Sign-In
Cart
Factor of Safety
Paperback
Series: A Neil Karst Investigation, Book 1
Mystery & ThrillerGeneral Fiction
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Jul 13 2026
Pages: 256
Weight: 0.76
Height: 0.58 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
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.
Also from
Deming, Wallis
Also in
Mystery & Thriller
Coffin Road: An Utterly Gripping Crime Thriller from the Author of the China Thrillers
May, Peter
Paperback
Sabine's Notebook: In Which the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin & Sabine Continues
Bantock, Nick
Hardcover
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Movie Tie-In Edition): Book 1 of the Millennium Trilogy
Larsson, Stieg
Paperback
The Golden Mean: In Which the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin & Sabine Concludes
Bantock, Nick
Hardcover
Big Little Truths: Reese's Book Club: A Novel: The Sequel to Big Little Lies
Moriarty, Liane
Hardcover
The Pirate Queen: A Novel from the New York Times Bestselling Author of the Frozen River
Lawhon, Ariel
Hardcover
The Altar of Pergamon: The Mystery of the Dark Angel and the Future of the World
Cahn, Jonathan
Hardcover