Knopf, Chris. The Last Refuge (Permanent $28 Signed).
I wavered over a First Mystery Pick and ultimately (and sadly)
decided that
your interest in (most) small press books is so slight I just
can’t
justify it. When I try them, they fall flat. I hope to find a better
way to excite you over this important segment of mystery. This
novel has received reviews in the NY Times as well as the major
media and is a Book Sense Pick, so I hope you’ll consider
it. The setting is the Hamptons, the natives’ Hamptons under
pressure from rising property values, and our hero Sam Acquillo
is at the end of the line, a corporate dropout living in his parents’ ramshackle
cottage. His days are full of vodka and staring at Little Peconic
Bay. Then the old lady next door is found floating in her bathtub
and misanthropic Sam finds himself looking into hidden corners
of local life. It’s harder to root for an existentialist
hero than an action man, but Sam is worth it as is Knopf’s
portrait of a vanishing place.
