Ed here: I finished The Dead Man last night and really enjoyed it. And admired it as a piece of work. The structure is ingenious, the large cast of characters (third person omniscient works here) are variously strong, weak, weird, funny, sad, scary and unique and the storytelling is sleek and relentless. I recommend it big time. And it's now only $.99 on KIndle. BTW I hadn't seen the Booklist comparison to Warren Murphy & Richard Sapir's Destroyer series until after I read The Dead Man. But I thought about that old series several times as I read Goldberg & Rabkin.
Here's a piece from Lee Goldberg and William Rabkin published on Amazon.
Amazon.com Review
Lee Goldberg & William Rabkin on The Dead Man series
Lee Goldberg
William Rabkin
We grew up loving those "men's action adventure" paperback novels of the 60s, 70s, and 80s...series like The Destroyer, The Ninja Master, Nick Carter, and The Death Merchant. You could find them in finer supermarkets, gas stations, 7-11s and bookstores everywhere. They were the male equivalent of Harlequin romances,though the only romance was often between a man and his AK-47.
The books were short and tightly-written, with hard-boiled heroes, outrageously sexy women, and gleefully over-the-top plots. Nobody would ever mistake them for great literature, but they were enormous fun to read...and to write (we know, because Lee broke into publishing in the mid-1980s writing one of those series—.357 Vigilante aka The Jury Series under the pen name "Ian Ludlow"--while he was still in college).
Sadly, the "men's action adventure" series novels are virtually extinct now, early victims of the narrowing of the paperback marketplace.
But the Kindle offers the perfect medium for the revival of the genre, which is why we've teamed up with over a dozen other writers on The Dead Man, an original series that we hope recaptures the spirit and pure escapism of the thousands of books written during the heyday of "men’s action adventure."
The series is about Matthew Cahill, an ordinary man leading a simple life...until a shocking accident changes everything. Now he can see a nightmarish netherworld that nobody else does, making each day a journey...and an adventure.
New books in The Dead Man series will appear every month or so, just like they used to in paperback in the old days. Our other experienced Dead Man authors come from a wide cross-section of genres – mystery, westerns, horror, science fiction, thrillers, and cozies. And some of them also lead double-lives as Emmy award winning writer/producers of hit network TV series.
The Dead Man gives us the thrilling opportunity to indulge our great affection for the genre and hopefully get you hooked on it, too. -- Lee Goldberg & William Rabkin
Review
The story races by at a brisk rate of knots, each twist and turn, and shift in time providing another revelation [...] I was enjoying it so much, I didn't want it to end. --Permission to Kill Blog
The Dead Man: Face of Evil is a tight, well written, supernatural thriller [that] satisfies all on it's own, while being a terrific opener that promises an epic tale to come. I'm excited for the next book. --Man Eating Bookworm Blog
The Dead Man Face of Evil reminds me of Stephen King and Dean Koontz.[...]a fascinating horror story that leaves you wanting more, more, more! --Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine
"I'm hopeful they continue with this character since it's set up so well. I've not seen a writing tandem like this since the glory days of Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy" --Bookgasm
"Buckle up! The Dead Man: Face of Evil starts at full-speed and never lets up. This is big-ticket horror with characters you care about who are driven to the very edge. Highly recommended!" -New York Times bestseller Jonathan Maberry, author of Dead of Night
Thank you so much, Ed!
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