THE NEW YORK TIMES, THURSDAY,
MAY 15, 2008
Newly Released
Amy Virshup
May’s list of new books comes weighted with
accolades, from within publishing and without. One of this month’s
authors has been declared a genius; another is one of the year’s
most influential people, according to Time magazine (for writing,
of all things, a series of teen-theme vampire novels). Others
have just received very, very good reviews. Will such distinctions
sell copies? That remains to be seen.
HEAD WOUNDS
By Chris Knopf
310 pages. Permanent Press. $28.
“Head Wounds,” the third in Chris Knopf’s series of Sam Acquillo
mysteries, is set not among the glittering parties of Gin Lane, but in the
barrooms and construction sites of the Hamptons. The acerbic Acquillo has a
fondness for Absolut as well as a bad temper. (See the book’s set piece
about his revenge on his estranged wife and her new lover.) Once a corporate
executive, he is now a carpenter. When Robbie Milhouser, a builder and the
scion of a Southampton family, turns up dead after he and Sam have had a public
run-in, Acquillo is the most likely suspect. (Robbie’s head has been
bashed in by Sam’s construction stapler.) Mr. Knopf’s last book, “Two
Time,” was named one of the 100 best books of 2006 by Publishers Weekly.
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