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Oldfan
Posted April 28, 2011
Long Island Noir
The Book Report: Damaged systems engineer, divorced dad, and all-around working class hero Sam Acquillo retreats to his parents' old cabin in North Sea, a part of Southampton Township that us rich white folk used to call "Blackhampton", aka the working class part of New York's trendy and eternally inflating Hamptons. Sam's licking his wounds after a messy divorce from Boston/Connecticut Aryan-from-Darien Abby, and his scandalous separation from his Fortune 500 corporate employer, after beating up the revolting toady who wants to sell Sam's division to the highest bidder without regard to its consequences for the engineers he supervises.
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Sam's horrible old-lady neighbor, Regina, dies; she's got no heirs, she's got no money, she doesn't even own the home she's occupied for over 50 years. And Sam, who has nothing but time on his hands, doesn't buy the manner of her death: she drowned in her bathtub. Problem is, she had severe arthritis, and used the cottage's (separate) shower. This gets Sam's problem-solving brain occupied for the first time since his divorce. And thereby hangs the tale of the first-ever Long Island Noir mystery novel. What he discovers during his nosing about the facts and the fallacies of his tiny North Sea peninsula neighborhood's past and present makes him appreciate anew the peace and solitude he left behind when he chose to become the champion of truth and justice and the populist way; he cannot go back and he doesn't want to go forward, yet he knows he must make his choice. And so he does. And nothing in North Sea can ever be the same.
My Review: Oh wow. What a fun ride! What a delight to have this book that harks back to the Dashiell Hammett "Continental Op" books! And all set here on Long Island, mah home! I loved reading the author's supple, decriptive prose; I loved the author's ability to make me invest in and care for the flawed hero main character, and I was bowled over by the clear-eyed populism of the author's presentation of the social issues plaguing the Hamptons. I have friends in East Hampton who experience the world in the same way as Sam Acquillo does. It's very exciting to see that on the page, as anyone who's read a book that "gets it right" about their home partch can tell you.
Then there's the modern dearth of real, heartfelt NOIR in fiction and movie-making. Characters who've lost everything, and so can't be scared. Situations that're based in the real concerns of real people. Problems that have no counterpart in most mysteries and thrillers, but should.
Okay. That's the upside.
Then there's the downsside. The copyediting **rots**. "Noyac Rd." in ****dialogue**** oofwince...and on the facing page, "Harbor Road." Oh now really. You can get it right on one page and not on the other? grrrrrrr
The gawawful spelling mistakes! The parallelism errors. *wince*
But in the end, well, the beauty of the book is simply in its characters and its ability to draw you into its lie-filled world. Sam, his love interest Eddie the dog, and the women who want them are deeply involving. I care about them, and I want to read more about them. -
Anonymous
Posted April 21, 2010
Unique Main Character and Quirky, Interesting Dialog
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, but not as a book exactly. I heard the book as an audio book. The characters, descriptive ambiance, and dialog were great. As a technical person who has experienced corporate life, I quite enjoyed Sam's dialog, occasional literalism, and his, perhaps, slightly off-beat take on life. I liked that he delved into aspects of the mystery using a technical mindset. The book was not so suspenseful that I could not stop the story when I was done with my lunch each day, but the story was more than intriguing enough to cause me to look forward to another installment the following day. The plot had a couple of surprising twists at the end. I am quite looking forward to reading (or listening to) the next book in the series.
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JanetOH
Posted January 28, 2010
riddled with typos
I couldn't get into this book, it had too many typos, misspellings and errors. Off the top of my head, "in testate" for "intestate", "peddle pushers" for "pedal pushers" (a style of pants), and "baked zitti" for "baked ziti". And this was before I got halfway through and quit reading. Maybe the editing improved after this one.
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A great character to carry a fascinating series
The Last Refuge is the first of a series of mysteries about Sam Acquillo by Chris Knopf. The novels are published by a small publisher, the Permanent Press, but the author has recently been signed by St. Martin's to do a spin-off series. It's neat to know that publishing small really can lead to publishing large, but I suspect it only works if you're a good writer. Chris Knopf is clearly that.
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Sam Acquillo's not a particularly nice guy for a hero, not safe, not easygoing. But he already seems very real to me. I trust him. At least I think I do, though I'm sure he drinks way too much. And I like him, but I'd probably not talk to him in the coffee shop. I might watch for him to appear. I'd view him with vague suspicion over my shoulder, and wonder about his past and his motives perhaps.
The author does a good job of keeping the reader questioning. At first meeting Sam is kind of down-beat, kind of negative. The reader might wonder what on earth he does all day, why's he on his own, where does he get his money. He's kind, but he doesn't think of himself as kind. And he's really sort of abrasive. The book doesn't telescope any great answers, but dribbles them over conversation, keeping you off balance and looking for more. It's like slowly getting to know someone, getting used to their presence in the store, with the added bonus of an investigation that keeps growing into something more. Then you're glad Sam's on the case.
So now I'm off to read more, still not really knowing Sam, but truly intrigued. -
Anonymous
Posted July 17, 2005
The last refuge for a great read.
The Last Refuge is a great read. Once I got started, this was in the 'couldn't put down' category. Knopf's hero, Sam Acguillo, is quirky enough to be truly engaging and believable enough to push the story as it develops. And I have to admit I found his lifestyle oddly appealing, if not how he got there. In truth, the lawyers Knopf paints are every bit as entertaining. The mystery itself has a good, if complex, underpinning, with history and motive I assume are not entirely alien to the real world Hamptons. The engineering know-how that winds through the book provokes some interesting thoughts about attempting the perfect crime. And what hero-lead mystery would be complete without the potential for dashing the plutonic relationships? The Last Refuge accelerates at a good pace as Sam scrambles to settle the debts before returning (one hopes) to his foggy, languid state. I may never order another vodka with anything but ice. Great stuff! How long till the next Acquillo story?
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