You're Dead - Hardcover

Chris Knopf

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1579625665 ISBN 13: 9781579625665

Publisher: Permanent Press, 2018

Synopsis

Organizational psychologist Dr. Waters is a happily solitary guy with a few deep attachments, including to his boss Paresh Rajput, the owner of a thriving hi-tech aerospace company. Until something really bad happens to CEO Rajput, which throws Waters into a lunatic swirl of murderous stalkers, corporate intrigue, amorous female executives and crafty cops who see the inscrutable psychologist as murder suspect #1. Waters is hardly defenseless. A weight-lifter and former wrestler, ace poker player and master student of human nature, he takes it all on with surprising strength and determination. If they only knew. As with the connivers surrounding him, Waters has his own secrets. Autistic as a child, he lives with the consequences some blessings, others a curse. And a love affair that's hidden even more deeply, or so he thinks. You're Dead is a mystery/thriller, an adventure story, though in the context of the present zeitgeist the financial stakes of hi-tech ascendancy and flourishing commerce, corporate and personal venality, manipulations by the rich and powerful men and women and the ugly presence of base criminality that crackles around the fringes. It's about troubled and troubling minds, and institutions that struggle to assert relevance, but also how one man, single-minded and apart, can disrupt what the lead detective on the case calls, "Their clever-clever ways." Every writer has their themes and pre-occupations. For Knopf, it's the intricacies of the mind, the most complex organism in the universe. The aberrations, as well as the indefinable "normal". You're Dead is an action-filled examination of what happens when minds of all kinds collide.

About this title

About the Author

Back Lash, CHRIS KNOPF'S seventh Sam Acquillo Mystery Series published in 2016, received a starred review from Booklist. It followed Cop Job in 2015, about which Booklist said: "Another winner from a consistently strong author." Knopf's first novel, The Last Refuge (2005) and follow up in 2007, Two Time, were both reviewed by Marilyn Stasio of the New York Times. Head Wounds was cited as one of the best mysteries of 2008 by both Mysterious Reviews and Deadly Pleasures, and was winner of the 2008 Benjamin Franklin Award for Best Mystery. His thriller series featuring off-the-grid sleuth Arthur Cathcart began with Dead Anyway, which received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Kirkus and Library Journal. It was named one of The Best Crime Novels of 2012 by The Boston Globe and won the 2013 Nero Award. Chris Knopf had a long, award-winning career in advertising, focused on the creative side of the business, and agency management as CEO of Mintz + Hoke. He's also a house designer and cabinetmaker, single-handed sailor, rock musician and custodian of terriers. He and his wife Mary Farrell split their time between Avon, CT and Southampton, NY.

Review

At the start of this stellar standalone from Knopf (Tango Down and seven other Sam Acquillo mysteries), Dr. Waters, an organizational psychologist for ExciteAble Technologies, a New Haven, Conn., aerospace manufacturing company, comes home one night to find the bloody head of the company's owner, Paresh Rajput, on a bedroom floor. The New Haven police, for whom Waters has done consulting work, soon gather circumstantial evidence pointing to his guilt. A suspiciously large direct deposit was made from ExciteAble to his account the day of Rajput's death, of which he claims to know nothing, and the rest of his boss's body turns up in his rented storage unit. Part of Waters's job, from which he's suspended, involved screening prospective employees; now he's the one under scrutiny. Anonymous death threats against him raise the stakes, as does his discovery that ExciteAble is under investigation for defrauding the federal government. Knopf plays fair as he matches well-developed characters with a crafty whodunit plot, one whose resolution few readers will anticipate. --Publishers Weekly

Waters, a man who only goes by his surname (his first name "never took," and he eschews his title of Dr.) is being set up. An organizational psychologist for the aerospace manufacturer ExciteAble Technologies, he returns to his condo one night to find the dismembered head of his boss, Paresh Rajput, in a pool of blood in the spare bedroom. Then a large sum of money is transferred to his account, and his mortgage is paid off, both by direct deposits from Rajput's ExciteAble account. Finally, Rajput's body is found in Waters' secure storage unit. When a robotic male voice telephones the message, "You're dead," it's just the beginning of threats to Waters' well-being, as he tries to clear himself as a suspect in Rajput's murder while managing to stay alive. Waters eventually unravels a convoluted plot involving unlikely participants, but the highlight here is less the story than the character. Waters, who was trained to overcome his autistic behavior by his older brother, is a weight lifter with a wrestling background hose personal experience and education give him a unique understanding of himself and others. Readers wanting to see Waters again will hope this outstanding thriller spawns a series. --Booklist

About this edition

• Publisher: Permanent Press
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1579625665
• ISBN 13: 9781579625665
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288