Alone with the Dead [Paperback]

Robert J. Randisi (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Leisure Books (2002)
• ISBN-10: 0843946415
• ISBN-13: 978-0843946413
• ASIN: B002Q2KPGY
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,363,147 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Formulaic, but Good, October 25, 2005

By 

Gerald Browning (Grand Rapids, MI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Alone with the Dead (Joe Keough Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

Alone with the Dead is a police procedural that follows all the rules. We have a working class detective named Joe who is ruled by a moral compass that few people in his department have. When Joe Keough finds the body of a young high school student, brutally raped with a rose inserted inside of her, he has a feeling that the death was committed by a copycat of a notorious serial killer named "The Lover." Others within the department, however, do not share his theory and are quick to lump the killing with the others.

This, however, does not sit well with the actual serial killer, who goes out of his way to absolve himself from the blame. Joe, goes against his superiors, The Lover Task Force, and the copycat killer himself, to reveal to the public that there are in fact two serial killers.

But when a friend of Joe's is brutally stabbed to death in his own home, the finger points to a boss within the NYPD. It is then that Joe realizes that he has made enemies both within the department AND outside in the mean streets of New York. The interesting part of the story is when one of Keough's few supporters in his investigation is The Lover himself!

If you are a fan of police procedurals, this is a good one. It has a solid (but thinly veiled) mystery, very appealing characters, and a pacing that keeps you reading from the prologue to the epilogue.

I did think the characters were quite clche, but it only added to the realism of the voice that Randisi creates. I previously knew Randisi by the anthologies that he put together, finding his tastes in the crime/noir literature to be quite phenomenal, however, I was impressed by his writing style.

I thought the story was very realistic. It is something that I could actually see happening and could make a very good film (or at least a made for TV movie). Being a fan and writer of the mystery/crime genre myself, I love a good story and this one was pretty good.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good concept,but what happened?, June 2, 2001

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Alone With the Dead (Paperback)

This is an incredible for a book. You have one serial killer called "The Lover", who places a rose on his victims body. Someone reads about it in the local paper, and he wanted to "give hornors" to the "Lover", by being a Copycat killer. Just one problem, the Lover isn't flattered, he's mad. Sounds like a *great* idead for a book, right? Well somewhere alone the way, it falls apart. I guess the biggest problem I had was how the "Lover" was caught. There was very little cat and mouse play between Keough (the lead detective) and the Lover.

Randisi has a decent wrtiing style that will probally keep the reader hooked, but I feel that so much more coulde have been done with this book.

Don't get me wrong, this wasn't a bad read, I just expected a bit more.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Formula, May 23, 2001

By 

Kernel Mojo (Herndon, VA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Alone with the Dead (Joe Keough Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

Maybe I'm getting tired of the Detective Mystery Thriller formula containing one dimensional characters - hero detective with unwavering integrity, inept face-saving looking-to-get-ahead police sergeants captains and commissioners, an available lovely single mom next door with adoring daughter.

There's a deviant named "Kopykat" introduced in the book's prologue who is salivating over newspaper articles about gruesome murders - hmmm...wonder what this guy's all about? <sarcasm>

I actually like the characters in this book better than those in Randisi's "The Sixth Sense", but because the story isn't as good I rate it 2 instead of 3.