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COUNTERPLAY
by Robert K. Tanenbaum
Atria, August 2006
448 pages
$26.00
ISBN: 0743271130


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Manhattan DA Butch Karp has his hands full. He's running for re-election against a woman who has the backing of Butch's enemies -- along with their deep pockets for funding her campaign.

Even worse, mad master criminal Andrew Kane, who Butch managed to get arrested, has escaped custody. The man is known to have no scruples. He's also extremely wealthy and has contacts with international terrorists from many countries. Butch is well aware that Kane vowed hate and revenge, not only on the country, but also on Butch and his whole family.

In COUNTERPLAY, this latest entry in the Butch Karp/Marlene Ciampi series, the usual friends and co-workers are present, including the NYC underground mole people John Jojola, the New Mexican chief of police from the last book in this series, the mysterious and deadly Vietnamese man named Tran, and even reporter Ariadne Stupenagel shows up. The setting of Manhattan is still another character in the book. Unfortunately, the realism and grit that brought me and kept me in this series is almost completely gone from this installment.

Andrew Kane is a completely over-the-top master criminal, working outrageous dastardly deeds as he manipulates and strings along international terrorists of many backgrounds. He's a murderous savage to friends and foes alike, managing to outwit the Brooklyn Russian Mafia all while making his revenge on Butch and his family his foremost priority. Kane is reduced to a cartoon. And to have the city of New York saved by Butch and company (because there's no one else in NYC to fight terrorists?) made this book into a silly action story rather than the hard-edged series it used to be.

Yet, because I have been a fan of these books for years, I like the characters, and I still enjoyed reading COUNTERPLAY. But if writer Robert K Tanenbaum continues to let the overall quality of this series drop I don't think I will look forward to the next book in the series as much as I used to.

Reviewed by Sharon Katz, August 2006

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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