Betrayed

A Novel (Butch Karp/Marlene Ciampi, Book 22)

By: Robert K. Tanenbaum

Narrated by: Mel Foster

When Dirty Warren, the criminal-court newspaper vendor afflicted with Tourette’s Syndrome, is charged with murdering socialite Rene Hanson, Marlene Ciampi investigates. Marlene’s findings throw doubt on the case, but she is ignored by power-hungry and press-happy Westchester County DA Harley Chin, who is intent on doing whatever it takes to convict Dirty Warren, with the encouragement of powerful political forces.

As Marlene fights to clear Warren, her investigation pulls her into the sordid world of high-priced “escort services” and the revelation of a dark secret that could cost her life.

Meanwhile, Karp is trying to convict Sharif Jabbar, the iman of a Harlem mosque, for his part in the diabolical attack on the New York Stock Exchange, as well as the brutal stabbing death of heroic Miriam Juma, who tried to stop his evil plot. Karp must also battle forces within the government who would prefer that the Jabbar case “went away”, as well as the shadowy power group Sons of Man, who are desperate to keep their identities and purpose hidden.

Fast-paced and filled with exhilarating twists and turns, Betrayed is Tanenbaum at his very best.

©2010 Robert K. Tanenbaum (P)2010 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Good Listen

loved it...one of my favorite authors been following Butch and Marlene since they met each other.

didn't enjoy this narrator as much

I was very irritated with the narrator of this book early on, having just listened to the previous two novels in Tanenbaum's "Butch Karp" series read (much more adeptly, IMO) by Charles Leggett. Mr. Foster didn't even pronounced John Jojola's name correctly (I believe it should be "ho-HO-lah") and his "Clay Fulton" was a little too "black" compared to Mr. Leggett's more straight-forward portrayal of the same character. I think he did a good job with Giancarlo and Zak, though.

As far as the story itself, it seemed to take a long, long time to ramp up. If I had it to do over, I would save my Audible.com credit for another book read by Charles Leggett.

Good friends - Poor story

A Karp/Ciampi tale is always a good romp, but this episode is flawed in two ways:

The storytelling is lumpy, with huge and complex plot points jammed into lengthy exposition, and...

The reader is not very good. Karp comes off tired and stilted and pronunciations of names are just plain wrong - Jajolla is Hahoya, and Milquetoast is clearly to be pronounced Mil-Kay-Tossed.

Otherwise, not too bad. Disappointing, but not too bad.

Best Tanenbaum yet

I have had the privilege of reading several of Tenenbaum's books. I love thisamong his fiction novels because it is an opportunity for the backstory on some of the characters. It is rich .

Narrator ruins book

Would you try another book from Robert K. Tanenbaum and/or Mel Foster?

Mel Foster obviously didn't do any research on the previous novels as he mis-pronounces names. His delivery is bipolar as he swings from a wooden to melodramatic delivery. I like the Karp series but cannot finish this book.

Would you recommend Betrayed to your friends? Why or why not?

No see above

Would you be willing to try another one of Mel Foster’s performances?

No

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Betrayed?

The narrator

Any additional comments?

Provide story continuity between books.

way too long to get started

The first 3 or 4 hours where like listening to a report, very little action or dialogue. I almost gave up. The story of Dirty Warren was good but the whole Jabbar and his obnoxious lawyer story could have been cut out. Overall it could have used some editing.