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Black Swan (2011)

by Chris Knopf

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5016508,434 (3.41)1
Fiction. Mystery. "The vivid descriptions of an angry sea and the monster storm that strikes the island fairly dwarf the human threats facing Sam and Amanda.". HTML:

Sailing back from Maine, Sam Acquillo, his girlfriend, Amanda Anselma, and screwball mutt Eddie Van Halen get blown off course by a dangerous gale. With damaged boat and frayed nerves, they limp into the closest harbor, which happens to be on Fishers Island, New York, a distant and altogether disassociated scrap of Long Island.

A summer preserve for the oldest old money in America, it is defended by year-round denizens who safeguard their island's insularity with xenophobic fervor. Sam and Amanda are hardly welcomed with open arms, unless they're the arms of the young and beautiful Anika Fey, daughter of the owner of the Black Swan, the island's only hotel, who's only too eager to fold Sam into her embrace.

But feminine wiles aren't the only hazard faced by Sam and Amanda. They're soon swept up in big-money intrigue, dark conspiracy, brutality, murder, and the machinations of high-tech millionaires, to say nothing of the autumn storms that lash the island with wind and wave.

In the years since losing everything, Sam has fought his way back to an existence that even he believes is worth preserving. And now, bad timing and a broken rudder could result in the greatest loss of allâ??his life.… (more)

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Showing 1-5 of 17 (next | show all)
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
Chris Knopf's new mystery, Black Swan, starts out in a sailboat fighting through a life-or-death storm and ends with an exciting who-done-it conclusion, however the middle just doesn't quite live up to the promise or the finish. To be fair, I haven't read the first four Sam Acquillo novels and I think having a history with the main characters Sam and his girlfriend Amanda would have made me feel more involved with them as a reader. As it was though, Amanda fell flat - she was just the sassy boat chick the main character kept leaving behind - and Sam seemed overly obsessed with crimes that didn't involve him. The mystery was good and the storm sequences were exciting.
The book was entertaining enough for me to read the other books should I come across them but not quite interesting enough for me rave about it to my compadres. ( )
  MissReadsTooMuch | Aug 21, 2011 |
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
This book did not peak my interest. It did keep you guessing as to who committed the murder, but I didn't feel like there was any real "meat" to the story. Sam is taking a boat back to the owner and is forced to stop on a so-called "members only" island due to an oncoming storm. While he is there, a murder is committed and he assumes the role of finding out whodunit. I would not recommend this book. ( )
  daisygrl09 | Jul 15, 2011 |
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
Sam and girlfriend Amanda become stranded on inhospitable Fishers Island during a storm while sailing friend Burton's new yacht home to Long Island. The eccentric family running the Black Swan hotel are the only ones who seem friendly. But their friends seem less friendly and when one turns up dead, looking like a suicide, Sam gets involved in a tangle of who to trust and why. The fate of a major computer software company is at stake and someone on the island holds the literal key to the bug that could make the new product sink or swim. Like others in the series, Sam uses his background as an engineer to puzzle out solutions while still being a bit of an updated Travis McGee. The plot moves along nicely with a few unexpected turns and Knopf has developed Sam Acquillo as an enduring character not to be taken for granted. ( )
  ellenr | Jul 9, 2011 |
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
Black Swan churns with unpredictable intensity as torrential storms erratically disperse the East Coast's calm waters shortly after the newly crafted Carpe Mañana begins its carefully charted maiden voyage under the proficient navigation of its provisional Captain Sam Acquillo, faithful first mate Amanda Anselma and affable cur Eddie Van Halen when fulminating squalls confirm NOAA's ominous warnings and unceremoniously disrupt their Hamptons' bound nautical mission.

With a captain's stalwart determination to avoid any perilous weather that might further damage his vessel beyond the reparable faulty helm, Sam precariously moors his entire precious cargo to an asylum harbour covertly attached to the privately secluded Fishers Island an exclusive enclave restricted to generational "old money," and a minute rich summer crowd. Further proof that neither Sam, his crew nor his disabled craft are welcome appears in the form of one brutish caretaker with an unyielding warning as abysmally dismal as NOAA's impending forecast.

Chris Knopf, so richly adept in the metaphoric use of turbulent weather whips up a whirling tempest which encompasses a motley crew, most of whom noticeably belie Fishers Island's elitist prerequisites. Sam stumbles upon the island's lackluster Black Swan hotel's elusive new owners, aptly named Fey who obviously lack the congenial disposition necessary to succeed in the hospitality profession. Churning in Sam's inquisitive mind are the subtle cryptic secrets underlying such a radical departure for former corporate high-end computer techie Christian and his family to so drastically switch gears. Therein lays the conundrum which accelerates with the arrival of corporate villains, murder and mayhem, wandering autistic savant son Axel, deceptively alluring synesthethic bruised daughter Anika and Sam's "chronic inappropriateness" in delving into a swirling scenario in the midst of what Sam defines as "…an indiscriminate beast, blind and relentless and ultimately doomed, but impossible to ignore, foolish to deny…", in this case, a devastating October hurricane. With the exception of "…ultimately doomed…," categorically a fitting and suitable definition of Sam Acquillo, newfound fictional friend. ( )
1 vote saratoga99 | Jun 29, 2011 |
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
What is there to say about a guy that consistently sails towards trouble? He either has a very large black cloud following him around or he just might be attracted to the trouble, with Sam Acquillo it's both.

A simple boat delivery turns into a fight for their lives when a bad storm lands Sam and his girlfriend Amanda on Fishers Island off Long Island, NY. Their welcome isn't exactly friendly but they find refuge with other outsiders, the Feys, who recently bought the island's run down hotel, the Black Swan.

The owner Christian is helpful but evasive and his daughter Anika is cryptic, hinting at trouble and then doing her best to cause it. If trying to get custom boat parts isn't hard enough, a hurricane is bearing down on the island which doesn't leave much time for Sam and Amanda to get back across the sound. So when more guests arrive in the face of the storm, off season, at this "closed" hotel Sam begins to wonder what's going on. Especially when the Feys don't look thrilled to see their old business partners who seem to be accompanied by some muscle. When Christian's son Axel, the autistic computer savant, disappears after a dead body shows up things start to get really ugly.

Sam just can't seem to stop himself from helping the damsel in distress, even if she doesn't deserve it. And his conscious won't let him leave Axel out on the island alone, even when his family doesn't seem that alarmed by the fact that he's missing. Sam - the tough guy - uses his brains, brawn, and wit to once again get out of the situations that his quick fist, smart mouth, and attraction to trouble have gotten him into. But will Amanda stand by while he plays the hero? - Recommended

Snappy dialog, quirky characters, a love interest, natural and man made threats, a canine companion and a conflicted hero. What's not to like? ( )
1 vote MurderMysteryMayhem | Jun 25, 2011 |
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I tell myself the same thing when I climb a tall ladder. Don't look down.
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Fiction. Mystery. "The vivid descriptions of an angry sea and the monster storm that strikes the island fairly dwarf the human threats facing Sam and Amanda.". HTML:

Sailing back from Maine, Sam Acquillo, his girlfriend, Amanda Anselma, and screwball mutt Eddie Van Halen get blown off course by a dangerous gale. With damaged boat and frayed nerves, they limp into the closest harbor, which happens to be on Fishers Island, New York, a distant and altogether disassociated scrap of Long Island.

A summer preserve for the oldest old money in America, it is defended by year-round denizens who safeguard their island's insularity with xenophobic fervor. Sam and Amanda are hardly welcomed with open arms, unless they're the arms of the young and beautiful Anika Fey, daughter of the owner of the Black Swan, the island's only hotel, who's only too eager to fold Sam into her embrace.

But feminine wiles aren't the only hazard faced by Sam and Amanda. They're soon swept up in big-money intrigue, dark conspiracy, brutality, murder, and the machinations of high-tech millionaires, to say nothing of the autumn storms that lash the island with wind and wave.

In the years since losing everything, Sam has fought his way back to an existence that even he believes is worth preserving. And now, bad timing and a broken rudder could result in the greatest loss of allâ??his life.

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Sailing back from Maine, Sam Acquillo, the hero of four Sam Acquillo Hamptons Mysteries, his girlfriend Amanda Anselma and screwball mutt, get blown off course by a dangerous gale. With damaged boat and frayed nerves, they limp into the closest harbor, which happens to be on Fishers Island, NY, a distant and altogether disassociated scrap of Long Island.
A summer preserve for the oldest old money in America, and defended by year-round denizens who safeguard their island’s insularity with xenophobic fervor, Sam and Amanda are hardly welcomed with open arms. Unless they’re the arms of the young and beautiful Anika Fey of the Black Swan, the island’s only hotel, who’s only too eager to fold Sam into her embrace.
But feminine wiles aren’t the only hazard faced by Sam and his crew. They’re soon swept up in big-money intrigue, dark conspiracy, brutality, murder and the machinations of high tech millionaires, to say nothing of the autumn storms that lash the island with wind and wave.
In the years since losing everything, Sam has fought his way back, to an existence that even he believes is worth preserving. And now, bad timing and a broken rudder could result in the greatest loss of all. His life.
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