No Lesser Plea

Butch Karp and Marlene Ciampi, Book 1

By: Robert K. Tanenbaum

Narrated by: Traber Burns

Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Roger "Butch" Karp has been around New York long enough to realize that the judicial system can be dirty and cynical. But he still believes in justice. So when a vicious sociopath tries to dodge a brutal murder charge by convincing the court he is incompetent to stand trial, Karp teams up with firecracker Assistant DA Marlene Ciampi to unleash the full force of their relentless energy, hardboiled wit, and passion for the truth to put the killer away for good. They will accept no lesser plea.

©1987 Robert K. Tanenbaum (P)2013 AudioGO

Surprisingly good

This book is surprisingly good, not my usual genre . Great story, witty and funny. And the narration is excellent.

Story okay, but narrator takes away from story

The story is probably interesting enough but I really struggled with the narrator. i found the plot difficult to follow because of the perfomance.

This Blew My Socks Off

I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard and so often while listening to a book that is a mystery/thriller. And then, to be brought to tears.

Such extreme emotions and it's all part of a terrific legal thriller.

5-stars all the way. Now, I'm going to look for more books by the author.

Too much information, you lost jest of story. His books are better read than listened to. Word word word.

See sbove. Nothing else to say, so word, words, word, word, and words. And more word!

A FAVORUTE SERIES, THIRD READING

Ghostwriter Michael Gruber left after RESOLVED. Ten volumes brethtakingly complex. Post-Gruber, complexity disappears. Sad loss.

Best of the best!

I was so delighted to see this whole series on Audible -- at least it appears the first 15 are here, those that Michael Gruber either wrote, or co-wrote, depending on who you believe. The books with Gruber are excellent, just excellent -- action packed, filled with moments of pure hilarity followed by white-knuckle situations, all played out with very likable characters, and best of all, so filled with inside stories of what goes on in the legal system it's impossible to put down.

This is the first of the series, where Butch and the love of his life, Marlene Ciampi meet -- a good introduction, because the series gets even more interesting later, after they're married and have a child who turns out to be a language prodigy, speaking any number of languages fluently, including Chinese. Her unique abilities lead the books in whole new directions and every one of them are just marvelous.

I read the whole series when they started to come out in the 1980's. I loved them so much I packed and moved my creased and tattered paperbacks every time I moved for decades. Now that I can get them on Audible -- or on Kindle, I see -- I can finally let the paper versions go.

As I listened to this one again, I was reminded of how little things have changed in the world of criminal justice since the 1980's. The same people are still committing the same crimes, being put into the same criminal justice systems, with the same woeful result. As Butch Karp remarks, "The criminal justice system is not just, but it most certainly is criminal." Yes, it was in 1988, and still is today -- which makes for some really good books, if nothing else.

More Character Development Than Plot Development

I found Tanenbaum's first Carp novel more a development of interesting characters than the development of a engaging plot. Still, I enjoyed the listen.

OK story

Any additional comments?

The crude dialogue is masking the authors weakness in writing 3d characters. I honestly don't know people that speak in this juvenile and vulgar manner. The vulgarity of the characters prevents them from being fully developed. Women are sleazy, men obnoxious. This author can do better. Noir does not mean crude. In many instances the criminals are more refined than the lawyers.

Great Listen

I'm a new fan of the author and the reader. Great job. Being a fan of fiction Grisham, I find it hard to switch authors. This was a shot in the dark, and worth it.

A Decent LIsten

Traber Burns is totally competent. He manages to stay invisible while bringing out the idiosyncrasies of each character in this ensemble… The guy has the spoken-artist chops for this Audible major league.

I don't know why it took me so long to try a Tanenbaum novel. If No Lesser Plea's typical… it's sure been my loss. This is a fine legal/thriller. The characters are sufficiently complex even when improbable. Even the toss-away folks in this book grabbed my attention. Tanenbaum has the pace of a NASCAR driver. He wails around the curves of internal action without losing traction.

How much did I like it? I'm off to download another Tannenbaum.