and if you know it already, that's a little tedious. Fortunately he introduces a few new characters, expands the roles of some who were more minor in previous books, and like the deft juggler he must be, adds a few balls into the cyclotron whirling in front of him, without dropping any.
Oh, and the plot? Completely unbelievable! How could he think we would be taken in by the spectacle of enemy conspiracies to undermine the security of America by causing the stock market to crash. Everybody knows the stock market can't crash, like it did in 1929. Can it?
July 26, 2012
Somewhat confusing intermingling of different story lines threaded throughout the novel, although with the same themes: the inability of people to discern good from evil, and the evil nature of religious extremism. It was a fun story, certainly action packed but I was very disturbed by how Tannenbaum played into numerous stereotypes. There was the young African-American criminal who converted to Islam in prison, the out-in-"left"-field political science professor who seems to hate all things American (that in particular galled me), the politician who cares about nothing but getting elected and satisfying his outgrown ego, the convenience stores all with Asian clerks, etc. It got pretty annoying. There was character development but not a lot of depth of character, pun intended.
December 27, 2023
As we get near the end of the year, I’ve read another author who is new to me, and committed what would normally be a reading faux pas for me. I read Robert K. Tanenbaum’s 2008 novel, Escape, which is the 20th book in his Roger “Butch” Karp series, which follows the machinations of the District Attorney for New York County, which is essentially Manhattan, the biggest District Attorney’s Office in the United States, and whatever shenanigans him and his family need to thwart.
Tanenbaum’s book was quite the one to take on toward the end of the year because it clocks in at 696 pages, but it’s a tour-de-force that juggles Nazis, Islamic terrorists, a mother who killed her three children, and numerous side characters and nefarious plots, and somehow it all mostly works. If I had one criticism, but which admittedly stems from my own ideological bent: Naturally, a story written from the point-of-view of a prosecutor-as-protagonist is going to be hostile, in some respects, to defense attorneys and their expert witnesses. I am more naturally skeptical of prosecutors and their expert witnesses than I am of defense attorneys. But still, I liked Karp and his family (his wife with security experience, daughter who speaks like 69 languages, and I’m not exaggerating, and father-in-law who seems to be experiencing early onset Alzheimer’s, but wants to prove he still has value) because they have integrity and principles, and are committed to doing things the right way. They’re good people, and Karp is particularly friendly to people far below his station, as it were, the “street characters” of Manhattan, like a news vendor with Tourette syndrome, or a giant, smelly man named “Booger,” who end up being pivotal characters throughout the plot.
Speaking of plot, the plot is essentially two-fold: 1.) The aforementioned trial Karp is trying of a mother, a radical leftist, who kills her three young children supposedly in the name of God and is arguing the insanity defense for that reason (because of her inflammatory ways, I was a bit skeptical that the public and newspaper editorials would be so against Karp trying the case and public favor would be on her side, not to mention just the heinousness of the crime); and 2.) A trifecta of Islamic terrorists, Russian spies, and the Sons of Man elitist rich white man group in America all looking to take down the “Great Satan” for their own reasons, which bring them together.
The throughline thread that brings these seemingly disparate plots together is the story of the Nazis treatment of Jews and the Holocaust. Karp is a Jew, and one of the catalyzing events of the book is an Islamic terrorist who blows himself up inside Karp’s synagogue. Through that experience, Karp meets a bakery owner who is Jewish and a Holocaust survivor. As we know, and Tanenbaum explains through the bakery owner, many of the Germans and Nazis who perpetrated the Holocaust tried to hide their actions and/or blame it on scapegoats, whomever those may be. Likewise, Islamic terrorists say they are killing in Allah’s name, and in that way, Allah becomes their scapegoat. Ergo, the mother, who claimed to kill in her children in God’s name, ought to still be held legally culpable, the argument goes. I didn’t like Karp in his closing argument making that thread blatantly obvious by comparing the mother to Nazis because it sort of diminishes the severity of the Nazis’ actions, in my humble opinion, but I get what Tanenbaum was going for with it.
But also, Tanenbaum presents good versions of listening to God and his messengers. Miriam, who was one of my favorite characters in the book, was quasi-forced to marry the man who would go on to bomb the synagogue. But she’s a good Muslim and devout in the right way. Yet, she also hears from one of Allah’s messengers, a female martyr from centuries before who guides her. That same messenger would go on to help Lucy, Karp’s daughter, at the end of the novel. In other words, even if you think you are truly hearing the words of God, that is no reason for perpetrating evil. (The bookends of the book draw the analogy to Abraham and God calling him to kill his son Isaac, and Tanenbaum reveals at the end that Karp believes, rightly, he would charge Abraham with murder had God not ultimately intervened.)
Overall, like any book at this length, you have to wonder, as I did, if some of it couldn’t have been trimmed without taking away from the themes, characterizations, and plotting, but I wasn’t bored at any point. I predicted some of the major plot points (the Saudi prince’s COO being the evil Sheik, for example), but I enjoyed how Tanenbaum arrived at such points, and then flushed them out. And if I didn’t emphasize it enough, I really liked the street characters of Manhattan factoring so much into the plot helping the good guys in their battle against the Russians, Islamic terrorists, and Sons of Man. Even the sidebar stuff with Karp’s “Breakfast Club” of retired men from public service was entertaining, even if they were self-referentially “dirty old men.”
The only difficult part with having such an important public figure as Karp as your central protagonist is the absurdity of him joining the police response to the Islamic terrorists’ attempt to bomb and shut down the New York Stock Exchange. It would like Alvin Bragg following NYPD SWAT into a hot zone of gunfire exchange, hostages, and potential bombings. But also, it’s fun fiction, so, I don’t hold it against Tanenbaum.
As a first introduction to Tanenbaum and his Karp character, I’m intrigued to read more from him, and particularly the book that came after this one because tantalizingly, Tanenbaum left some loose threads hanging out there …
Tanenbaum’s book was quite the one to take on toward the end of the year because it clocks in at 696 pages, but it’s a tour-de-force that juggles Nazis, Islamic terrorists, a mother who killed her three children, and numerous side characters and nefarious plots, and somehow it all mostly works. If I had one criticism, but which admittedly stems from my own ideological bent: Naturally, a story written from the point-of-view of a prosecutor-as-protagonist is going to be hostile, in some respects, to defense attorneys and their expert witnesses. I am more naturally skeptical of prosecutors and their expert witnesses than I am of defense attorneys. But still, I liked Karp and his family (his wife with security experience, daughter who speaks like 69 languages, and I’m not exaggerating, and father-in-law who seems to be experiencing early onset Alzheimer’s, but wants to prove he still has value) because they have integrity and principles, and are committed to doing things the right way. They’re good people, and Karp is particularly friendly to people far below his station, as it were, the “street characters” of Manhattan, like a news vendor with Tourette syndrome, or a giant, smelly man named “Booger,” who end up being pivotal characters throughout the plot.
Speaking of plot, the plot is essentially two-fold: 1.) The aforementioned trial Karp is trying of a mother, a radical leftist, who kills her three young children supposedly in the name of God and is arguing the insanity defense for that reason (because of her inflammatory ways, I was a bit skeptical that the public and newspaper editorials would be so against Karp trying the case and public favor would be on her side, not to mention just the heinousness of the crime); and 2.) A trifecta of Islamic terrorists, Russian spies, and the Sons of Man elitist rich white man group in America all looking to take down the “Great Satan” for their own reasons, which bring them together.
The throughline thread that brings these seemingly disparate plots together is the story of the Nazis treatment of Jews and the Holocaust. Karp is a Jew, and one of the catalyzing events of the book is an Islamic terrorist who blows himself up inside Karp’s synagogue. Through that experience, Karp meets a bakery owner who is Jewish and a Holocaust survivor. As we know, and Tanenbaum explains through the bakery owner, many of the Germans and Nazis who perpetrated the Holocaust tried to hide their actions and/or blame it on scapegoats, whomever those may be. Likewise, Islamic terrorists say they are killing in Allah’s name, and in that way, Allah becomes their scapegoat. Ergo, the mother, who claimed to kill in her children in God’s name, ought to still be held legally culpable, the argument goes. I didn’t like Karp in his closing argument making that thread blatantly obvious by comparing the mother to Nazis because it sort of diminishes the severity of the Nazis’ actions, in my humble opinion, but I get what Tanenbaum was going for with it.
But also, Tanenbaum presents good versions of listening to God and his messengers. Miriam, who was one of my favorite characters in the book, was quasi-forced to marry the man who would go on to bomb the synagogue. But she’s a good Muslim and devout in the right way. Yet, she also hears from one of Allah’s messengers, a female martyr from centuries before who guides her. That same messenger would go on to help Lucy, Karp’s daughter, at the end of the novel. In other words, even if you think you are truly hearing the words of God, that is no reason for perpetrating evil. (The bookends of the book draw the analogy to Abraham and God calling him to kill his son Isaac, and Tanenbaum reveals at the end that Karp believes, rightly, he would charge Abraham with murder had God not ultimately intervened.)
Overall, like any book at this length, you have to wonder, as I did, if some of it couldn’t have been trimmed without taking away from the themes, characterizations, and plotting, but I wasn’t bored at any point. I predicted some of the major plot points (the Saudi prince’s COO being the evil Sheik, for example), but I enjoyed how Tanenbaum arrived at such points, and then flushed them out. And if I didn’t emphasize it enough, I really liked the street characters of Manhattan factoring so much into the plot helping the good guys in their battle against the Russians, Islamic terrorists, and Sons of Man. Even the sidebar stuff with Karp’s “Breakfast Club” of retired men from public service was entertaining, even if they were self-referentially “dirty old men.”
The only difficult part with having such an important public figure as Karp as your central protagonist is the absurdity of him joining the police response to the Islamic terrorists’ attempt to bomb and shut down the New York Stock Exchange. It would like Alvin Bragg following NYPD SWAT into a hot zone of gunfire exchange, hostages, and potential bombings. But also, it’s fun fiction, so, I don’t hold it against Tanenbaum.
As a first introduction to Tanenbaum and his Karp character, I’m intrigued to read more from him, and particularly the book that came after this one because tantalizingly, Tanenbaum left some loose threads hanging out there …
May 8, 2017
Escape entertains as it educates. The details of Jewish, German, and Islamic History are mind blowing! Tanenbaum is great at reminding us of the importance of learning and retaining the information learned about the history of all cultures.
Butch Karp creates his own smoke and mirrors to solve the crime of the murders at a Jewish Synagogue by a lone Islamic terrorist. The courtroom drama is brilliant!
In spite of Charles Leggett storytelling, I enjoyed the story.
Butch Karp creates his own smoke and mirrors to solve the crime of the murders at a Jewish Synagogue by a lone Islamic terrorist. The courtroom drama is brilliant!
In spite of Charles Leggett storytelling, I enjoyed the story.
May 8, 2017
Escape entertains as it educates. The details of Jewish, German, and Islamic History are mind blowing! Tanenbaum is great at reminding us of the importance of learning and retaining the information learned about the history of all cultures.
Butch Karp creates his own smoke and mirrors to solve the crime of the murders at a Jewish Synagogue by a lone Islamic terrorist. The courtroom drama is brilliant!
In spite of Charles Leggett storytelling, I enjoyed the story.
Butch Karp creates his own smoke and mirrors to solve the crime of the murders at a Jewish Synagogue by a lone Islamic terrorist. The courtroom drama is brilliant!
In spite of Charles Leggett storytelling, I enjoyed the story.
February 24, 2017
Mother murders her children because "God ordered it". -ugh! Criminals start off as liars and get Worse!
May 17, 2020
I have been reading Robert Tanenbaum books since they were first published in the late 1980s. Escape was published in 2008.
Here's my opinion of the good parts, in no particular order. Tanenbaum was 66 when he published this--let's say it took a year to write, complete guess on my part. The research behind the detail explained in this big, fat 552 page epic mystery is brilliantly executed. The characters are strongly identified and fleshed out. The reader has a good sense of why they think and behave the way they do. There are several stories running concurrently and each unfolds in a meticulous manner without being didactic.
Here's why I did not give it 5 stars--which I apologize for because everything was so perfectly rendered. The last 30+ pages are like an action movie. Normal people just could not withstand that level of trauma and stress for the duration of all those years. They'd all implode. And the main characters, Butch, Marlene, their kids, are not narcissistic or antisocial so it has that...no, not real anymore--over the top kind of ending. This' like when I stopped reading Craig Johnson because who was he competing with for best of what?
But, to be able to write like this and be a lawyer with his background? Tanenbaum is always going to be one of the best of the best. If you were ever to meet him, you'd have to avert your eyes. I don't have any idea of how it could have ended differently than the way he told it.
Lastly, the book has a nice feeling. The paper is high quality. The binding is quality. Vanguard Press does a solid job. This was a signed by author copy and was in beautiful shape--probably owned by one author. I got it at that charity sale for $2. It is such a pleasure to add to our library wall.
Here's my opinion of the good parts, in no particular order. Tanenbaum was 66 when he published this--let's say it took a year to write, complete guess on my part. The research behind the detail explained in this big, fat 552 page epic mystery is brilliantly executed. The characters are strongly identified and fleshed out. The reader has a good sense of why they think and behave the way they do. There are several stories running concurrently and each unfolds in a meticulous manner without being didactic.
Here's why I did not give it 5 stars--which I apologize for because everything was so perfectly rendered. The last 30+ pages are like an action movie. Normal people just could not withstand that level of trauma and stress for the duration of all those years. They'd all implode. And the main characters, Butch, Marlene, their kids, are not narcissistic or antisocial so it has that...no, not real anymore--over the top kind of ending. This' like when I stopped reading Craig Johnson because who was he competing with for best of what?
But, to be able to write like this and be a lawyer with his background? Tanenbaum is always going to be one of the best of the best. If you were ever to meet him, you'd have to avert your eyes. I don't have any idea of how it could have ended differently than the way he told it.
Lastly, the book has a nice feeling. The paper is high quality. The binding is quality. Vanguard Press does a solid job. This was a signed by author copy and was in beautiful shape--probably owned by one author. I got it at that charity sale for $2. It is such a pleasure to add to our library wall.
February 24, 2019
I've read all the Butch Karp/Marlene Ciampi books, but somewhere along the way I managed to miss #20 from 2008, Escape.
I used to think my appreciation for these books came from my fondness for the characters, and indeed there are many larger than life characters who make up these novels. But, Escape made me realize that I was not giving these books due credit, as these stories are so much more. Every single book in this series is a history lesson, many history lessons. They are also stories of deep faith, faith used for good, faith used for evil, faith that challenges and faith that keeps the characters - and us - going. They are stories of people who many might consider marginalized, on the fringes, but who with deeper seeing and kindness are shown to have more to offer than the way they are too often perceived. They are stories of crime, of New York, of justice, and, of course, of family.
So much in Escape just plain hurt my heart, from the unspeakable crime that has Butch in court to the history that must be remembered, to the history the world is creating as we sit here, which is often mimicking fiction all too vividly. It's scary how prescient authors like Robert K. Tanenbaum, Brad Thor, Stephen Coonts and Tom Clancy have been in their works.
I'm sorry I missed Escape when it was new, but am grateful I read it now and I believe it is as relevant today as it was in 2008.
I used to think my appreciation for these books came from my fondness for the characters, and indeed there are many larger than life characters who make up these novels. But, Escape made me realize that I was not giving these books due credit, as these stories are so much more. Every single book in this series is a history lesson, many history lessons. They are also stories of deep faith, faith used for good, faith used for evil, faith that challenges and faith that keeps the characters - and us - going. They are stories of people who many might consider marginalized, on the fringes, but who with deeper seeing and kindness are shown to have more to offer than the way they are too often perceived. They are stories of crime, of New York, of justice, and, of course, of family.
So much in Escape just plain hurt my heart, from the unspeakable crime that has Butch in court to the history that must be remembered, to the history the world is creating as we sit here, which is often mimicking fiction all too vividly. It's scary how prescient authors like Robert K. Tanenbaum, Brad Thor, Stephen Coonts and Tom Clancy have been in their works.
I'm sorry I missed Escape when it was new, but am grateful I read it now and I believe it is as relevant today as it was in 2008.
November 30, 2017
For the genre, this is much better than a Vince Flynn/Lee Child/Brad Thor story but not as good as a John LeCarre. There were two storylines in this one and both were interesting but to me they didn’t tie together enough. Even though the overall message overlapped, they should have been separated into two novels. It made the book tedious and hard to follow. It also needed some serious editing. There was a lot of filler content that was not necessary and could have been saved to flesh out another 4-5 books. Mainly entertainment. I hope his pacing and style improves because I think he has a lot of potential.
June 28, 2022
Even for a series that has often been over the top, “Escape” was over the top. With two major plotlines (unrelated except for the obvious point the author was trying to make), far too many characters, and some New World spirit talk thrown in for good measure, this book tried to be all things to all people, and failed. There are some good parts in it, but this is far from RKT’s best effort.
November 13, 2024
Interesting account of a terrorist attempt to disrupt the US even more than during 9/11. Motivated by a belief in a world-wide caliphat, the terrorists strive to destroy the American economy with a devious plot. NY District Attorney Karp and his family end up completely engaged in foiling the plot. Engaging read with some interesting subplots.
December 23, 2019
Listened to the audiobook and both the performance and the book itself were excellent. Only complaint was the length of the book (over 20 hours) but there were actually two separate plots going on throughout, so it was like reading two books.
November 16, 2017
awesome book love this series
February 26, 2018
Enjoyed it
April 2, 2018
1st Robert K Tanenbaum book for me and I really enjoyed it. Great details. You felt like you were walking through the city. You could taste the coffee cake!
October 2, 2019
Extremely tedious read. Not one of my favorite books.
Read
June 16, 2020Numerous twists in the storyline were not apparent before they occurred. This made for an interesting and entertaining book to read!
October 27, 2020
There is a lot of action, and some interesting characters. The dueling stories kept me interested. I really enjoyed to court room scene where Karp tackled a difficult case.
July 19, 2023
Wonderful
Love all Robert K Tanenbaum novels, particularly the Butch Karp series, including wife and daughter inclusions..... Difficult to put down!
Love all Robert K Tanenbaum novels, particularly the Butch Karp series, including wife and daughter inclusions..... Difficult to put down!
May 2, 2024
Good plots but the Isle of Man bit is dragging on a little too long. It needs to be wrapped up.
December 31, 2016
excellent
April 28, 2016
An almost great legal thriller by a man who should know a thing or two about criminals, the law, and the criminal justice system: Robert K. Tanenbaum. The former Homicide Bureau Chief of the New York District Attorney's office, trial lawyer, and law professor made the most of his knowledge and experience with "Escape," the twentieth novel in his Roger "Butch" Karp, Marlene Ciampi series.
As a newbie to the writing of Tanenbaum, and the world of Karp, I was at first taken aback both the variety of characters involved in the story, as well as the high drama contained in many of their respective histories. In addition, the density of the author's writing was difficult to absorb at first.
There's a lot to take in with "Escape." New York District Attorney "Butch" Karp has a public falling out with a seasoned colleague and close friend, V.T. Newberry, who never had been the same after a physical assault prior to the novel's tale. Karp's daughter Lucy had been drafted into a secret task force headed up by Karp's close ex-FBI pal Jaxon, who previously exposed the secret existence of the "Sons of Man," a home-grown evil organization with terrorist ties. Karp's wife Marlene had survived letter bomb that was meant to kill her husband. All this just for starters...before the central story gets going.
Then you have the "central story"...well, TWO central stories actually, both focusing on people who murder in the name of God. On the one hand, you have a infamous liberal activist/college professor who murders her three young children because God had to told her to. On the other hand, you have the treacherous plan by "The Sheik" (with help from jihadi men from a NY mosque, as well as the Sons of Man) to destroy the infidels in the U.S. by decimating America's economy down to the nub. Whew...no WONDER the book is a dense 552-pages! That's a lot of story.
In general, the story in "Escape" is a good one, as is the novel itself. However, what prevents it from being a "great" book (as far as I am concerned) is the fact that final quarter of the book doesn't' measure up to the previous three quarters. Though it took a while to get going, the novel's exploration on the root of evil in relationship to individual responsibility is quite fascinating, and added a much appreciated depth to the story.
In the last quarter of the book though, Tanenbaum resolved all of his story-conflicts in too neat a package. Though satisfying in one way, the author's pat approach to such a complex story was a disappointment, and some of it was ludicrous (V.T. Newberry's "test" by Uncle Dean was to shoot Lucy Karp? Please, Dean Newberry was not that dumb to think his nephew could do such a thing). Also, Robert K. Tanenbaum's prose was engaging, though leaned a bit towards the dry side at times, and aimed a little too close to the nose for my taste when it came time to explain away this or that plan
Yet despite the uneven prose and disappointing finale, it thankfully did not damper my appreciation of the "Escape" novel as a whole. If anything, it has inspired me to read more Tanenbaum books, and experience more of Roger "Butch" Karp, his crazy, litigious, dangerous world.
As a newbie to the writing of Tanenbaum, and the world of Karp, I was at first taken aback both the variety of characters involved in the story, as well as the high drama contained in many of their respective histories. In addition, the density of the author's writing was difficult to absorb at first.
There's a lot to take in with "Escape." New York District Attorney "Butch" Karp has a public falling out with a seasoned colleague and close friend, V.T. Newberry, who never had been the same after a physical assault prior to the novel's tale. Karp's daughter Lucy had been drafted into a secret task force headed up by Karp's close ex-FBI pal Jaxon, who previously exposed the secret existence of the "Sons of Man," a home-grown evil organization with terrorist ties. Karp's wife Marlene had survived letter bomb that was meant to kill her husband. All this just for starters...before the central story gets going.
Then you have the "central story"...well, TWO central stories actually, both focusing on people who murder in the name of God. On the one hand, you have a infamous liberal activist/college professor who murders her three young children because God had to told her to. On the other hand, you have the treacherous plan by "The Sheik" (with help from jihadi men from a NY mosque, as well as the Sons of Man) to destroy the infidels in the U.S. by decimating America's economy down to the nub. Whew...no WONDER the book is a dense 552-pages! That's a lot of story.
In general, the story in "Escape" is a good one, as is the novel itself. However, what prevents it from being a "great" book (as far as I am concerned) is the fact that final quarter of the book doesn't' measure up to the previous three quarters. Though it took a while to get going, the novel's exploration on the root of evil in relationship to individual responsibility is quite fascinating, and added a much appreciated depth to the story.
In the last quarter of the book though, Tanenbaum resolved all of his story-conflicts in too neat a package. Though satisfying in one way, the author's pat approach to such a complex story was a disappointment, and some of it was ludicrous (V.T. Newberry's "test" by Uncle Dean was to shoot Lucy Karp? Please, Dean Newberry was not that dumb to think his nephew could do such a thing). Also, Robert K. Tanenbaum's prose was engaging, though leaned a bit towards the dry side at times, and aimed a little too close to the nose for my taste when it came time to explain away this or that plan
Yet despite the uneven prose and disappointing finale, it thankfully did not damper my appreciation of the "Escape" novel as a whole. If anything, it has inspired me to read more Tanenbaum books, and experience more of Roger "Butch" Karp, his crazy, litigious, dangerous world.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 22, 2019
This book is pretty terrible. I knew I was in trouble when I read in the acknowledgements, "to Steve Jackson, an extraordinarily talented and gifted scrivener whose genius flows throughout the manuscript and whose contribution to it cannot be overstated". A ghostwriter is almost never a good sign. But I'd already bought the book, so I decided to give it a go. I did read all the way to the end, but I was laughing about the bad writing the whole time. The characters are ridiculous, and the number of coincidental relationships between them completely improbable.
The most laughable thing about the book: the characters, almost all long-time New Yorkers, think that an attack on "the Metro" is likely to be an attack on the subway system. But no one in New York calls it that. They might not have been able to figure out what it meant, but they wouldn't have thought "'Metro', that must mean the subway.'"
The only really positive thing I can say about it is that I did read it all the way to the end.
The most laughable thing about the book: the characters, almost all long-time New Yorkers, think that an attack on "the Metro" is likely to be an attack on the subway system. But no one in New York calls it that. They might not have been able to figure out what it meant, but they wouldn't have thought "'Metro', that must mean the subway.'"
The only really positive thing I can say about it is that I did read it all the way to the end.
December 8, 2012
Claiming God commanded her to gruesomely murder her three small children, a radical political science professor with a high-profile politician husband pleads insanity, leaving New York District Attorney Roger "Butch" Karp the arduous — and incredibly unpopular — task of proving that she's not. Meanwhile, an American-born jihadist detonates a suicide bomb inside a Manhattan synagogue. A harrowing question links the violent crimes — is there any defense for a killer who believes committing murder is God's will? As Karp, his wife Marlene, their daughter Lucy, and a cast of eccentric accomplices begin a deadly manhunt, they uncover an intricate terrorist plot to paralyze New York's emergency response system and cripple the economy. They must find an assassin known only as "The Sheik" before he orchestrates a bloody massacre that could devastate the country forever
July 24, 2014
So love this author... haven't read him for a LONG time because I mostly only have time for audiobooks... Now after "reading" (listening to) this one and the one that comes after it I remember how awesome he is....The kids are grown (Lucy) but all the great characters remain. I love learning things thru good fiction. I have been SO educated on Islam and terrorism but in a "spoon fed and burped after" way... Tied in with another story line about "killing in the name of God" but a mother of her children....It's a long book but I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it...There have been earlier books of his that I had a hard time getting into all the story lines, but this one and the one after do NOT have that problem. Really good.
June 11, 2016
4* Phew! I think this is a big book, a Big Book, and more than because of its length. It deals with racism and greed on a broad and sweeping scale, often giving me cause for thought. There is a terrific amount of action and personal dynamics going on, so it is an entertaining thriller. But it is different in the way it showed so many human actions in many different societies being repeated over and over. Thank goodness for the unfortunately rare but much appreciated bursts of much-needed humour. What an author! What an audio performance!
I'll be chewing on this for a while and will probably listen again before too long. It's way more than a good read. It's a Good One!
I'll be chewing on this for a while and will probably listen again before too long. It's way more than a good read. It's a Good One!
May 16, 2008
I'm very disappointed. In fact, I'll probably wait for the next one to come out in paperback, and probably even wait to buy it from the used bookstore.
I'm getting tired of the larger-than-life over-the-top plotlines, ever growing conspiracy webs, and political rhetoric. Its time to get back to what made me love these characters and this series -- solving a mystery and prosecuting a bad guy.
If Tanenbaum wants to write a book dedicated to his political views and the general state of the union, then more power to him. I'd probably even buy it. But keep it out of my entertainment.
I'm getting tired of the larger-than-life over-the-top plotlines, ever growing conspiracy webs, and political rhetoric. Its time to get back to what made me love these characters and this series -- solving a mystery and prosecuting a bad guy.
If Tanenbaum wants to write a book dedicated to his political views and the general state of the union, then more power to him. I'd probably even buy it. But keep it out of my entertainment.
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