Book Review: Black Swan by Chris Knopf

First off, before I say anything else, I give the condition that this is the first Sam Acquillo (or Chris Knopf) book I have read. With that out of the way, I’ll continue on.


I found Black Swan hard to get into, to say the least. Characters were either flat or plain unlikable due to a largely absent moral compass. Few to no values were stood up for, although I will give Sam a little credit for trying to be honorable, though the venture felt half-hearted. There was such a selfishness prevalent in everyone—Sam and Amanda’s relationship is a good example.


As for the mystery, it took too long to initiate. After which, the majority of the story was asking people repeated questions, receiving repeated answers, and Sam’s inner dialogue that rehashed the same thing over and over. I found it difficult to care about what was going on even when the “mystery” was referenced. In the end, I skimmed almost anything not dialogue and still managed to follow the climax.


The weak attempt at wit—soon replaced with profanity—was another point subtracted from the overall quality of the story. Instead of there being swearing just because it was there, it seemed to be the crutch the author leaned on when unsure of what else to do. One or two characters having the personality to swear left and right, I can understand. Every character? Now, that’s just lazy.


Perhaps this was just not my type of mystery, or my type of characters. Each person likes something different, but this was definitely not my cup of tea, and I will be making an effort to avoid this author on future occasions.