This story opens as Butch Karp realizes his boss is posturing for higher office, and since Butch is the leading light in the office, he knows he could be soon in the running. He views this prospect with the boredom that he has come to accept as his job. Meanwhile, his wife Marlene is living in self-imposed exile away from the family on Long Island while running a training center for attack dogs. Marlene is apparently suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome and depression. His twin sons roam the neighborhood in humorous fun and his daughter Lucy is on a sabbatical from college. Lucy volunteers in a soup kitchen and spends her time helping the homeless.

Felix Tighe is a psychopathic killer Karp helped convict in the past, presently serving time in prison. Feisal Abdel Ridwan is another prisoner there who works in the infirmary in a fairly trusted position. Feisal’s outside interests are the running of a terrorist organization functioning in New York City. Always looking for recruits, he finds an opportunity to use Tighe. Tighe’s single obsession is the hatred he focuses on Karp and all who had a part in his conviction. Feisal trades his assistance in getting Tighe out of prison for a commitment to help his organization.

Tighe leaves the prison in a coffin in a drug induced state resembling death and is revived in the terrorist safe house. His actions are soon controlled and directed to accomplishing Feisal’s campaign of terrorism, which he is all too happy to assist. With the terrorist equipment, he is able to siphon off enough material for the odd bomb, which he is able to utilize in his quest to punish old enemies.

Meanwhile since his campaign is directed primarily against Karp, he fashions a plan to go after Lucy first. He meets her in the soup kitchen and begins to cultivate a relationship.

Tanenbaum’s plot is well structured, complex and in a dark way reflects the effects of 9/11 on the denizens of New York. Woven into this plot are Karp’s family and his now fragile marriage. This is all meshed with the police procedural and jurisprudential issues common in a suspense novel. It is an optimistic undertaking, which Tanenbaum easily handles with snappy, often funny, dialogue and heartwarming moments. Be warned however, at places the story is gratuitously gory.

The author uses pacing to his best advantage and maintains a high level of tension with Tighe’s obsessive hatred fueling the conflict. Tighe’s rage keeps this story spiraling to extremely intense level. As an uncommon twist, readers may notice an abundance of symbolism in Resolved.

--Thea Davis