Head Wounds
A
Sam Acquillo Mystery
Chris
Knopf
Permanent Press (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-57962-165-1 (1579621651)
ISBN-13: 978-1-57962-165-0 (1579621650)
Publication Date: May 2008
List Price: $28.00
Synopsis (from
the publisher): Sam Acquillo can hide in his windswept waterfront
cottage all he wants, but the demons of his past are going to find him.
Worse, they've teamed up with some pretty nasty demons of the present,
including a very determined Chief of Police whose top detective has Sam
caught in the crosshairs.
Part-time carpenter, full-time drinker and co-conspirator with an
existential mutt named Eddie Van Halen, Sam tries to lead the simple
life. But as always, fate intervenes, this time in the form of Robbie
Milhouser, local builder and blundering bully who shares at least one
thing with Sam — an irresistible attraction to the beautiful
Amanda Anselma.
Peel back the glitz and glory of the fabled Hamptons and you'll find a
beautiful place filled with ugly secrets. This is Sam Acquillo's world.
Moving effortlessly across the social divide with wry pal Jackie
Swaitkowski and rich guy Burton Lewis, the ex-boxer, ex-corporate
infighter seems doomed to straddle the thin red line between envy and
love, hate and forgiveness, goodness and greed.
And sometimes life and death. Only this time, the life at stake is his own.
Review: Independent carpenter Sam Acquillo is accused of murdering a Long Island real estate developer with his own staple gun in Head Wounds, the third mystery in this series by Chris Knopf.
Ex-boxer Sam, who's had his head knocked around too often and is in
danger of permanent damage with just one more fight, tries to avoid
just that one evening after dinner with his neighbor and sometime
girlfriend, Amanda. Robbie Millhouser had been hitting on Amanda
earlier and Sam put him in his place, hardly without lifting a finger
himself though not without some minor damage to Robbie. A couple nights
later Robbie is found with considerably more damage, his head bashed in
with a staple gun belonging to Sam. Worse for Sam, he was reportedly
seen in the vicinity of where the victim was found. Means, motive, and
opportunity are all the police need to arrest Sam for murder. Out on
bail, Sam begins a quest to determine who else may have had the means,
motive, and opportunity to kill Robbie, and to his regret, Amanda seems
to have all three.
Head Wounds is an
exceptional novel, in both character and setting, but most importantly
in how the plot develops. There are only half dozen or so principal
characters, but the author deftly links them in relationships that make
the story sufficiently complicated without making it confusing. A
surprising suspense element is introduced early: Sam was, in fact, out
and about and in the vicinity of where Robbie, the murdered man, was
found, but he vehemently denies it later. Is he, in fact, Robbie's
killer and is trying to find an alternate reality for the police to
believe? Or is he simply a victim himself, of being in the wrong place
at the wrong time?
Many of the chapters in Head Wounds
end with marvelous examples of literary engineering, sentences that
could in another context seem over the top but here simply add to the
mystique of the story. Consider the following. From the first chapter,
"I let it stand at that and finished my drink, then one or two more to
be on the safe side before letting the encyclopedia of irresolvable
quandaries that continually cycled through my consciousness shift into
a dream state, thereby maintaining continuity of torment from
wakefulness to sleep." And from late in the book, "For them it was a
simple meal, for me a type of last supper. Or maybe just a welcome
distraction, depending on how the next few days would turn out, which
version of the truth would emerge from the tangle of potentials, the
competing sets of assumptions, all paradigms - shifting and otherwise -
up for grabs." Like a great wine, some of these passages are meant to
be savored.
The plot is carried along in such a way that the denouement, while in
retrospect is not surprising, surprises nonetheless. It's all
exceedingly well done. Head Wounds is definitely one of the best mysteries of the year and is highly recommended.
Special thanks to Chris Knopf for providing an ARC of Head Wounds for this review.
Review Copyright © 2008 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.
Mysteries in this series ...
The Last Refuge
Permanent Press (Hardcover), May 2005
ISBN-10: 1-57962-118-X (157962118X)
ISBN-13: 978-1-57962-118-6 (9781579621186)
Two Time
Permanent Press (Hardcover), May 2006
ISBN-10: 1-57962-129-5 (1579621295)
ISBN-13: 978-1-57962-129-2 (9781579621292)
Head Wounds
Permanent Press (Hardcover), May 2008
ISBN-10: 1-57962-165-1 (1579621651)
ISBN-13: 978-1-57962-165-0 (1579621650)
Omnimystery keywords for Head Wounds ...
Location(s) referenced: The Hamptons, Long Island, New York.