Tue 4 May 2021
An Archived Mystery Review by Barry Gardner: ROBERT J. RANDISI – Alone with the Dead.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[4] Comments
ROBERT J. RANDISI – Alone with the Dead. Joe Keough #1. St Martin’s, hardcover, 1995. Leisure Books, paperback, 1999. Perfect Crime, trade paperback, 2014.
I think somebody told me this will be a series, but I’m not sure. I’ve been neither a booster nor a buster of Randisi’s books. I think he’s a pretty good writer, but I also think he gets a bit sloppy sometimes with his plots and background, and has yet to write the book he could write. Could this be it?
Joe Keough is a NYC detective, banished to a Brooklyn precinct because he lost his temper at the wrong time. He catches a case involving a rape and murder of a young girl, similar to a series of killings by a killer nicknamed “The Lover”. Joe doesn’t think it’s the same killer, but his superiors do, and overrule him. Subsequent murders convince Joe he’s right, but no one wants to look for a second serial killer but him.
Well, I still don’t think he’s written the best book he can write, but this one isn’t bad at all. Randisi is a thoroughly competent storyteller in terms of pacing and action, and he moves this one right along. It isn’t padded, and that’s a real plus – I’ve read a number of books this year with no more story that were 150 pages longer. And it’s a type of story I like, the one-good-man-against-the-system kind.
So why am I not giving it a higher rating? Keeping in mind that the grade I gave it is better than average, it’s not higher yet because his prose is workmanlike but not exceptional, and there were no characters that I thought had any depth beyond the ordinary. It’s “just†an entertaining, well-told story.
There should be more such.
Editorial Comment: Barry graded this one a “happy face smiley plus.” I’m not sure exactly what that means, but as he explains in the review, it’s somewhere above average.
The Joe Keough series —
1. Alone With the Dead (1995)
2. In the Shadow of the Arch (1997)
3. Blood on the Arch (2000)
4. East of the Arch (2002)
5. Arch Angels (2004)
… so yes, Barry was right. This book was the first in a series.
May 4th, 2021 at 8:23 pm
I’m a great fan of Bob’s. His current RAT PACK series is consistently entertaining.
May 4th, 2021 at 8:50 pm
One source says that he’s written over 650 books. That sounds about right. Most of them are adult westerns, though, a genre that never really appealed to me. I see he’s started writing in the Ralph Compton series, though, which I assume is in the more traditional style.
I’ve enjoyed all of the PI books he’s written. It’s too bad he couldn’t make a living writing them, though. As for the Rat Pack series, I thought that was a one-and-done deal. Now I see he’s done 12 of them. Where’s my head been?
May 8th, 2021 at 8:11 pm
I think there is a new RAT PACK book out recently.
May 8th, 2021 at 8:26 pm
The most recent one I see is That Old Dead Magic (Rat Pack Mysteries Book 12), from last year.