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Butch Karp #11
Act of Revenge
"The most interesting pair of characters in the suspense genre" (Chicago Tribune), chief assistant district attorney Butch Karp and his wife, private security consultant Marlene Ciampi, are caught in the deadliest cross fire of their careers- an escalating war between New York's Mafia crime syndicate and war between New York's Mafia crime syndicate and its lethally powerful Chinese gang. This time, though, the stakes have never been higher or more dangerous - for their vivacious twelve-year-old daughter is the target.
544 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 5, 1999
124 people are currently reading
355 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 39 reviews
January 14, 2022
Not good at all. 0 of 10 stars
January 27, 2019
I have read a few Tanenbaum books in this series about Butch Karp (Assistant District Attorney) and his wife Marlene Ciampi (private security consultant) and their daughter Lucy (linguistic prodigy). This a story about the battle between the New York Mafia and the Chinese Tong.
The book is well written and the plot twists and turns. The characters are interesting. I have no idea what book this is in the series or what order the books follow. I have read some random choices without difficulty. The book is a good get-away-from-it all story.
I read this as a paperback published by Harper Torch Publishing Company. The book is five hundred and thirty-five pages.
The book is well written and the plot twists and turns. The characters are interesting. I have no idea what book this is in the series or what order the books follow. I have read some random choices without difficulty. The book is a good get-away-from-it all story.
I read this as a paperback published by Harper Torch Publishing Company. The book is five hundred and thirty-five pages.
January 16, 2012
Rating: 3.5* of five
This is a thriller written by a lawyer. Wait! Come back! It's not boring like most lawyerly fiction is!
Butch and Marlene, Tanenbaum's married sleuths, are back again and they're in fine fettle. I liked them when I first encountered them in No Lesser Plea quite a long time ago. They're a little Nick-and-Nora-y, but they strike out into new territory because she's got one helluva scary job: She's a protection specialist for abused women in jeopardy.
Wait! Come back! It's not like a Lifetime movie, I promise!
Butch and Marlene are facing off against the two scariest and cruelest entities on Planet Earth in this book. No, not Simon Cowell and Nina Garcia! The Mafia and the Chinese tongs. They poke their collective nose into what seems like a box-stock hit on a capo after their 12-year-old witnesses part of the war that led to the hit. Now she's a target, and so now it's Close to Home.
It's a taut, well-made thriller, and the stakes could NOT be higher. No, you don't need to read the books in order...this one would make a great place to start, for example. Tanenbaum made the leap from book-at-a-time good to series good a while ago. This 11-year-old outing is no exception.
This is a thriller written by a lawyer. Wait! Come back! It's not boring like most lawyerly fiction is!
Butch and Marlene, Tanenbaum's married sleuths, are back again and they're in fine fettle. I liked them when I first encountered them in No Lesser Plea quite a long time ago. They're a little Nick-and-Nora-y, but they strike out into new territory because she's got one helluva scary job: She's a protection specialist for abused women in jeopardy.
Wait! Come back! It's not like a Lifetime movie, I promise!
Butch and Marlene are facing off against the two scariest and cruelest entities on Planet Earth in this book. No, not Simon Cowell and Nina Garcia! The Mafia and the Chinese tongs. They poke their collective nose into what seems like a box-stock hit on a capo after their 12-year-old witnesses part of the war that led to the hit. Now she's a target, and so now it's Close to Home.
It's a taut, well-made thriller, and the stakes could NOT be higher. No, you don't need to read the books in order...this one would make a great place to start, for example. Tanenbaum made the leap from book-at-a-time good to series good a while ago. This 11-year-old outing is no exception.
August 14, 2019
So I love this series! I’ve read out of order as I’ve stated before!! This one was not as emotionally compelling for me as others I guess it’s just what we relate to. However it’s a huge turning point for this great family! Mafia and Asian gangs fighting!! This family has so many ties on both sides!!! Who will be the victor? Or is there ever such in these types of debates? The Karps and the Champs is who I vote for!!
April 28, 2010
I'm distressed to find that there are only two books left in this series that I haven't read. (The series has continued with other ghost writers after Michael Gruber stopped writing them in 2003, and I'm not especially interested in the newer ones.) This one is typical of Gruber's efforts, in that it involves multiple plots, apparently unrelated, which gradually gel into a single and complicated conclusion. We have Italian mobsters, Chinese gangs, Vietnamese gangs, the politics of the NY DA's office, a semi-corrupt US attorney, a totally corrupt judge, a battered women's shelter, and Lucy Karp, twelve years old at this stage, who is a reluctant genius with languages, never having lost that ability to absorb language which most of us lose at about the age of five. Her father is the straight-arrow, Jewish, chief assistant DA; her mother is the Catholic Sicilian vigilante and white-knight who keeps most of her semi-legal activities secret from her husband. This one involves all kinds of lore about Asian life in NYC, all of which sounds absolutely authentic to me. Much excitement, frequent comic scenes, wonderful characters, lots of mayhem. It's as if you had a whole season of an excellent legal thriller series on TV, all between the covers of one book. Wonderful entertainment. My only problem with this one was that the key piece of evidence, saved as a "surprise" until the last few pages, is obvious to the reader half-way through the book. It's irritating when such brilliant and perceptive characters are made to ignore what's right in front of them for plot reasons.
November 28, 2008
The eleventh Karp/Ciampi adventure. Set as usual in New York, this mystery focuses on Chinatown, with Italian mob figures thrown in. Lucy (their child language prodigy) and Vietnamese uncle/gangster Tran are my favorite characters in this series, and are prominently featured here. And snippets of "the good old days" in labor-management relations. Written really by Michael Gruber, the language and plot are of a relatively high order especially when compared to the four most recent installments. An entertaining read, but not to be mistaken for something that could really happen.
April 15, 2014
An excellent story of various crime in the New York City's District Attorney office featuring ADA Butch Karp, his wife, and an extensive cast of characters. Skillfully blends Chinese, Vietnamese, Italian, and Jewish cultures. Fast paced and enjoyable to read.
May 7, 2018
One of the problems with picking up books from free shelves is that you don’t get to choose where in a series you may end up starting. Fortunately, picking up the 11th book in Robert K. Tanenbaum’s “Butch Karp” series didn’t prove to be as much of a hindrance to enjoyment to reading as can often happen so deep into a series, as he writes in a way that doesn’t require prior knowledge of the characters to obtain maximum enjoyment from it.
Butch Karp is Chief Assistant District Attorney in New York, whilst his wife, Marlene Ciampi is a private security consultant who isn’t inexperienced at shooting people. Their daughter, Lucy, is an unusual 12-year-old, who has grown up in Chinatown and speaks several far Eastern languages fluently, as her brain is wired differently to most children’s. In some other aspects, however, she is a normal pre-teen, enjoying hiding out with her friends, until they witness a murder in the stockroom of a nearby Asian Mall.
It seems that there is a battle for control in New York, with a man from a Macau triad wanting to move in on mob territory. With several families and many Eastern gangs wanting to control criminal behaviour in New York, it is important that Lucy doesn’t tell what she saw, particularly to her father, who is desperate to put some of the Mob bosses behind bars. In the meantime, her mother has become embroiled in Mob business, as a decades old apparent suicide might be about to be solved, thanks to the daughter of the victim, and wife of a senior Mob boss, has deserted her husband and is seeking help.
As far as the story goes, it’s fantastically plotted, for the most part. There is intrigue both within the families and gangs and infighting even within the District Attorney’s office, which shows that both sides of the law fight as dirty as each other, in their own way. There is plenty going on and more or less every character is required to be looking over their shoulder at all times; indeed, some of them, Marlene most particularly, have to be looking over both shoulders at once on occasion.
Unusually for the book so late in a series, you don’t need to have any prior knowledge of the series to get the most out of it. There are a couple of references to Marlene’s missing eye and previous occasions where she’s shot people, as well as some of the relationships both professionally in Butch and Marlene’s cases and personally in Lucy’s, which can only have been grown throughout the seasons. Whilst these did make me wonder what had transpired previously, particularly in the case of Marlene’s fake eye, they didn’t detract from what was happening in this novel, which is a rare and unexpected bonus. Also unusually, but impressively, there was no point at which these events made other books seem more interesting than this one, which can often happen.
There were a couple of aspects that let the book down for me. The first was that, with so much going on, some parts of the plot fall into the background a little and don’t get properly explored. The ending in particular was extremely messy, with a couple of characters from sub-plots involving Marlene suddenly appear to try and kill her without any kind of warning and, in one instance, one that had never appeared before and was part of a sub-plot that could have been omitted entirely without leaving a hole in the novel in any way. There was also a character central to the ending who had been introduced quite early on and was obvious to the reader who she was and how important she was going to be, but one that everyone entirely overlooked until a pivotal moment, which was disappointing given how well plotted the rest of the book was.
The other aspect of the novel I wasn’t so keen on was some of the writing. Many thriller writers draw things in such broad brushstrokes that don’t allow the reader to get involved, but Tanenbaum goes too far the other way for my tastes. This is more noticeable early in the book where he describes every character down to what they are wearing and even how the comport themselves in a far too lengthy way and using so many metaphors that it slows the pace right down and given that his word usage is rarely simple and he uses several descriptive words I’ve not seen for quite a while seems like he’s trying to show off how good a writer he is and how large his vocabulary.
I did enjoy the book, and once the opening introductory chapters were over and most of the characters had been introduced in great depth, things did pick up, both in terms of pace and plotting. As clunky as some of the early writing is and as messy the ending, the intrigue and detailed plotting that has gone into what comes between the two is enough to make me want to read more of Tanenbaum’s work, particularly in this series, although the limitations mean I won’t be rushing to do so.
Butch Karp is Chief Assistant District Attorney in New York, whilst his wife, Marlene Ciampi is a private security consultant who isn’t inexperienced at shooting people. Their daughter, Lucy, is an unusual 12-year-old, who has grown up in Chinatown and speaks several far Eastern languages fluently, as her brain is wired differently to most children’s. In some other aspects, however, she is a normal pre-teen, enjoying hiding out with her friends, until they witness a murder in the stockroom of a nearby Asian Mall.
It seems that there is a battle for control in New York, with a man from a Macau triad wanting to move in on mob territory. With several families and many Eastern gangs wanting to control criminal behaviour in New York, it is important that Lucy doesn’t tell what she saw, particularly to her father, who is desperate to put some of the Mob bosses behind bars. In the meantime, her mother has become embroiled in Mob business, as a decades old apparent suicide might be about to be solved, thanks to the daughter of the victim, and wife of a senior Mob boss, has deserted her husband and is seeking help.
As far as the story goes, it’s fantastically plotted, for the most part. There is intrigue both within the families and gangs and infighting even within the District Attorney’s office, which shows that both sides of the law fight as dirty as each other, in their own way. There is plenty going on and more or less every character is required to be looking over their shoulder at all times; indeed, some of them, Marlene most particularly, have to be looking over both shoulders at once on occasion.
Unusually for the book so late in a series, you don’t need to have any prior knowledge of the series to get the most out of it. There are a couple of references to Marlene’s missing eye and previous occasions where she’s shot people, as well as some of the relationships both professionally in Butch and Marlene’s cases and personally in Lucy’s, which can only have been grown throughout the seasons. Whilst these did make me wonder what had transpired previously, particularly in the case of Marlene’s fake eye, they didn’t detract from what was happening in this novel, which is a rare and unexpected bonus. Also unusually, but impressively, there was no point at which these events made other books seem more interesting than this one, which can often happen.
There were a couple of aspects that let the book down for me. The first was that, with so much going on, some parts of the plot fall into the background a little and don’t get properly explored. The ending in particular was extremely messy, with a couple of characters from sub-plots involving Marlene suddenly appear to try and kill her without any kind of warning and, in one instance, one that had never appeared before and was part of a sub-plot that could have been omitted entirely without leaving a hole in the novel in any way. There was also a character central to the ending who had been introduced quite early on and was obvious to the reader who she was and how important she was going to be, but one that everyone entirely overlooked until a pivotal moment, which was disappointing given how well plotted the rest of the book was.
The other aspect of the novel I wasn’t so keen on was some of the writing. Many thriller writers draw things in such broad brushstrokes that don’t allow the reader to get involved, but Tanenbaum goes too far the other way for my tastes. This is more noticeable early in the book where he describes every character down to what they are wearing and even how the comport themselves in a far too lengthy way and using so many metaphors that it slows the pace right down and given that his word usage is rarely simple and he uses several descriptive words I’ve not seen for quite a while seems like he’s trying to show off how good a writer he is and how large his vocabulary.
I did enjoy the book, and once the opening introductory chapters were over and most of the characters had been introduced in great depth, things did pick up, both in terms of pace and plotting. As clunky as some of the early writing is and as messy the ending, the intrigue and detailed plotting that has gone into what comes between the two is enough to make me want to read more of Tanenbaum’s work, particularly in this series, although the limitations mean I won’t be rushing to do so.
September 28, 2019
This is the 11th in the author’s Butch Karp series. Years ago I was reading this series & don’t remember why I stopped. Certainly chief assistant district attorney Butch Karp and his wife, private security consultant Marlene Ciampi, are an interesting couple in quite a suspenseful thriller. This story includes their 12 year old daughter who is quite precocious & she’s in the wrong place at the wrong moment. The Karps are caught in extremely dangerous cross-fire of an escalating war between New York's Mafia crime syndicate, as well as a war between New York's Mafia crime syndicate & its lethally powerful Chinese gang. Lucy’s language prowess can help or hinder. The family’s Vietnamese friend, Tran is in this one also & does things that aren’t really legal.
However, one thing that annoyed me was that the author’s writing style is to hint at something, but not explain what he meant in a straight forward manner. There are lots of bad things happening, including kidnapping and attempted kidnappings – so many instances which seemed a bit over the top. I liked most of it, so I'm thinking of going back to the beginning of this series for the ones I missed along the way - maybe this series is one of those that you need to read in the sequence they were written.
However, one thing that annoyed me was that the author’s writing style is to hint at something, but not explain what he meant in a straight forward manner. There are lots of bad things happening, including kidnapping and attempted kidnappings – so many instances which seemed a bit over the top. I liked most of it, so I'm thinking of going back to the beginning of this series for the ones I missed along the way - maybe this series is one of those that you need to read in the sequence they were written.
May 7, 2017
I enjoyed this book with the multiple items that eventually all tie in. I had not read the previous books in the series but felt I was given enough to understand the history of Karp and family. Definitely reading the rest.
October 11, 2018
Intrigue, mystery,
Many twists and turns involving Chinese tongs, triads, the mob, power seeking us attorney; just when you think you got it figured out another twist in plot. Great fast read!
Many twists and turns involving Chinese tongs, triads, the mob, power seeking us attorney; just when you think you got it figured out another twist in plot. Great fast read!
October 21, 2024
Butch Karp #11. A double murder in Chinatown involves Lucy and soon the whole family as well as the cops and the Feds. Mob hits, Asian assassins, Tong wars and murderous ex-husbands. This one has all this and more. Very exciting, I liked it a lot. 4 stars.
April 14, 2019
This one had a bit more than a couple before it. It is an excellent series
July 9, 2019
Ends with the dread chapter-of-explanation. Dumb coincidences. But lots of fun along the way.
December 1, 2019
Good Read
Liked all the characters especially Tran and Lucy. I liked the detail and dialogue but the book needs an epilogue to close it out properly and clean up the details left hanging.
Liked all the characters especially Tran and Lucy. I liked the detail and dialogue but the book needs an epilogue to close it out properly and clean up the details left hanging.
November 3, 2020
I love these characters 😍
March 28, 2021
Love the suspense, one of my favorites
May 13, 2021
Page turner!
If you enjoy a realistic legal thriller, this book is for you. The story unfolds beautifully and you feel as though you are in the courtroom yourself!
If you enjoy a realistic legal thriller, this book is for you. The story unfolds beautifully and you feel as though you are in the courtroom yourself!
May 24, 2021
My first introduction to the dysfunctional family who happen to be in many legal and illegal cross hairs, I am excited to get the rest of their story.
February 23, 2024
Another good read - that's 9, or is it 10, in a row. Quite a fan
Read
April 14, 2024This audiobook was not available when I listened to the series.
September 9, 2024
ok, sometimes it bit unbelievable
Storyline good, lots of characters to follow. Slow developing but quickly ending leaves some to your imagination. I would prefer more closure.
Storyline good, lots of characters to follow. Slow developing but quickly ending leaves some to your imagination. I would prefer more closure.
May 2, 2025
I'm 220 pages into this book and had to put it away. As I write, I am not feeling this book at all and find it a chore to get through a chapter.
I'm also perplexed at the reviews on goodreads.com and have moved on to another author. I will give this book one more try and maybe I will be able to finish it this time.
I'm also perplexed at the reviews on goodreads.com and have moved on to another author. I will give this book one more try and maybe I will be able to finish it this time.
Read
February 11, 2014Prosecutor Roger,"Butch", Karp and his security-savvy wife Marlene Ciampi have a wide range of criminal activities to occupy them in this legal thriller. First, there's the matter of the double homicide witnessed by their teenaged daughter Lucy. Then a high-ranking member of a New York city crime family is murdered behind the wheel of his car. Then a woman fleeing to a woman's shelter hires Marlene to look into the death of her father, a wealthy lawyer who was the last person to leap from the top of the Empire State Building twenty years ago. Along the way the usual collection of fascinating characters help to tanle and unravel the many threads of this novel. These include the dedicated attorneys under Karp's authority, an enigmatic Vietnamese assassin who has taken Marlene and Lucy under his protection, and even the family dog, a slobbering mastiff named Sweety who becomes a loyal guard dog when he hears commands in Italian.
Robert K. Tanenbaum does a masterful job of spinning multiple plotlines into a net that captivates the reader with equal doses of humor, thrills, and suspense. The way he has developed his protagonists over this long-running series, beginning with "No Lesser Plea", makes them feel like living, breathing people that you will want to welcome back again and again.
Robert K. Tanenbaum does a masterful job of spinning multiple plotlines into a net that captivates the reader with equal doses of humor, thrills, and suspense. The way he has developed his protagonists over this long-running series, beginning with "No Lesser Plea", makes them feel like living, breathing people that you will want to welcome back again and again.
August 27, 2012
Another delightful romp with Butch and Marlene, #11 of 24. These people are like old friends by now. Oh, there are evil bad guys doing things that take a while for our heroes to figure out, and even a rather severe concussion for Marlene and some danger to their children. Along with that, though, the family squabbles and pleasures of their rather uncommon lives are quite enjoyable to keep up with. One of the best parts for me was listening in on Marlene's conversations with her dog, Sweetie, a very well-trained 200-lb mastiff, to whom she bares her soul. These novels just seem to get better and better.
February 15, 2014
Another great Butch and Marlene legal thriller. Never fear, all their usual friends, family, and coworkers are in here too. This book stuck to the formula of several seemingly unrelated events that eventually tie together. However, early on in the book the characters were starting to ponder that they may be related and the plots lines weren't as convoluted and confusing as they usually are. That is definitely a big plus. This book took me a long time to read because this is a busy time for me, not because it was boring or hard to read.
March 11, 2016
3.5 "A good crappie book"
This was a clever and titillating book. The characters were stereotypical but I ignored that because the story flowed well. I've only read this book in the series so I feel like I missed some character development. The precocious genius daughter was definitely a good character but who wouldn't want Tran as a servent/sidekick. I'm not sure if I'd recommend it but it was entertaining
This was a clever and titillating book. The characters were stereotypical but I ignored that because the story flowed well. I've only read this book in the series so I feel like I missed some character development. The precocious genius daughter was definitely a good character but who wouldn't want Tran as a servent/sidekick. I'm not sure if I'd recommend it but it was entertaining
February 29, 2016
#11 in the Butch Karp and Marlene Ciampi series.
Butch Karp / Marlene Ciampi legal thriller - Butch investigates the killing of a Bollano family capo; Marlene investigates the 25 year old suicide of Little Sally Bollano's father-in-law; daughter Lucy witnesses a Chinatown killing
Butch Karp / Marlene Ciampi legal thriller - Butch investigates the killing of a Bollano family capo; Marlene investigates the 25 year old suicide of Little Sally Bollano's father-in-law; daughter Lucy witnesses a Chinatown killing
September 5, 2009
Good; Continuing characters: Prosecutor Butch Karp and family; Too long story of interactions between Chinese gangsters, Mafia, and the Karp's daughter.
February 2, 2010
Hard to keep reading. Good night time reading when you want to go to bed. He thoroughly builds his story.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews