Infamy

November 7, 2016
Bestseller Tanenbaum’s 28th thriller featuring Manhattan DA Butch Karp (after 2015’s Trap) displays all of the series’ plot excesses. A prologue shows Karp awaiting a verdict for a defendant “on trial not just for murder, but metaphorically for murdering the truth.” The lies the defense presented “cut to the very heart of the nation’s security, all so that a few corrupt men and women could consolidate power, gain enormous wealth, and promote their worldview.” Also in the courtroom are the improbable team of Karp’s allies, including a Taos Indian tracker, a Vietnamese gangster, and the head of a federal antiterrorism agency who cannot be named publicly. Those over-the-top elements give a good sense of what’s to follow, as Tanenbaum then flashes back to the events that led to the sensational murder trial, which involve a covert U.S. government op (which a bad guy conveniently writes about in an unsecured notebook) and a “paid assassin and terrorist for hire” whom Karp has allowed to remain free. The scheme Karp hatches to nail the villains will test even those readers who managed to suspend disbelief until then. Agent: Bob Diforio, D4EO Literary Agency.