Publication Date: June 3, 2024
Publisher: Grendel Press
For anyone who has followed me raving about books via the written word here on The Horror Bookshelf and/or on the Ink Heist podcast, you will know I am an absolute fanatic when it comes to horror/noir mash ups. I have devoured and raved about books from both genres, but there is some kind of twisted alchemy that takes place when the dividing lines between them are either blurred or altogether stripped away that creates an unmatched reading experience for me. I’ve thought about it a lot and still haven’t quite nailed down an exact reason why that combination works, but I think a big part of it is combining an anomalous threat with the grittiness or real world danger. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good horror novel where everyday characters are confronted with evil and must find a way to survive. But when the character is someone from the darker fringes of society and is used to confronting violence and danger on a regular basis? I feel like it amplifies the thrill exponentially. So, when I received a request from Peter O’Keefe to review his debut novel, Counted with the Dead, I was all in.
Counted with the Dead is billed as a re-imagining of Frankenstein set in 90s Detroit and wastes no time in hooking the reader. The first scene that introduces readers to Mafia hitman Jack Killeen finds him dragging his Victor Moravian into the woods. Victor owes Jack’s employer Pompey a healthy sum of money and pleads for his life, but Jack is unphased. By the time Pompey’s enemies see Jack it’s only going to end one way – with the flash of a muzzle and their body left in the woods. As Victor pleads for Jack to just look at the picture in his wallet of his wife, that’s when Jack drops the bombshell that he knows Victor…and his wife. He allows him just enough time to register who he is before he shoots Victor in the chest and leaves him for dead. Only Jack and Victor weren’t the only people in the woods that night. A surgeon and his apprentice happen to be scouring for yet another cadaver when they stumble across Victor, barely clinging to life. They rush to get Victor out of the woods, but not because they’re Good Samaritans. No, they have twisted plans of their own for Victor, plans that will plunge him into an unimaginable hell of pain and suffering.
After killing Victor, Jack realizes he’s tired of the killing and he wants out. Unfortunately for him, there are numerous factors that make his retirement damn near impossible. Pompey is pissed Victor has yet to be found and threatens Jack, his parish priest refuses to grant him the absolution he desires, and Victor’s widow Marlene begs him to help her find her “missing” husband. As Jack tries to atone for his crimes, he must confront the horrors of his past while struggling to protect his family from retribution for the devastation he wrought. Will Jack be able to make amends for what he’s done or is he doomed to continue to leave nothing but devastation in his wake?
One of the most impressive aspects of Counted with the Dead is the way O’Keefe writes his characters and also the murky morality that’s explored throughout the course of the novel. A big topic of debate within the literary community is whether or not stories should contain “likable” characters. In my opinion, that’s an almost irrelevant question. For me, the question boils down to if a book contains interesting, fully realized characters. Counted with the Dead is packed with them and all of them have their own faults they wrestle with – Marlene’s guilt over Victor’s fate, DeRon reconciling his inquisitive nature and desire to heal himself with helping a madman carry out atrocities. Even as supporting characters in Jack and Victor’s blood feud, they are deeply developed and have satisfying story arcs.
Then there are Jack and Victor’s journeys throughout the novel. Make no mistake, Jack is a bad guy. He views himself as a tool of others and feels no hesitation when carrying out Pompey’s orders. It would be easy to paint him as an unfeeling sociopath, but O’Keefe explores his motivations a little deeper. Jack at least feels regret on some level, even if it’s only for his own piece of mind. After he completes the job where he’s supposed to kill Victor, he seeks absolution for his actions from his local priest through confession. He may not necessarily feel bad, but he knows that he should and is at least self-aware enough to know he should regret what he’s doing. He also is capable of love and empathy, as he shows when sticking up for his brother when others make snide remarks about him or when taking his daughter for her first car.
Victor is no saint, considering his lifestyle put him in Jack’s path and led to that fateful trip to the woods, but he loved Marlene and always tried to treat others with respect. However, after the misery he is put through, he starts to succumb to the same monstrous behaviors that dominate Jack’s life. At what point does a quest for justice and the actions someone is willing to perpetrate make them no better than the person they are seeking to punish?
O’Keefe uses his own personal experiences to create a vivid picture of a rough time in Detroit’s history, when job’s were drying up and communities were being abandoned at a rapid pace. The desolation of those areas in the novel serve as the perfect backdrop for the ensuing mayhem that is unleashed upon the city. Nothing against New York City or Los Angeles, but I also love reading noir novels that take place outside of those two locales as they seem to dominate the genre.
Counted with the Dead is the latest novel I read in my quest to spotlight debut authors and though there were a few small things that didn’t work for me about Victor’s progression, this is a stellar review that was a blast to read. Featuring plenty of action, some gruesome body horror elements and great characters, Counted with the Dead is a must-add to the TBR’s of horror and noir fans. I’m looking forward to see what O’Keefe writes next!
