Knife Music
by David Carnoy
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Book Summary Information
Author: David CarnoyEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-09-19
ISBN: 0615243258
Number of pages: 374
Publisher: ParkMadison Press
Book Reviews of Knife Music
Book Review: Call me biased, but Knife Music was a satisfying surprise in every way
Summary: 4 Stars
Let's get one thing out of the way first: author David Carnoy is my boss at work. If you still care about my opinion, read on.
When Carnoy first walked into my office and handed me Knife Music, I kinda rolled my eyes. Having worked with him for years I knew he was an excellent writer and editor, but we write consumer electronics reviews and blog posts, not novels. I also felt an annoying obligation because, as he well knows, I'm a heavy reader whose taste is strictly Fantasy/Sci-Fi. "Thriller" just isn't on my radar, and I don't want it there. I told him I'd get to Knife Music after I finished my current series (David Farland's Runelords).
After he walked out I flipped through the book and began to feel the twinge of jealousy. I'm someone who aspires to write a novel myself some day (don't we all?) and here's my boss casually handing me 374 self-published pages. I know he works forty hours a week like everybody else, not to mention the hours he puts in as father to a growing family, and he somehow knocks out a novel too?
The haunting eyes of the girl on the cover (and some gentle prodding by DC) won me over before I finished Farland, so I picked up Knife Music and plunged in with the weird feeling that must be unique to readers who know the author well. Less than a week of reading later, culminating in a 100-page flurry in a rush to find out whodunnit, I gotta admit I'm even more jealous than before. Knife Music is damn good.
A deftly spun romp from the operating table to the precinct to the frat house, hitting its share of bedrooms along the way, the novel is driven by a tight focus on its charismatic protagonist that nevertheless doesn't spoil the surprise. I found myself rooting for the cocksure Doctor Cogan and at the same time wondering whether he did it from page 1 to the very end. The lengthy list of other suspects and conspirators reveals itself naturally and the intrigues add up to a complex mesh without becoming overwhelming. The interplay between flashbacks and real-time kept my perspective fresh and didn't prove distracting, as so many jumbled timelines do.
But my favorite part was the breakneck pacing. Maybe I'm used to the glacial progressions of Tolkien, Jordan and Clarke, but KM struck me with its unpredictable yet concise plot movement, much like a well-honed "Thriller" on film--think Blood Simple or The Spanish Prisoner. Indeed, the intense dialogue sometimes made the book feel like a fleshed-out screenplay. Like the best films I couldn't quite believe it was over so soon. And yeah, there's another big surprise right there at the end.
I can't give it five stars--seriously, only Tolkien, Stephenson, Martin and Donaldson get that--but I can give it my full recommendation. Nice work DC. If the next one's anything like this, we may not be coworkers much longer.
Summary of Knife Music
Tense and twisting, Knife Music is the story of a doctor struggling to clear his name after being accused of raping and causing the suicide of a young girl. The novel pits Dr. Ted Cogan, a 43-year-old surgeon and self-described womanizer, against Hank Madden, a handicapped veteran detective. From the outset it?s not clear who is victim and who is victimizer, as the usually dispassionate Madden grapples with his long-suppressed prejudices and his obsession with bringing Cogan to justice at any cost--to the doctor or himself.Literature & Fiction Books
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