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Butch Karp #19
Malice
Barely escaping an assassination attempt, New York district attorney Butch Karp works to uncover a criminal empire that hires terrorists to further their interests and has lately targeted schoolchildren, a case during which his wife, Marlene, investigates the disappearance of a Basque sheepherder's daughter. 60,000 first printing.
448 pages, Hardcover
First published August 7, 2007
59 people are currently reading
326 people want to read
About the author
Robert K. Tanenbaum
77 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 70 reviews
November 10, 2007
I listened to this book while on a long trip. I would have probably quit listenig to it if I would have something alse along to listen to. It did help pass the time, and I did start to get into it toward the end, but I would be reluctant to recommend it. The characters a one dimensional and almost cartoonish, it has multiple over the top plots that don't really intertwine, but seem to occasionaly crash into each other. The characters are prone long speeches, and the dialogue is not natural. If I was not captive in my car listening to it, I wouldn't have lasted fifty pages in the book.
October 25, 2025
A lot of characters, was confusing at times. I wasn’t aware this book was part of a series, but I was somewhat able to follow along. It kept me intrigued, kind of corny in some spots.
I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone else, but I’m glad I read it.
I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone else, but I’m glad I read it.
September 4, 2017
Soooo Disappointing
I am a fan of the Butch/ Marlene series. But this one was very disappointing. Way too much historical narration and too many unrealistic plot lines. I found myself skipping many pages at a time. BTW, who was watching the twins when Marlene & Butch were in Idaho?? Maybe it was explained in one of those skipped pages.
I am a fan of the Butch/ Marlene series. But this one was very disappointing. Way too much historical narration and too many unrealistic plot lines. I found myself skipping many pages at a time. BTW, who was watching the twins when Marlene & Butch were in Idaho?? Maybe it was explained in one of those skipped pages.
April 2, 2020
New York DA Butch Karp is recovering from his last case where he ended up taking an assassin's bullet. He is still determined to find out and put behind bars the terrorists who targeted him, killed several schoolchildren and are determined to cause the downfall of the American government. Butch is out of work while recuperating but he's far from not being busy.
An old friend comes to him with a legal case based in Idaho. The man was a college baseball coach. He lost his job and his reputation when he dismissed a rich man's son from the team after hearing about sexual predatory moves by the son at a party for recruits that should never have happened. In retaliation, those outraged by the dismissal start rumors that the coach set up the party in the first place and that everything that happened there is his fault. The college, under pressure from the father, use the rumors to dismiss the coach and get him banned from coaching for ten years. He needs Butch's help to fight the case and get his job and reputation back.
The rest of the family aren't idle either. Karp's wife befriends a man in Idaho whose daughter has been missing. It's been long enough that he feels she is dead but he needs to find her so he can get closure and bury her with his wife. Marlene gets involved in the case, hoping to help him find what peace he can. In the meantime, Marlene and Butch's daughter is caught up in New York with the terrorist investigation; her ability to see things in the future giving insights into what needs to be done. Can all these cases be resolved?
This is a long-standing series by Tanenbaum. This particular novel is the nineteenth in the series and long time fans will find much to love here. Those who haven't read the series will find that it can be read successfully as a stand alone. Butch is always at the forefront of any fight he gets involved in and the reader will get insight into legal procedures and court cases as well as the machinations that go on behind the scene. This book is recommended for legal thriller readers.
An old friend comes to him with a legal case based in Idaho. The man was a college baseball coach. He lost his job and his reputation when he dismissed a rich man's son from the team after hearing about sexual predatory moves by the son at a party for recruits that should never have happened. In retaliation, those outraged by the dismissal start rumors that the coach set up the party in the first place and that everything that happened there is his fault. The college, under pressure from the father, use the rumors to dismiss the coach and get him banned from coaching for ten years. He needs Butch's help to fight the case and get his job and reputation back.
The rest of the family aren't idle either. Karp's wife befriends a man in Idaho whose daughter has been missing. It's been long enough that he feels she is dead but he needs to find her so he can get closure and bury her with his wife. Marlene gets involved in the case, hoping to help him find what peace he can. In the meantime, Marlene and Butch's daughter is caught up in New York with the terrorist investigation; her ability to see things in the future giving insights into what needs to be done. Can all these cases be resolved?
This is a long-standing series by Tanenbaum. This particular novel is the nineteenth in the series and long time fans will find much to love here. Those who haven't read the series will find that it can be read successfully as a stand alone. Butch is always at the forefront of any fight he gets involved in and the reader will get insight into legal procedures and court cases as well as the machinations that go on behind the scene. This book is recommended for legal thriller readers.
September 9, 2025
I didn't realize that Robert Tanenbaum wrote several other books in this series prior to Malice...I couldn't believe his massive cast of characters-- by page 73 I counted 27 characters! I found myself taking notes so I could remember who was who.
If you haven't read any Tanenbaum books yet, don't start here. This book is part of a series around the New York DA, Butch Karp. READING THE REVIEWS OF OTHERS, I learned that The last several books in the series have been one long continuing story, and if you don't know the cast of characters, both good guys and bad guys, they aren't a good place to start. It's recommended that If you are interested in a legal thriller with interesting if highly improbable characters, start at the beginning of the series with "No Lesser Plea".
If you haven't read any Tanenbaum books yet, don't start here. This book is part of a series around the New York DA, Butch Karp. READING THE REVIEWS OF OTHERS, I learned that The last several books in the series have been one long continuing story, and if you don't know the cast of characters, both good guys and bad guys, they aren't a good place to start. It's recommended that If you are interested in a legal thriller with interesting if highly improbable characters, start at the beginning of the series with "No Lesser Plea".
August 13, 2025
This book kept my interest and, as has happened to me before, when I was down to the last 50 or so pages, I just HAD TO finish it. As with many series in the action/adventure/mystery genres, I'm really not comfortable with characters having visions or psychic foretellings in order to help carry the plot. It seems to me that this is just an artiface that allows the author to expeditiously forward the plot without substantive action. But, that's just me. The story line, with its many subplots, was otherwise believable. Recommended.
August 20, 2018
DNF. In all fairness, it's hard to jump into a series on book 19, however I have done so with other series that I didn't have as much trouble following the existing storyline and then went on to read the series from the beginning. I only made it to page 90 and don't plan to try to start with book 1. Too many subplots and characters that were taking way too long to connect into anything cohesive. This is one series I'll be avoiding in the future.
February 2, 2024
This 2007 book was a real page turner. I only realized later that this is part of a series, so some of the people and situations were described in earlier books and I had no background. Tanenbaum really knows how to weave a good story: many story lines, many characters, great courtroom drama, and several conspiracies. You never know who the bad guys are until the end. If you're interested in this book, read the previous books in the series first.
January 31, 2022
Very interesting and educational as well.
I love these books! I'm re-reading them and totally enjoying the experience. The Karp family is a fascinating group. I truly dislike attorneys and politicians, but Butch is such a straight shooter that I feel better about the whole group. The history is very interesting. Thoroughly enjoyable.
I love these books! I'm re-reading them and totally enjoying the experience. The Karp family is a fascinating group. I truly dislike attorneys and politicians, but Butch is such a straight shooter that I feel better about the whole group. The history is very interesting. Thoroughly enjoyable.
July 4, 2021
Karp series
Interesting twists and as always there are multiple stories ongoing. At the end the writer leaves the reader with a tease about what may be another plot for the next book.
Interesting twists and as always there are multiple stories ongoing. At the end the writer leaves the reader with a tease about what may be another plot for the next book.
March 8, 2022
I enjoy reading about Butch Karp's escapades but I found there were some strange twists and turns to Malice, that detracted from the story. It was still an enjoyable book and I look forward to reading the next one in the series.
October 26, 2022
another Karp-Ciampi adventure
This was another great read. I love how the author creates interesting characters with the good values of judging others by actions and not skin color.
Can’t wait for the next adventure.
This was another great read. I love how the author creates interesting characters with the good values of judging others by actions and not skin color.
Can’t wait for the next adventure.
November 21, 2017
An interesting read that takes you through a variety of settings
May 3, 2020
I would give it a 3.5 because the "dream" Lucy has is used by the author to explain finding the dead body at the end and it just isn't believable.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read
May 11, 2021If you’re writing fiction and you find yourself writing the line, “no even fiction gets this crazy,” then you need to stop.
June 11, 2021
Love these characters
June 11, 2021
Considering that this book was written in 2007, it’s plot and theme seems so fitting for our current time. I shall take a break and continue to read this series.
September 5, 2021
Long, tedious
December 30, 2021
Another in an enjoyable series
June 14, 2022
Too much explanation, but the action part was (as usual) good.
Read
April 15, 2024This audiobook was not available when I listened to the series.
September 24, 2024
I've read the series in order. This one really doesn't fit.
January 31, 2017
decent but getting tired of the characters.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 14, 2016
Robert K. Tanenbaum may not be great writer. His sense of story is fairly good, as is his will to engage and entertain. However Tanenbaum's plots are filled with contrivances, and his prose itself is too direct and explanatory in its approach, and his conflicts are too readily resolved. These flaws chipped away at whatever greatness there might have been in "Malice," Karp's 18th novel in his Butch Karp/Marlene Ciampi series.
Using the unjust trail without due process of Sir Walter Raleigh as a theme, Tanenbaum takes on malicious foes who believe that they are above the law, and do what ever it takes to serve their own individual needs and wants. In "Malice," NY District Attorney Butch Karp, his lethal weapon security expert wife Marlene Ciampi, and his medium-like, savant polyglot daughter Lucy have their hands full with the secret powerful Sons of Man terrorist group, a corrupt university president, a myriad of assassins, and a neo-Nazi group based in Idaho. As crazy at it sounds, "Malice" features an attempted murder, a cafe bombing, an arson attack on a bookstore, a a ferry hijacking, and an assassination attempt on a U.S. Senator...and somehow it all ties together.
Sure, Karp is approached by Mikey O'Toole, the brother of an old college friend who has been unjustly fired and blackballed from his college baseball coach position by his Idaho university president, as well as the ACAA. Somehow even THAT is conveniently connected somehow to the Sons of Man...who turns out help finance a hate-filled neo-Nazi militia in Idaho. And it just so happens that a man Marlene meets in Idaho has a tragic story that happens to connect to that very same university president who unjustly fired Mikey O'Toole. And it just so happens that Lucy Karp overhears a conversation that explicitly spells out who the obvious target would be for the St. Patrick's Day assassination attempt. It's all just too much.
In addition to all that, the "takedown" of the mysterious evil Sons of Man mastermind behind the St. Patrick's Cathedral attack, Jamys Kellagh, was just too easy for anybody's good. I can't stand it when writers smarten up, then later dumb-down their antagonists whenever its convenient. So much for a "criminal mastermind." Worse, Tanenbaum has Kellagh (aka John Ellis) spell out his evil plan so that a kindergartener could understand it. Yuck.
Look, "Malice" is not without its merits, and was in general somewhat entertaining. Yet the novel is about 50 pages too long (those chapters with Lucy and Jojola in New Mexico just went on and on), and overstays its welcome by the end. The contrivances were pushed to to the limit with Tanenbaum's story, making the payoff at the end only marginally satisfying.
Using the unjust trail without due process of Sir Walter Raleigh as a theme, Tanenbaum takes on malicious foes who believe that they are above the law, and do what ever it takes to serve their own individual needs and wants. In "Malice," NY District Attorney Butch Karp, his lethal weapon security expert wife Marlene Ciampi, and his medium-like, savant polyglot daughter Lucy have their hands full with the secret powerful Sons of Man terrorist group, a corrupt university president, a myriad of assassins, and a neo-Nazi group based in Idaho. As crazy at it sounds, "Malice" features an attempted murder, a cafe bombing, an arson attack on a bookstore, a a ferry hijacking, and an assassination attempt on a U.S. Senator...and somehow it all ties together.
Sure, Karp is approached by Mikey O'Toole, the brother of an old college friend who has been unjustly fired and blackballed from his college baseball coach position by his Idaho university president, as well as the ACAA. Somehow even THAT is conveniently connected somehow to the Sons of Man...who turns out help finance a hate-filled neo-Nazi militia in Idaho. And it just so happens that a man Marlene meets in Idaho has a tragic story that happens to connect to that very same university president who unjustly fired Mikey O'Toole. And it just so happens that Lucy Karp overhears a conversation that explicitly spells out who the obvious target would be for the St. Patrick's Day assassination attempt. It's all just too much.
In addition to all that, the "takedown" of the mysterious evil Sons of Man mastermind behind the St. Patrick's Cathedral attack, Jamys Kellagh, was just too easy for anybody's good. I can't stand it when writers smarten up, then later dumb-down their antagonists whenever its convenient. So much for a "criminal mastermind." Worse, Tanenbaum has Kellagh (aka John Ellis) spell out his evil plan so that a kindergartener could understand it. Yuck.
Look, "Malice" is not without its merits, and was in general somewhat entertaining. Yet the novel is about 50 pages too long (those chapters with Lucy and Jojola in New Mexico just went on and on), and overstays its welcome by the end. The contrivances were pushed to to the limit with Tanenbaum's story, making the payoff at the end only marginally satisfying.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 20, 2011
Manhattan district attorney Butch Karp and his wife, Marlene Ciampi, picks up where 2006's Counterplay left off. Karp is recovering at Beth Israel Hospital, after being shot by his rival and fellow prosecutor, Rachel Rachman, who was in turn gunned down by Ciampi. Members of the Karp family have aided to thwart terrorist aimed at the pope. The Behind the plot against the pope, mayoral candidate and murderer Andrew Kane, is believed dead, but Karp suspects that someone at a high level in U.S. security circles fed Kane information and remains poised to do the country further harm. Once again, Karp's daughter, Lucy, becomes involved in a plot so improbable that the author has Ciampi comparing it with the far-fetched conspiracies of The Da Vinci Code . Court room scenes, action and suspense. Louanne
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August 1, 2008
This is another great story about the Karp family.....not so much blood and gore.....a real mind teaser. Again and again Tanenbaum teaches us what American Justice should be about and what sometimes happens when the corrupt have power or should I say the people who are in power use it corruptly. Will the few honest, uncorruptable, powerful men please stand and identify yourselves. I wouild like to personally know one! Tanenbaum's Karp family stories give me hope that if it is written and imagined, it must also exist! Start the Karp reads from the beginning and you will soon be hooked. Great charachterizations, stories, feel good recipies even and some sex thrown in.....good married sex. What more could you want in a series of books. FABULOUS AUTHOR!!!!
January 10, 2016
I love Robert K Tannebaum's legal thriller series, starring Butch Karp, his wife Marlene Ciampi, their hyper polyglot daughter, Lucy, and too many other great recurring characters to mention. There are 22 or so novels in the series which take place in NYC where Butch started as an ADA as did his then love interest, Marlene. Butch is now the DA of Manhattan and works in 100 Centre Street in Manhattan. As a NYC kid myself this enhances my enjoyment of the series. Malice is probably my 14th of the novels. My dear friend Christina Ward put me onto this series many years ago. I highly recommend this series.
May 8, 2017
Malice is a continuation of Betrayed. Fans of the Butch Krap and Marlene Ciampi series know that Krap is famous for his role in the courtroom and Ciampi for her investigations. In Malice we get a double dose of both.
Butch travels to Idaho to defend a friend’s brother who was fired as head coach of a college and Marlene is investigating the death of a young college girl who attended the same college years ago. During the investigation Marlene learns that the two cases are related.
Malice is a roller coaster ride read.
Butch travels to Idaho to defend a friend’s brother who was fired as head coach of a college and Marlene is investigating the death of a young college girl who attended the same college years ago. During the investigation Marlene learns that the two cases are related.
Malice is a roller coaster ride read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews