The Last Refuge
Chris Knopf
(Reviewer - Coletta Ollerer)
2005 The Permanent Press
ISBN: 157962118X

When he finds a neighbor dead in her bath, Sam Acquillo is sure it was no accident.

Associate Reviewer Coletta Ollerer writes:

Sam Acquillo is a unemployed divorcee living in a cottage he inherited on the shores of Little Peconic Bay on Long Island. As he sits & thinks & reads, he also watches the bay from the screened in porch of the house as he sips Absolut. “I didn’t have a strict rule about drinking during the day, just a general guideline -- no hard liquor before noon.” (p159)

One day he notices that his cranky & demanding neighbor, Regina Broadhurst, has not been seen around. Then he gets a whiff a strange smell coming from the direction of her home & goes to investigate. “She was in the bathtub. Black and swollen, face down in the water.” (p8) He calls the authorities. Since the only relative she has is a feisty & argumentative young man named Jimmy Maddox, Sam asks if he himself might be the administrator of her estate. He suspects foul play in her death but the authorities are not interested. He insists on an autopsy.

Sam is a former amateur boxer with anger issues. He used to be an engineer & had worked for a firm which paid him handsomely but one day at a board meeting words were exchanged. “I wasn’t speaking to him anyway, but to Mason Thigpin... He said something back, which I don't remember either, though I think it's in the DA's file. I do remember lurching across the table and grabbing Mason by the fat Windsor knot he had clinched up around his throat. I remember pulling back my right fist and hearing Louise Silberg yelping in my ear.” (p181) Sam thought it best to tender his resignation. That combination of anger & boxing skills proves, on occasion, to be problematic but comes in handy as he sets out to discover why anyone would want to get rid of Regina Broadhurst.

Sam is a crusty middle aged guy, shaped by his childhood in a dysfunctional family. These factors spill over into his adult life but he strives to be a good guy. He is a loner & he likes it that way. Nonetheless, a number of women show an interest in him: Rosaline, the 40-ish daughter of an elderly attorney whose knowledge of local events is of great value to Sam in his investigation, & Amanda, the wife of the town banker.

Sam is smart, too, & this natural intelligence allows him to dig successfully into the secrets surrounding the death of Regina. He is regarded as a threat by the bad guys & they import a goon to discourage his efforts. Some real estate schemes are uncovered with the assistance of Jackie Swaitkowski, a young attorney & very colorful long time native of the area.

The Last Refuge is a story of small town overly ambitious self-seekers who band together with some city people to achieve the hoped-for jackpot. No more financial worries if this scheme goes through. But then along comes Sam.

I enjoyed the book. Sam is an interesting guy. The other characters are entertaining. The narrative kept me interested with intrigue and fairly fast action. I would recommend it for the pure enjoyment.
(03/12/06)

Coletta
2006©Coletta Ollerer
A RebeccasReads.Com Associate Reviewer

Reviewer's Bio:
I have always enjoyed writing. As a teenager I submitted to magazines like Seventeen, & was politely rejected. As a young mother, I had several poems published in The Chicago Tribune. Born in Chicago in 1932, I still live in the area. Since I retired, I have had some success on the Internet with my book reviews, stories & poetry. I enjoy historical fiction mostly, but will read anything uplifting, informative & fun. When I'm not reading & writing, I'm making jewelry, sewing needlepoint, & painting.