Knopf, Chris. Two Time. Permanent.
Jun. 2006. c.261p. ISBN 1-57962-129-5. $26. M
Sam Acqillo (The
Last Refuge), a divorced 53-year-old former design engineer,
troubleshooter, and boxer, lives in a weather-beaten
cottage on the East End of Long Island. He and his lawyer friend
Jackie Swaitkowski are almost killed when Jonathan Eldridge,
a millionaire financial consultant, is blown up in his Lexus.
Reluctantly,
Sam agrees to help his police officer friend Joe Sullivan,
who inherited the case when higher authorities (Homeland Security,
the FBI, the New York State police) reached a dead end. But
now
Sullivan is stymied by Eldridge's reclusive, agoraphobic widow.
Sam quietly interviews people, getting Jackie involved (half
of her face was destroyed in the blast, and she has to endure
several
surgeries to restore it) and figuring out a possible motivation
for murder. Then Amanda Anselma, Sam's ex-girlfriend, moves
in next door. It is difficult to imagine that this is only Knopf's
second novel-it is pure gold. Everything about it (characters,
plotting, setting) is brilliant. Knopf lives in Avon, CT, and
Southampton, NY. [This book has been sold to the BOMC.-Ed.]
