Factor of Safety
Overview
On page one, the State of Ohio explains how Vernon Garland died. A fourth-floor rail, twenty-two years of weather, maintenance deferred across so many hands that no one pair could be made to hold it. The state calls it accidental - distributed causation, no referral - and closes the file.
The finding is the corpse. The book is its autopsy.
Neil Karst is a forensic engineer - the expert both sides borrow when a structure has to answer for itself. He has written a few hundred pages of the finding's species himself. He knows sound work when he holds it. Then the widow's letter reaches his one-man firm, carrying the only instruction that matters: she is not seeking peace of mind.
Karst reads the state's page the way its writers meant it to be read. Then he reads it his way, with a pencil. Every fact on it is true. That is the problem. Rust is a slob; rust keeps no appointments. And everything on that page failed toward one corner, on complementary schedules, and finished together - less like neglect than like punctuality.
So he does what he always does. He rebuilds the thing that failed, to the paper's own numbers, and he loads it, one tagged bag at a time, until the paper says whether it told the truth.
You will hold every fact. You will still not see the shape.
FACTOR OF SAFETY is a fair-play mystery for the reader who likes crime slow, clean, and airtight - no chases, no gore, every clue on the page before the reveal. Book One of A Neil Karst Investigation. Complete in itself. No cliffhangers.
This item is Non-Returnable
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Details
- ISBN-13: 9798187069583
- ISBN-10: 9798187069583
- Publisher: Independently Published
- Publish Date: July 2026
- Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.58 inches
- Shipping Weight: 0.76 pounds
- Page Count: 256
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