Barnes&Noble.com review of
HEAD WOUNDS
FUN WITH SYSTEM FAILURES
James Rounds, A reviewer, 06/10/2008
The self-help website “How Stuff Works” exists to
explain the dynamics of physical systems to the non-engineers
among us. It’s mirror-image Evil Twin website, “How
Stuff Breaks Down”, could be said to be at the epicenter
of every one of Chris Knopf’s Hampton Murder mysteries,
including the sublime new “HEAD WOUNDS”. This time
out Sam’s own head is on the block, and the colorful rabbit
warren of clues and evidence interspersed with juicy 'and juiced'
philosophizing makes for a great read.
Before the deluge, Sam Acquillo was a highly-paid systems analyst
for a petrochemical company, the guy you call in an emergency
to figure out what’s preventing a billion-dollar system
from doing what it’s supposed to do. High stakes, high
stress, high pay, all of it. Suffice it to say, he flames out
dramatically, in high style. Imagine yourself with marriage and
job on the rocks, a leftover company credit card and car, limitless
time and vodka on your hands. Ah, the possibilities. Understand,
this is just the background reel, separate from the actual plot
of “HEAD WOUNDS”, though it informs the main character’s
motivations in important ways.
This is fun stuff, folks. Forget everything you know and believe
in, is the order of the day. The center cannot hold, because
the wheel’s out of round. So, drink more vodka, read Kant,
and run it all by the dog, named Eddie Van Halen. There’s
not much holding Sam Acquillo together these days: “I can’t
do it again”, I said finally to Eddie. “For any reason.” I
didn’t like to think of myself as a middle-aged guy who
sat drinking alone in the dark, talking to his dog about his
fears and uncertainties. But I’d been doing that to Eddie
since saving him from the pound, so he must have assumed listening
to a bunch of worthless crap was part of his daily work product. “I
can’t do it”, I repeated. All he did was look at
me over the crumbled remains of his biscuit. 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 quanderies
that continually cycled through my consciousness shift into a
dream state, thereby maintaining the continuity of torment from
wakefulness to sleep. Are you beginning to dig this guy?
The real fun starts when he applies his tortured but estimable
problem-solving skills to his own survival, which involves a
frame-up for a murder inside his community in the Hamptons. Along
for the ride are a gaggle of locals, all wonderfully real flesh
and blood. Knopf’s specialty is intelligent, beautiful
and conflicted women, which makes for some great dialogue. My
one limited beef is that some of the exchanges go on one or two
witticisms too long, sort of like selling past the close. But
no matter this is excellent, to-the-bone writing. In many ways,
Sam Acquillo’s performing the same elite specialized function
as when he was in the corporate wars: he’s isolating system
failures—human now instead of mechanical—with limited
time and resources, before the world blows up. Only now he’s
doing it without a salary, perks or yearly bonus. Go buy the
book and see how he pulls it off.
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