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Sam Acquillo drives a '67 Grand Prix, doesn't have an answering machine or email, and has retired from his corporate life as the head of R&D at what he calls a "hydrocarbon conglomerate" in order to do some part-time carpentry and live in the house he grew up in that sits on a bay in eastern Long Island. He's waiting for his friend and lawyer Jackie Swaitkowski at a waterfront restaurant when he notices a man playing catch with a dog on the dock. A few minutes later, the man gets into a car parked nearby, and it explodes, obliterating the man and the dog, along with most of the people in the restaurant. Jackie suffers horrible disfiguring injuries to her face and Sam is lucky to escape with only minor damage. Sam wants to put the whole thing behind him, but his old buddy Joe Sullivan who is now a Hamptons cop asks for his help investigating the crime. Reluctantly, Sam agrees to meet the widow of the target of the blast, Jonathan Eldridge, who had been a financial advisor to some prominent Long Island families. The agoraphobic widow and her lawyer are strange enough to pique Sam's interest in the case. As he continues to unravel the possible motivation for such a brutal killing, he uncovers suspects who are probably connected to the mob, a slew of shady financial transactions, some angry clients and a charismatic artist. Sam is a fabulous guide to eastern Long Island, to the places that aren't written up in slick magazines under headlines about the Hamptons. He's also a witty and charming narrator who makes you could spend some time at his place, sprawled in one of his Adirondack chairs with a few cold beers, feeding Big Dog biscuits to a dog as idiosyncratic as his owner. Knopf has populated this inviting landscape with some really original characters who spout some of the best hard-boiled dialogue I've read in a while. The mystery is smart and satisfyingly convoluted. If you're paying attention, you might figure it out before Sam does, but watching him deduce the culprit is more than worth the price of admission.
Reviewed by Carroll Johnson, August 2006
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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