Infamy

Author: Robert Tanenbaum

Not many book reviews begin with:  the author is an ex-Assistant DA and he never lost a felony case in his career.  What kind of book might he write?

Well, in the case of Infamy, one hell of a “badass” novel.  Once again, NY District Attorney Roger “Butch” Karp joins with his wife, Marlene Ciampi, as the case thrust in front of him both intrigues them and confuses them.  An Army veteran murders a colonel and a person standing by in New York’s Central Park, and when caught, the veteran takes hostages and hangs out in the Zoo, demanding to talk to the DA.  When Karp arrives, the killer claims he had no control; he is being used in a government mind control experiment.  The Army veteran and killer says he will talk and give names if given immunity.  And then, even stranger, a famous defense attorney who is tied to the President offers to help defend the murderer on conditions of PTSD.  The veteran names one word: mirage, before retracting his offer to name up as soon as he is given the well-connected attorney.  Why?

Karp falls into a meeting with Ariadne Stupenagel, a NY investigative reporter who has a strange source on another story about government corruption …and this source was one of the veteran’s murder victims.  Coincidence?  Karp and Stupenagel think not.  As they investigate, they discover a Middle East operation named mirage, top top secret that has failed…and buries a secret in the failure with the unit that has deployed the “op.”

Several points of view tell the story of “mirage.”  One is Lucy Karp, the district attorney’s daughter as she is on special patrol special ops in Saudi Arabia seeking to kill an ISIS leader, Ghareeb al Taizi. She and her team arrive to find Taizi dead, killed by a Russian spy named Nadya Malova, who tells Lucy to say hello to Lucy’s father, Butch Karp.

Next, the novel turns to Ariadne Stupenagel, superstar investigator, who has gotten a phone call from Lucy Karp for lunch.  Ariadne’s mother is Lucy’s godmother.  Stupenagel knows that Lucy is part of a small federal antiterrorism agency headed by a former FBI agent, Espey Jaxon.

As the point of view pivots from character to character to set up a series of twists, turns and edge-of-the-seat action, Infamy shoots straight into the courtroom – and to the highest corners of the government.

Fast, demanding, page turning and brilliant in courtroom classicism, Infamy creates a tsunami of reading in any port.  Absolutely fabulous.

Ratings are based on a 5-star scale 

Overall: 5

Review by Broad “A” 

We received a product to facilitate our review. All opinions are our own

DETAILS

• You can pick up this book on Amazon.com here: Infamy (A Butch Karp-Marlene Ciampi Thriller)or at a bookseller near you.