Cold Blooded

I got hooked on Robert J. Randisi's writing style when I reviewed the first of his Rat Pack series, Everybody Kills Somebody Sometime. So that meant that I needed to read everything he's written that's still in print. All but one of his titles at my local library were checked out, so I grabbed Cold Blooded before anyone else could snag it. Cold Blooded features another Randisi-series protagonist, NYPD Detective Sergeant Dennis McQueen. When the first stiff, dead AND frozen, washes up on a Brooklyn beach, McQueen and his new partner, Detective Bailey Sommers, think it's odd, but it's just another murder in the city that never sleeps. McQueen's Lieutenant ships the case out of McQueen's hands and tries to convince McQueen to focus on breaking in Sommers who is new to the district and homicide. McQueen reluctantly lets the case go, but when another and another pop up with the same MO, McQueen is sure that there is a serial killer loose in the borough. With warm weather, the body count dwindles and then picks up again when winter strikes, and it's as cold outside as the bodies that float. In the last third of Cold Blooded, Randisi adds Owen Feinstein's point and view and lets the reader in on the mind of a murderer. The scene illustrating Feinstein's cruelty (scalding a small child's arms) is horrifying. While finding the killer is center stage, Cold Blooded also deals with office politics, sexual harassment, and the need to follow your gut. It was an easy read, however I was appalled at the number of typos in the text. I guess Cold Blooded is a testimony that publisher's need to re-hire proof readers. Armchair Interviews says: If you like Randisi's other writing, you'll also like this book. From our armchair to yours...

Randisi has done it again. He has managed to write a police thriller that will keep you on your toes and make you feel as though the book should never end. Although I thought that I had figured out the ending, it turns out that there are a few twists and turns in this one that I hadn't counted on. Buy this book and enjoy an honest to goodness thriller. I have been really missing those lately.