Escape | Robert K. Tanenbaum | A fast-paced thriller

Escape | Robert K. Tanenbaum | If you're a Tannenbaum fan.....

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Escape

	Escape Robert K. Tanenbaum Vanguard Press, 2008 - 520 pages average customer review:based on 12 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Escape is a classic encounter between the forces of good and evil in human form that asks, and answers, questions of how to deal with supposedly ?God-inspired? acts of murder and mayhem. In a riveting trial of garish courtroom confrontations, newly elected New York District Attorney Karp battles the ?insanity of the insanity defense,? as he tries to make Jessica Campbell, a rabble-rousing political science professor at NYU, pay for the murder of her three children. While Campbell claims that God told her to ?send her three children to Him,? it is up to Karp to prove that she was fully aware of the nature and consequences of her actions. Meanwhile, an Islamic terrorist, The Sheik, and his homegrown suicidal ?jihadis? hatch a plan, a spectacular outrage to occur in Manhattan?s heartland, that if successful could destroy the economy of the United States and the world. Standing between the terrorist Sheik and his diabolical scheme are Butch?s wife, Marlene Ciampi, a private detective focused on protecting women from abusers; the couple?s daughter, Lucy, who has joined a secretive anti-terrorist organization; and a wonderfully eccentric-but effective-group of crime fighters as has ever graced the pages of a book.

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A fast-paced thriller

New York District Attorney Butch knows the world is watching because whenever a mother kills their young, the homicide becomes headline news. The mother in this case, NYU Political Science Professor Jessica Campbell has some notoriety for her protests starting in 2001 with chaining herself and her three year old daughter Hillary to the gates of Trinity Church. Her defense for killing her three preadolescent kids (Hillary, Chelsea and Benjamin) is the God order insanity plea that he directed her to "send her three children to Him". Karp has to prove she knew what she was doing in spite of her claim and the public's general belief that the murdering of an offspring denotes insanity.

At the same Butch mounts the prosecution's case, Islamic terrorist The Sheik has trained an American jihadist unit all willing to die for Allah to deliver a major terrorist attack on Manhattan that would cripple the global economy. Butch his still somewhat shook wife Marlene Ciampi, their daughter Lucy and a few other dedicated people try to prevent the planned tragedy.

ESCAPE is a fast-paced thriller that obviously moves on two subplots with the connection tenuous through the Professor's admiration of Islamic extremists willing to suicide for their belief in Allah. The legal case re the prosecution challenging the defense's insanity plea is well done, fun to follow and fits the role of Butch. On the other hand a band of superheroes led by Butch and Marlene against dedicated terrorists seems off kilter as one wonders where NYPD, Homeland Security, and the Defense Department are with so much at stake. Still this is an exciting tale if you let your imagination accept a DA and his team as professional field counterterrorists.

Harriet Klausner

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If you're a Tannenbaum fan.....

or a first time reader, this is a great book. Two strong, separate story lines that keep you going mentally, psychologically, and ethically.

To kill in God's name, do the killers legitimately believe this or is it just a convenient excuse?

To kill in God's name, do the killers legitimately believe this or is it just a convenient excuse? "Escape" follows attorney Roger 'Butch' Karp as he deals with a murder case and a terrorist plot. Jessica Campbell murders her three children, claiming God told her to do so. Karp must prove that it was nothing more than an excuse while figuring out the route of a terrorist plot from an extremist known as 'The Sheik'. The two plots mix as he's faced with zealots on both sides and he is left to deal with God's supposed will. "Escape" is a gripping thriller, sure to please readers.

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but better

Ok, this isn't wonderful, but it's certainly better than the last four (2004 Hoax, 2005 Fury, 2006 Counterplay, 2007 Malice.) The first 15 Karp/Ciampi novels - ghost-written by Michael Gruber - are among my favorite reads. If you haven't had the pleasure, run right out and start at the beginning. It was gruesome to see the series change when Tanenbaum got a new ghost. The errors alone were staggering - Butch forgot where his children were born; the dog changed breeds; Lucy became stupid.

This, as I said, is better. The plotting is much better (it had reached a subterranean nadir in Malice) and the settings are more carefully drawn. Here we get a lot of preaching, but the number of coincidences is down to a manageable level and Lucy is of average intellect. Sadly, everyone sounds the same, sort of mid-Atlantic bland. Gruber had a gift for languages that the new ghost has noted, but can't emulate. Butch says "Guck!" something Gruber's Butch would never have said; VT sounds the same as Guma except for vocab; and Father Jim is now being called by his last name. But there is some interesting play with Arabic and Swahili, and the stuff on Muslim saints is good. The minor characters once again have charm - Moishe and Goldie, especially, also Miriam.

But for all the book's bloated length, we don't get to dwell in people's lives; we just hear about them. We hear that Marlene cooks, but we don't see it. We hear that Lucy is spiritual, but it's like being told she's left-handed. I miss the immediacy and the detail of the early books, but at least these characters are on the same page.

So if you share my fantasy that Marlene and Butch and the kids are really out there somewhere, cut off from us by new narrators, this is a much less painful way to keep up with the dear folks. It's a good beach read.

Here's hoping for more next time.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

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