Enemy Within

by Robert K. Tanenbaum

Book Overview

Butch Karp and Marlene Ciampi, the most interesting pair of characters in the suspense genre (Chicago Tribune), take on a trio of deadly and politically dicey cases in a new page-turner from top... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743403436
• ISBN13: 9780743403436
• Release Date: July 2002
• Publisher: Pocket Star Books
• Length: 544 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 4.2" x 6.7"

Customer Reviews

Better than a lot of others

This may not be the Butch and Marlene story that Tanenbaum has written, but mediocre Tanenbaum is better than the best of John Grisham. Marlene goes on a tangent that is one of the best parts of this book when she gets filthy rich and cannot get enough shopping or enough vintage wine. Lucy is her mother's daughter all the way. Butch is really left more confused than usual, but manages to cope. If you are not yet a Butch and Marlene fan, start with the first and read them in order. Wouldn't you love to see Cher play Marlene in a movie!

Not Tanenbaum's best but still good

At his worst, Robert K. Tanenbaum is a good read. At his best, he is a fabulous read. The Enemy Within is neither his worst nor his best. In his latest book, the plot relies heavily on coincidence, and the closing sequence is nothing short of surreal. Nonetheless Tanenbaum is still excruciatingly funny. Had I ever entertained ambitions to belong to New York's social glitterati, Marlene's brief sojourn therein would have cured me forever. Marlene has regressed back into a character rather more unlovely than she has been for some time, and the scope of her exploits makes even Nancy Drew sound plausible. But at her strangest (and with questionable motivation) Marlene is still fun and funny to read about. And Tanenbaum manages to make Butch and Marlene Karp's daughter Lucy palatable which is no small feat since she has evolved from being not merely a linguistic phenomenon but additionally a mystic one. Not content with conquering the world's spoken languages, Lucy is now tuning in words that no one else can hear. I do care about the compelling Lucy, but Marlene is more interesting, just as in Milton's Paradise Lost, Satan is the more engaging, at least in a literary sense. Tanenbaum has an annoying tendency to toss his secondary protagonists aside before their time, which is not fair when all of them are so vivid and so well defined. If he absolutely promises to live forever and never to stop writing, he may yet redeem himself (Tran is thankfully brought back here in one of the book's many coincidences) but the author had better eat all his veggies and otherwise look after his health, because otherwise even his fans will find certain omissions unbearable. Quick, how long till the next Tanenbaum?

A Good Read, But...

I am a die-hard Tanenbaum fan. I wait for my yearly Butch and Marlene fix like a heroin addict awaits that tiny sting of the needle. That said, I must say I was disappointed in this year's offering. Problems large and small prevented Enemy Within from being a completely satisfying read. Previous editors have failed to catch the odd typo or grammatical error (insure vs. ensure and that sort of thing) but in this case, the editor went on vacation. Harry Bello is now sporting a W at the end of his name, and Marlene's co-workers are using her pet phrases, like "girlhood dream." I could live with such things, but as a previous reviewer pointed out, Marlene's sudden left turn into alcoholism was way too simplistic and unbelievable. A kind editor would have said, "You might want to re-think this one." Marlene an alcoholic? Why, because a job protecting a ditzy rock star goes wrong? The old Marlene would have crawled into the electroplating tub, had a tumbler of red and a good cry, but this was too much. Tanenbaum suggests that her company's covert dealings to increase the stock price and the money shower that follows contribute to her condition, but even this is hard to believe. Marlene is the party-hard girl, the tough city woman who whistles up cabs, flings pizza dough, performs sleight-of-hand tricks, and wings rather than kills bad guys. She's not a woman to crawl into the bottom of a bottle and stay there. After all, she hauled Harry out of the same mess with lasagna and stern words. The rest of the book has its moments, but reads more like "Duane's Depressed." Karp is feeling old and disillusioned by Keegan's need to win the next election no matter what. Lucy can whip him in a game of basketball, and Marlene has gone around the bend with her windfall. Veteren characters are disappearing quickly--one has retired and is dying of cancer, while another has fled NY altogether. Even Lucy is not left unscathed, for a man she admires turns out not to be so admirable. Don't get me wrong. I'm still a fan, and Tanenbaum is still one of the few writers who can make me laugh out loud. I'll buy his next book, but probably not on the first day at full price.

A sassy, streetwise and suspenseful thriller.

"Enemy Within" is Robert Tanenbaum's thirteenth novel in the Butch Carp-Marlene Ciampi series. Butch is now the Chief Assistant District Attorney for Manhattan. Marlene is working for a private security firm that is about to trade its stock publicly and she is happily contemplating the prospect of becoming enormously wealthy.Butch, meanwhile, is knee-deep in an investigation of corruption in the police department that is also tainting the District Attorney's office. Butch's boss, Jack Keegan, is facing a tough election, and Keegan would prefer that Butch turn a blind eye to certain questionable cases that are passing through the system. However, being the white knight that he is, Butch feels compelled to investigate a police shooting that is not what it seems, as well as the murder of an unarmed homeless man by a woman who claims that she acted in self-defense.Tanenbaum presents a large and colorful cast of characters, from a group of wretched and pathetic homeless men and women to Marlene Ciampi herself. Marlene goes beserk after she is involved in a shooting and, at the same time, she discovers that she has millions of dollars to spend. She becomes an alcoholic and a shopaholic and her behavior is both outrageous and terrifying. Butch and Marlene's daughter, Lucy, is now seventeen and she is as rebellious and unhappy as ever. She cuts school regularly to visit, feed and nurture the homeless and she is also suffering the pangs of her love for an "older man". Tanenbaum wisely brings back characters from his previous novels for cameo appearances. Roland Hrcany, Guma, and V. T. Newbury (each a former or present colleague of Butch) add spice to the novel as they help to move the plot along. Tran, the former Vietcong who has helped the family in the past, coaxes Lucy out of her scholastic doldrums, and Father Dugan aids Butch in his investigation and participates in the final climactic chase scene.The dialogue is witty, fast-paced and politically incorrect. "Enemy Within" is filled with insights about what really passes for justice in the political town known as New York City. This novel does have several weaknesses. As usual, Tanenbaum likes coincidences and it just so happens that Lucy's homeless friends are involved in the very case that her father is investigating. In addition, Marlene's recovery from her addictions is abrupt and unrealistic. One does not "snap out" of alcoholism, which is a serious illness, not a phase. Finally, the ending is a little too pat, as Tanenbaum struggles to tie up the many loose ends which dangle at the end of the novel.In spite of these quibbles, "Enemy Within" is an entertaining and engrossing legal thriller that will undoubtedly please the many fans of this long-running and successful series.

fascinating legal thriller and police procedural

Butch Karp and his wife Marlene are not the typical married couple and their children are anything but average. Butch is the chief assistant district attorney for New York City while his wife is vice president for a mega-security company that is going public on the stock market. Their oldest daughter Lucy can speak any language after hearing it for three days and their twin sons are total opposites who communicate telepathically. Lucy is very involved in the homeless, going into their warrens and working in a shelter. A serial killer is stalking the street people, but Lucy is heedless of the danger. Marlene thrives on being out in the field while Butch has two moral dilemmas to deal with in his professional life. The main one is a police officer who shot a man; the DA's office and the police department want to close the case because the cop is a hero. Butch thinks that the officer did something wrong and wants to investigate the case. He also has to deal with a boss, running for reelection, playing politics in a death penalty case. It is never a dull moment in the Karp family. Robert K. Tanenbaum writes a fascinating legal thriller and police procedural that blends well together in ENEMY WITHIN. He not only deals with social issues such as the homeless, but also takes on the problem of the police blank wall of silence. He also shows the linear connection between the police department, the judicial system, and the political machine. Mr. Tanenbaum writes about unpleasant truths in a fictionalized setting but lightens the story line up by delving into the home life of his protagonists. This is another winner from the pen of Mr. TanenbaumHarriet Klausner