{"id":10516,"date":"2025-05-21T21:19:02","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T01:19:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/?p=10516"},"modified":"2025-05-21T22:23:55","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T02:23:55","slug":"book-review-counted-with-the-dead-by-peter-okeefe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/book-review-counted-with-the-dead-by-peter-okeefe\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Counted with the Dead by Peter O’Keefe"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Counted<\/a><\/p>\n

Counted with the Dead<\/em> by Peter O\u2019Keefe<\/p>\n

Grendel Press, 2024<\/p>\n

ISBN: 978-1960534118<\/p>\n

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition<\/p>\n

Buy:\u00a0\u00a0Bookshop.org<\/a> |\u00a0Amazon.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Set in the 1990s, Jack Killeen, working in the dirty Detroit underbelly, is the mob\u2019s hired gun. He hates his job.and wants to make a change. Victor Moravian, art collector and businessman, will be his last kill. However, things do not go as Jack plans. A mad doctor has created a monster using body parts from Jack’s victims, and animates it with Victor’s brain. Jack, accompanied by his brother Marty, has to stop the monster Jack is partially responsible for unleashing in the city.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DeRon is the assistant to Dr. Drettmann, a mad doctor, working in a secret lab. He initially believes in the professor\u2019s mission, but a mishap with an experimental surgery on DeRon\u2019s mangled leg, and Drettmann\u2019s new project, have him questioning his role in everything.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After Victor\u2019s transformation into the beast he is, he retains his own memories as well as of those parts of whom he is composed. Angry and lost when he escapes the lab, he leaves a trail of blood and gore wherever he goes. Lonely, and with memories of the love of his life, he goes back to the doctor and demands a mate.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Marlene, beautiful Marlene, was the love of both Victor and Jack\u2019s lives. Married to Victor, she has an affair with Jack, who refuses to tell her the truth about Victor\u2019s disappearance. She inevitably becomes a target of the beast\u2019s desire for a bride. He takes vengeance on the other women in Jack\u2019s life to obtain other pieces for his new companion.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This was a surprisingly fast-paced story. To be honest, I was not sure that a modern Frankenstein story would meld well with a mobster crime story, sprinkled with a bit of tech horror and body horror, but O\u2019Keefe made it work. The action reads very much like it is would be easily adapted for the big screen. The characters, while not particularly likeable, are distinct and memorable. Something that I found particularly interesting was the way Jack put together a team to confront the beast. It felt more like the building of an adventuring party. In fact, other works that did this well, such as Lord of the Rings<\/em>, are mentioned in tongue-in-cheek ways. O\u2019Keefe does an amazing job with making Detroit looming and oppressive at the same time. This will be a good read for those looking for a different interpretation of the typical Frankenstein story. However, readers who do not deal with animal death to approach this with extreme caution, as it does happen in this book. Recommended.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Counted with the Dead by Peter O\u2019Keefe Grendel Press, 2024 ISBN: 978-1960534118 Available: Paperback, Kindle edition Buy:\u00a0\u00a0Bookshop.org |\u00a0Amazon.com   Set in the 1990s, Jack Killeen, working in the dirty Detroit underbelly, is the mob\u2019s hired gun. He hates his job.and wants to make a change. Victor Moravian, art collector and businessman, will be his last<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5824,5826,2594,5821,450,5825,600,83,5820,5823,5822],"class_list":["post-10516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-1990s","tag-animal-death","tag-body-horror","tag-counted-with-the-dead","tag-crime-fiction","tag-detroit","tag-frankenstein","tag-horror-fiction","tag-lgbtq-character","tag-mad-science","tag-peter-okeefe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10516"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10527,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10516\/revisions\/10527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}