Tango Down

A Sam Acquillo Mystery

By: Chris Knopf

Narrated by: Keith Szarabajka

A routine visit to one of Sam Acquillo's job sites becomes anything but. The home's owner, Victor Bollings, is lying in a pool of blood, the back of his head bashed in. One of Sam's closest friends in the cabinetry trade is quickly behind bars as the obvious suspect. For the cops, this is all standard operating procedure. But as it turns out, nothing about the case is routine, obvious, or standard in any way.

Sam and defense attorney Jackie Swaitkowski are used to an uneasy, though often reciprocal, relationship with law enforcement. But when the chief of police tells Sam to stay the hell away, this time he really means it. For Sam and Jackie, words like this are highly motivational, until strange new forces emerge from the shadows. Forces from well beyond the borders of Southampton, from worlds as sinister as they are unfathomable.

That doesn't mean Sam and Jackie still don't have a responsibility to defend the utterly defenseless: a Colombian immigrant with no legal status, no political power, and no alibi, with the full weight of the judicial system - local, state, national, and international - arrayed against him.

The eighth edition of the Sam Acquillo mystery series disrupts the illusion that the Hamptons are safely immune from the struggles that inflame much of the world. It's an examination of how fear of the unknown ignites prejudice and hate, overturning norms of decency and principle.

For Sam and Jackie, it's also a lesson in the interconnectedness of evil.

©2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc. (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Great books!!

I’ve read all of the Sam Acquillo books and they are well written. They are even more fun to listen to. The reader has a fabulous voice, and the poetic description by Mr Knopf just sound lovely. I will continue to read Me Knopf’s books!!

Building on a solid foundation

The series starts strong and keeps going. A core cast of characters with the regular introduction of new friends and assets. The author’s politics rarely seep into the mix but start to show through in this novel. Not overt at all but certainly apparent here. There were some errors in continuity such as Burton’s country squire which briefly became a Jeep of some sort before returning to the station wagon but easy to overlook because the story is so good. The whole style of writing and story building is absolutely next level. I started with book one and listened to nothing but Knopf since. Second to last book (as of December 2023) and I have to say, I am not looking forward to being done. I really like these books and will likely re-read the entire series again before book 10 hits. I do hope the author can hold back a bit on the virtue signaling as it takes away from body of work.

Loved It!

Audible hopes you enjoyed this program.... totally redundant with this author! Another great book and performance - Thank you Chris Knopf!

This series keeps getting better

Great series and the price is right, nice to be able to listen one after another without waiting months for next one. Keith Szarabajka is no Richard Ferrone that did three in the series but he is good, only his Burton is a bit if not completely out of character.

Another excellent sam Acquillo story

Another excellent Sam Acquillo story and narration. I am almost ready to give up waiting for another one afterDeep Dive.

Sam is the MAN...!!!

Short and sweet I am hooked on this series. listen almost Non-stop. Fabulous writing... narrative, scenes, dialogue, characters, unique plot... entertaining and fun listen. excellent narration. once again multiple characters complicated and convoluted and of course our hero escapes the nastiest and narrowest predicaments. you will need to pay attention the clues go past in ightening fashion all leading to a satisfying finale. an excellent addition to an excellent series by an excellent author and narrative team👍👍👍👍👍

Excellent story, needs some improvement on narration

Really enjoy the plot, the story as told, and for most part the narration. That being said, there are some glaring mistakes in the pronunciation of some Spanish words that made my ears bleed! For example: “qué lástima” and the city in Colombia “Medellin”.
Obviously the narrator, Keith Szarabajka, is not fluent in Spanish, but you would think a narrator wouldn’t take on the project if he wasn’t able to do the necessary research to properly pronounce simple words in the dialogue. Unfortunately, it really detracts from the book.

Feels like family

I love the characters and the narrator is spot on. The cast is like family.

Enjoyable listen!

Really liked this particular plot, with the main character 's ability to be tough as nails, and also be able to care for his dog the way he does, as well as his lady friend/love. The case he's involved in, and related narrative, pulled me right in along with him, as if watching the story as a movie.

A little underwhelming

I’ve liked Knopf’s books so far, but this one was just…..meh. I finished the book less than a minute ago and I don’t remember the ending. So not that gripping!