Pocket, August 2001, 24.95, 359 pp.
ISBN 0443403428
Butch Karp and his wife Marlene are not the typical married couple and their children are anything but average. Butch is the chief assistant district for New York City while his wife is vice president for a mega-security company that is going public on the stock market. Their oldest daughter Lucy can speak any language after hearing it for three days and their twin sons are total opposites who communicate telepathically. Lucy is very involved in the homeless, going into their warrens and working in a shelter.
Click here to see the rest of this review...
A serial killer is stalking the street people, but Lucy is heedless of the danger. Marlene thrives on being out in the field while Butch has two moral dilemmas to deal with in his professional life. The main one is a police officer who shot a man; the DA's office and the police department want to close the case because the cop is a hero. Butch thinks that the officer did something wrong and wants to investigate the case. He also has to deal with a boss, running for reelection, playing politics in a death penalty case. It is never a dull moment in the Karp family.
Robert K. Tanenbaum writes a fascinating legal thriller and police procedural that blends well together in ENEMY WITHIN. He not only deals with social issues such as the homeless but takes on the problem of the police blank wall of silence. He also shows the linear connection between the police department, the judicial system, and the political machine. Mr. Tanenbaum writes about unpleasant truths in a fictionalized setting but lightens the story line up by delving into the home life of his protagonists. This is another winner from the pen of Mr. Tanenbaum
Harriet Klausner
The review of this Book prepared by Harriet Klausner