Infamy
A Butch Karp-Marlene Ciampi Thriller #28
Robert K. Tanenbaum
Pocket Books, March 2017
ISBN 978-1-4767-9321-4
Mass Market Paperback
This novel is not up to the usual standards of the author. Usually, the first half of the book recounts a situation which sets the stage for the other half, which, ordinarily, few do better than Mr. Tanenbaum: a dramatic courtroom scene. So it is with Infamy. Unfortunately, however otherwise well-written the novel is, the courtroom scene is flat and perfunctory.
The novel opens with an intelligence raid by a secret U.S. Army unit in Syria which was supposed to capture at least one suspect. Instead, they find the suspect had shot and murdered other important enemy subjects and obtained important documents which point to a conspiracy to evade sanctions on ISIS and Iraqi oil. Butch Karp, the New York DA and protagonist of the series, enters the plot when a U.S. Army Colonel is shot and killed in Central Park, and slowly a conspiracy begins to unfold.
There are all sorts of subplots and side issues which add little to the tale, except to make it more complicated than it really is. This reader was clearly disappointed, especially when the author decided to vent his own political views, sometimes crudely or bluntly chastising those holding conservative views. It’s too bad, because basically Infamy began with a solid idea, but lost its way along the way from front cover to back cover.
Reviewed by Ted Feit, December 2017.
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Robert B. Parker’s The Hangman’s Sonnet
A Jesse Stone Novel #16
Reed Farrel Coleman
G. P. Putnam’s Sons, September 2017
ISBN 978-0-3991-7144-4
Hardcover
This is the fourth Jesse Stone novel Reed Farrel Coleman has written in the series begun by the late Robert B. Parker. And he has kept the faith. Moreover, he has done something the master never did. He brings in Spenser to play a minor role in solving the mystery which begins with the death of an old woman, a member of the founding family of Paradise, and the ransacking of her home.
Jesse, still reeling from the death of his beloved Diana in his presence, is slowly drinking himself into oblivion. But that doesn’t stop him from performing his duty as Police Chief, despite the hindrance of the Mayor and her hatchet woman. The plot basically revolves around the recovery of a supposedly long lost tape made by a now has-been rock star in time for his 70th birthday party.
Coleman performs up to the standards of the late master, while offering a clever plot of his own, written in a slightly different style (few can duplicate the pithy sentences of a Parker novel). He gives us a deeper insight into Jesse’s personality and presumably shows the force of his iron will. Well at least let’s hope so. Presumably we’ll find out in the next volume in the series.
Recommended.
Reviewed by Ted Feit, December 2017.
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