Review by Booklist Review
Simplify, simplify, simplify. After several books that came close to collapsing under their own unnecessary weight, Tanenbaum takes the Butch Karp/Marlene Ciampi series back to basics, completely (finally!) ditching the distracting terrorism-themed story lines in favor of a meaty murder investigation and courtroom drama. A well-liked union organizer is dead, his murder arranged by a ruthless union boss (this isn't a spoiler: the author tells us whodunit right up front). District attorney Karp and his wife, Marlene, slowly build a case against the culprit, but does his corrupt reach extend into the halls of justice? Drawing inspiration from such diverse sources as the Elia Kazan film On the Waterfront and Macbeth (the killer as usurper of the throne; the three witches as a trio of homeless women), the novel is tightly plotted and, overall, feels very much like the early installments in the series, before the author started wandering off on thematic tangents. Series fans should be very happy.--Pitt, David Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Roger "Butch" Karp takes on organized crime masquerading as union politics in bestseller Tanenbaum's overly ambitious 25th thriller featuring the New York County DA (after 2012's Bad Faith). Recently deceased union leader Leo Corcione left two prospective heirs: ruthless Charlie Vitteli and upstanding Vince Carlotta. Vitteli's thugs, led by brutal Joey Barros, set out to prove that the nice guy finishes last-by putting a bullet through Carlotta's head. Karp works to pin Vitteli to the crime, but when Karp's wife, ADA Marlene Campi, provides crucial testimony, the personal connection threatens to discredit both them and the case. Tanenbaum, himself a criminal lawyer, supplies fluid, authentic dialogue, but overlong courtroom cross-examinations drag down narrative momentum. On the plus side, the expansive cast of characters includes intriguing portrayals of the petty lowlifes who are both agents and victims of Vitteli's machinations. Constant allusions to Macbeth freight the book with grandiose expectations that are never met. Agent: Mike Hamilburg, Mike Hamilburg Agency. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Tanenbaum (Bad Faith, 2012, etc.) goes on the waterfront in his latest in his crime series featuring Butch Karp and Marlene Ciampi. Charlie Vitteli runs the New York Citybased North American Brotherhood of Stevedores. That's bad for its members. Vitelli wants to hold onto power and continue to take bribes for avoiding safety regulations while also dipping into embezzled pension fund money. Using Joey Barros, his razor-toting enforcer, as go-between, Vitteli contracts with a Russian mob wannabe for the assassination of a union reformer. The murder's done, but the ugly punk from St. Petersburg is soon caught, along with two local mopes. That's when Roger "Butch" Karp, district attorney for New York County, steps in. One of the trio turns state's witness. The three are convicted. The Russian wannabe is quickly eliminated in a prison murder engineered by the Brighton Beachbased Malchek bratka. That convinces the other mope to turn state's witness, and Vitteli is indicted and convicted. With killers and motives laid out, this is no page-turning whodunit. Instead, Karp flexes his Jack McCoy muscles, giving courtroom-theater fans something to do when television is bereft of Law and Order re-runs. While Marlene Ciampi is a minor player, the narrative is bloated, with some contradictions and "that can't happen" moments. Most characters are clichs, but two or three break out: Jackie Corcione, weakling son of the union founder who is kept in line by the threat of outing his homosexuality; "Dirty Warren," Tourette's-afflicted, street-wise newsstand operator; and Ivgeny Karchovski, retired USSR colonel and boss of a not-so-bad Russian gang, thugs who are willing to deal in illegal immigration, false papers and black markets but draw the line at drugs, guns and prostitution. Conveniently, Ivgeny is Butch's cousin and part of an underworld pipeline. Tanenbaum tosses in quotes and references to Macbeth--"I have murdered sleep" being handy shorthand for a beleaguered conscience--but that's an elaborate blueprint for a small structure. No action thriller this--it's all courtroom drama.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
