Chris Knopf's "Dead Anyway"

My friend and fellow writer Chris Knopf has just published his new book, "Dead Anyway," and been receiving great reviews. You might remember I wrote about his last book, "Ice Cap" earlier. Both are worth reading. Here is some copy from the book jacket's flap:

Imagine this:   You have a nice life.  You love your beautiful, successful wife.  You’re an easy going guy working out of your comfortable Connecticut home.  The world is an interesting, pleasant place.

Then in seconds, it’s all gone. 

You’re still alive, but the world thinks you’re dead.  And now you have to decide.  Make it official, or go after the evil that took it all away from you.

Arthur Cathcart, market researcher and occasional finder of missing persons, decides to live on and fight, by doing what he knows best – figuring things out, without revealing his status as a living, breathing human being.  Much easier said than done in the post-9/11 world, where everything about yourself and all the tools you need to live a modern life are an open book.  How do you become a different person, how do you finance an elaborate scheme without revealing yourself?  How do you force a reckoning with the worst people on earth, as a dead man?

Mystery writer Chris Knopf, who has examined complex what-if’s through five Sam Acquillo and three Jackie Swaitkowski Hamptons Mysteries, tackles these intriguing questions in a tale of mindless venality, phantom identity, impossible obstacles and the triumph of intellect and imagination over brute force.

Here are some reviews. After reading 'em you'll want your copy!

Booklist Advanced Review – Uncorrected Proof Issue: September 15, 2012

Dead Anyway Knopf, Chris (Author),Sep 2012. 288 p. Permanent Press, hardcover, $28.00. (9781579622831).

Arthur Cathcart considered himself a lucky man. A self-proclaimed nerd and a meticulous market researcher, he somehow won the affections of the lovely Florencia, owner of an insurance brokerage firm, and their marriage was solid and happy, built on mutual respect, admiration, and love. Then his world implodes. He survives the carnage but decides to let the world assume he’s dead, the better to stay safe while tries to discover what happened and who’s responsible. Knopf, whose Hamptons-based series

featuring Sam Aquillo and Jackie Swaitkowski effectively mixes comedy and mystery, goes a different way here, with a high-energy, very savvy thriller. Connecticut-based Cathcart has no time for police procedure and instead acts on his instincts, using his research skills to help him find the way and even becoming a bad-ass when necessary. While some of Cathcart’s self-assuredness as an action hero seems a bit of a stretch, the novel generates enormous tension, and the mild-mannered number-cruncher is definitely an appealing hero. It's unclear if the novel is intended to be a stand-alone, or if it will launch a new series, but we'd very much like to see more of the engaging Catchart.

— Leon Wagner

Publishers Weekly    June 25, 2012

Dead Anyway
Chris Knopf. Permanent, $28 (288p) ISBN 978-1-57962-283-1

Knopf reaches a new imaginative peak with market researcher Arthur Cathcart in this outstanding revenge novel. One afternoon, Cathcart returns to his Stamford, Conn., home to find his wife, Florencia, sitting in the living room with a man holding a gun. After forcing Florencia to sign a document, the man shoots each of them in the head. Cathcart survives, but is in a coma for months. When he awakes, Cathcart succeeds, with the connivance of his physician sister, in having himself declared dead. As he begins the tortuous rehabilitation process and looks into establishing new identities, Cathcart realizes that it’s almost impossible to go off the grid totally and still be able to function effectively, so he has to compromise in inventive ways. Cathcart ingeniously manages to penetrate the world of hired killers and major crime figures in his quest to discover both the who and the why behind the original hit. (Sept.)

Kirkus Review     Online Publish Date: July 31, 2012

DEAD ANYWAY

Author: Knopf, Chris

Publisher: Permanent Press, Pages 248, $28.00 Hardcover, Pub Date September 15, 2012

ISBN: 978-1-57962-283-1; Category: Fiction, Classification: Mystery

Nothing in Knopf’s reflective, quietly loopy Hamptons mysteries starring Sam Acquillo and Jackie Swaitkowski (Ice Cap, 2012, etc.) will have prepared his fans for this taut, streamlined tale of a man investigating his own murder.

The hit man who invades the Cathcarts’ upscale home in Stamford, Conn., tells Florencia Cathcart that if she doesn’t write down the answers to five questions, he’ll kill her husband. When she complies, he shoots them both anyway. Florencia dies, but Arthur merely hovers in a coma for months. Convinced upon his return to life that his killer’s been monitoring his progress with a view to finishing him off, he persuades his neurologist sister, Evelyn, to have him declared dead. She agrees, although she’s signing on to a long list of potential charges for conspiracy and insurance fraud, and Arthur, once he’s erased from the grid, is free to assume the identity of one Alex Rimes and go after the hit man and his employer. He tires easily, he limps badly, and his vision is poor, but his skills as a freelance researcher turn out to be surprisingly useful, though he can’t imagine why anyone would order the execution of either himself or Florencia, who owned a successful insurance agency. The trail to the killers leads through a wary arrangement with a retired FBI agent, an elaborate precious-metals scam and a society party to die for before Arthur finally confronts his quarry in a sequence that manages both to satisfy readers’ bloodlust and to point toward a sequel.

An absorbing update of the classic film, D.O.A., that finds its author so completely in the zone that not a word is wasted, and the story seems to unfold itself without human assistance.

Library Journal,  August 2012

Knopf, Chris. Dead Anyway.

Permanent. Sept. 2012. c.288p. ISBN 9781579622831. $28. M

When a hit man shows up at Arthur Cathcart's home and assassinates his wife, Arthur is badly wounded, but not quite dead, and his physician sister is able to get him back on his feet. Angry Arthur has mapped out a strategy to make everyone to think he's dead, and he's concocted an elaborate alternative identity plan so he can track down the hit man himself. Since Arthur was a professional researcher, his prowess with online detecting is quite remarkable. His audacious plan is both psychologically chilling and exciting as the plot burrows through the bowels of underworld Connecticut. Running the supreme con, Arthur pulls in his prey. VERDICT Knopf's tale is suspenseful from the get-go, with an intellectual, yet visceral, vigilantism coursing through the pages. In a major change in direction, the author of the "Sam Acquillo Hamptons Mysteries" (Black Swan; Hard Stop) never misses an angle and manages to weave a bit of humor into a storyline that could have been purely dark. This bodes well for a really good series and is reminiscent of Richard Stark's (aka Donald Westlake) Parker novels with a dose of Grosse Pointe Blank.

Booklist Advanced Review – Uncorrected Proof Issue: September 15, 2012

Dead Anyway Knopf, Chris (Author),Sep 2012. 288 p. Permanent Press, hardcover, $28.00. (9781579622831).

Arthur Cathcart considered himself a lucky man. A self-proclaimed nerd and a meticulous market researcher, he somehow won the affections of the lovely Florencia, owner of an insurance brokerage firm, and their marriage was solid and happy, built on mutual respect, admiration, and love. Then his world implodes. He survives the carnage but decides to let the world assume he’s dead, the better to stay safe while tries to discover what happened and who’s responsible. Knopf, whose Hamptons-based series

featuring Sam Aquillo and Jackie Swaitkowski effectively mixes comedy and mystery, goes a different way here, with a high-energy, very savvy thriller. Connecticut-based Cathcart has no time for police procedure and instead acts on his instincts, using his research skills to help him find the way and even becoming a bad-ass when necessary. While some of Cathcart’s self-assuredness as an action hero seems a bit of a stretch, the novel generates enormous tension, and the mild-mannered number-cruncher is definitely an appealing hero. It's unclear if the novel is intended to be a stand-alone, or if it will launch a new series, but we'd very much like to see more of the engaging Catchart.

— Leon Wagner

Good, yes? Okay, so you want to see the cover before you head to the bookstore and order your copy. Have I ever denied you anything?

Yeah, keep the room well lit while you read and maybe a nightlight in the bedroom too, just in case!