People always ask (I know, I ask too)
how you decide what to read next. Might as well ask, how do you decide
what to read, period? I have a list of favorite authors whose books I
read when they come out but for newer writers or ones I don't know I
tend to lean on recommendations from friends, reviews here or on other
blogs, plus newspaper and magazine reviews. If they sound interesting
to me, I'll check them out.
Chris Knopf had two earlier series set
in the Hamptons, but this is the first in a new series. Apparently Bill
Crider reviewed it when it came out last year but somehow his review
did not make enough of an impression on my brain until I read his review
of the sequel a few weeks ago, linking back to his Dead Anyway review. Then I thought, this sounds good. And it is.
How's this for starting with a bang?
Arthur Cathcart, an overweight 40ish guy working at home doing market
research and other high end computer research, married to a gorgeous
woman who owns a real estate firm near their home in Connecticut, comes
home from a walk to find his wife sitting on the couch and a man holding
a gun on her. The man insists she answers five questions written on a
paper, and to emphasize his seriousness, he shoots her husband in the
thigh. She answers the questions only to have the man, clearly a hired
killer, shoot her in the head and kill her. Then he shoots Cathcart,
who somehow doesn't die.
Now you may be able to resist seeing
what happens next, but I sure couldn't. Cathcart is gravely injured and
decides (with the help of his physician sister) to stay dead and use
his computer skills to discover who killed his wife and why, not easy in
the post-9/11 world. But first he has to recover enough physically and
mentally to be able to act. Along the way he gets some help from a
woman named Natsumi Fitzgerald, who throws her lot in with his.
I really enjoyed this one and will be reading the sequel as soon as it comes in to the library. Definitely recommended.
3 comments:
I'd like to read some Knopf, but haven't (yet). Thanks for the reminder.
Thanks, Patti. I just read the third and final book in the trilogy a couple of weeks ago, and all are recommended. But you definitely need to read them in order.
I miss Bill.
Me too.!
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