Death Knell - Softcover

John Misak

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0974992690 ISBN 13: 9780974992693

Publisher: Empire Strikes Press, 2007

Synopsis

Murder. Revenge. The lengths a father will go to save his family. And the effect of death on all of us. Death Knell ties these all together in a tightly woven tale sure to keep you guessing.

The daughter of a famous scientist is found strangled in Central Park... A drug dealer is brutally murdered in his apartment...

NYPD Detective John Keegan is drawn to the first case but instead is assigned to the second. Investigating drug dealers is not what he became a cop for. In a sense, he figures, whoever killed Konstantin 'K-Drugs' Volkyv did the city a favor. Over time, he will realize the two cases are connected. As more criminals end up dead, he'll also discover that a vigilante is running loose in New York, determined to end the lives of an underground crime syndicate. While he secretly applauds the killer's work, Keegan knows he must stop him. It will take more than he is willing to give to do so.
Keegan works the case with his occasional partner, Rick Calhill, a man trying to rebound from personal tragedy and prove his worth to the department. More questions arise than answers, and Keegan must rely on those he is not sure he can trust. Two sudden deaths strike close to him, distracting him from the case and making him question his very place in life.
Death Knell brings the concept of death to the forefront, as a homicide detective must learn to deal with death from the other side, while struggling to maintain his relationships, while attempting to develop a new one. All while a killer runs loose in New York City.

About this title

From the Publisher

From MostlyFiction.com

Death Knell, John Misak's third book about 35-year old New York City homicide police detective John Keegan, is an extremely well written and enjoyable novel. Misak is probably not all that well known but should be once more people read this book. When drug-dealer "K-Drugs" Kostya Volkyv is found dead, Keegan is asked by his boss, Inspector Geiger, to investigate. Geiger asks Keegan to work again with Rick Cahill who had been recently limited to paperwork while recovering from the recent death of his wife. Cahill and Keegan have a history, but they both appear willing to put it behind them, especially for Cahill who is tiring of just doing paperwork.

Since K-Drugs is a drug dealer, Keegan and Cahill consult with Karl Lavin, a vice detective. Some of Misak's humor as well as key information on Keegan and Lavin are evident in this excerpt:

Karl Lavin was an idiot. Understand I mean this in the best of ways, but even he would never dispute it. Most guys get assigned to Vice against their will, and the ones who choose that beat are usually crankheads themselves, looking for easy scores. Lavin had gotten assigned, and after doing a few years, he was offered several times an opportunity to get out. He refused every time. That's why I said he was an imbecile. At least, that's what all the other guys said. I knew better. I knew why he stayed, what drove him. He hated pedophiles and drug dealers. With a passion. I respected that, because I did too. Nothing worse than some sick bastard who preys on children. They should all be burned. Better yet, Karl Lavin should catch them all. He'd make them wish they burned.

Lavin gives some help with the investigation as do several others, including Pauline McCrory, an attractive woman that works in the records department, who is also a potential love interest of Keegan. McCrory appears willing to return the affection to the comfortably single Keegan and tries to help Keegan not only in the case but when he must deal with the loss of a family member (sic)

As Keegan, Cahill and Lavin work the case, they find connections of K-Drugs with the Russian mob which leads them to an apparent link to a Central Park murder of the daughter of Boris Yigevny, a famous Russian scientist. Keegan is faced with many tough situations while dealing with various members of the mob, possible unscrupulous policemen and his personal tragedies as he works to find the murderer of a person most people question is worth it.

As shown in the excerpts, Misak uses the first person to get a full appreciation of Keegan's thoughts and to understand why he does and acts the way he does. I enjoy this first person perspective but this may be too much for some readers.

Although I would have preferred to have read Soft Case and All in a Row, the first John Keegan books by Misak, especially to better understand the history and relationship of Keegan and his partner Rick Cahill, this book certainly stands on its own. Of course finding these books is not all that easy, although both are available on Misak's website and All in a Row has recently been reprinted and is easily available through Amazon and other online sources.

John Misak is obviously not a well-known author and I was not familiar with anything he had written (now four novels) until I received Death Knell to read. I have had the opportunity in the past to read and review other authors that were not that well known with mixed results. Death Knell shines above all of these and is one of the most enjoyable books I have read in the past few years. Misak creates very realistic and likeable characters. The dialogue between Keegan and other policemen is not only funny, but appears typical of the joking way policemen (or just men) talk to each other. Misak also does a good job of presenting the difficulty and struggles that Keegan has in relationships with his family and friends.

From the Author

Like parents with children, we authors should not have favorites. Still, this book holds a special place for me. I feel I did some of my best writing here (to date, I hope) and yet there is something eerily personal about this one.
Without giving away any plot elements, I'll just say that events that occurred in this book happened in my life months later. And there was no way I could have predicted them.
So, if you like a little surreal mixed in with your mystery, this may be for you.
Enjoy the book. And, as always, thank you for taking the time to look at my work.

About this edition

• Publisher: Empire Strikes Press
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0974992690
• ISBN 13: 9780974992693
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 368