THE LAST REFUGE
Chris Knopf. Permanent Press, $26 (292p) ISBN
1-57962-118-X
Sam Acquillo, the hero of Knopf's arresting debut
(a Book Sense notable selection for May), is the very epitome
of the dropout.
An ex-corporation man, divorced from his wife and estranged
from his daughter, he lives in his parents' run-down cottage
in Southampton,
Long Island, and seems content to drink himself into oblivion.
Then one day he finds the black and swollen body of his elderly
neighbor, Regina Broadhurst, who has apparently drowned in
her bathtub. Is it an accident or murder? And if it's the latter,
will solving the mystery behind Regina's death enable Sam
to pick up
the pieces of his life and move on? While the promotional copy's
likening the book to Camus's The Plague may be a stretch, there's
a definite whiff of Elmore Leonard here, particularly in the
snappy dialogue and the colorful, oddball characters, including
a gay
billionaire. Knopf's effortless narrative style and sense of
humor bode well for the further adventures of Sam Acquillo.
(May 24)
