Lee Killough

ACAB includes space cops.

Seriously, though, this is a actually a well-written story. Killough's narrative is clean and flows well, with no spots that felt like a chore to get through. The opening chapter is a masterfully done infodump which lays the premise of the book, explains the alien world and introduces the characters in 14 pages. It's actually such a good premise that I eagerly devoured this book, hoping that the author would hit me with some grand commentaries on the nature of how we show more treat outsiders in a culture, or the issues of colonialism imposing new laws, or on and on.

And certainly those themes are here and discussed, but for the most part it's a standard mystery tale with a scifi veneer so thin that my thumbs accidentally smudged several pages.

The real problems come when reading this book 45 years after it was published. Two main issues:
1.) The naive, casual racism. It's difficult not to wince when a white Texan calls a black character "homeboy" on page 2 and then that character is referred to as "an/the Afro" by the narrator for the remainder of the book.
2.) The whitewashing of law enforcement. The police are portrayed as Noble Heroes Who Only Want To Do Right. Whenever people on Earth are described, they were always some kind of cop-hating weirdos who wanted to murder law enforcement for no good reason.
It was tough not to be judgmental since these were recurring things, which is why I'm giving it 3 instead of 4 stars.

That said, Killough is a talented writer and I would definitely read a different book with the hopes my gripes are confined to this one. show less

While I was reading this I kept thinking of James Herbert's book NOBODY TRUE. The premise for each book is about the same: person dies, their spirit / soul stays on the Earth and must solve the mystery of who killed the person's body. However, while Herbert's book was more moody and serious, Killough's book is more gripping and fun. The language reads as more comfortable. Events transpire as you might expect. There are even several modern references such as to Harry Potter. But then more show more interestingly, Cole (the dead person) is able to discover more powers. Things such as manifesting himself to others or taking over a body or teleporting to other locations. It was probably these powers which made the book more interesting. The fantasy of being able to have special abilities that others do not. It naturally appealed to the comic book fan within me. In total though, KILLER KARMA is an extremely fun read and one that I would highly recommend. show less

The Garreth Mikalian trilogy (Blood Walk, Blood Links and Blood Hunt), and Wilding Nights. All are paranormal police procedurals, the Garreth Mikalians featuring a lone vampire cop, Wilding Nights a werewolf cop and her pack, many of whom are cops too. I felt the Garreth Mikalians worked better (and were more believable) than Wilding Nights (probably why there's only been the one).

Effectively they're all hunts for serial killers with the added complication of keeping the paranormal secret. show more Blood Walk is the hunt for the vampire that turned Garreth Mikalian, Blood Links is the hunt for a killer who believes that the vampire is around still, and Blood Links is the hunt for a wanna-be vampire, Wilding Nights is the hunt for a killer that turns out to be a rogue werewolf (without revealing the existence of werewolves). All are set in the US - the Garreth Mikalians are set in San Francisco and Kansas, Wilding Nights in a Texas Gulf Coast town.

Enjoyable if you like that kind of genre cross-over. I assume the procedural bits are relatively accurate! They seemed to hang together but I'm not an expert on US police procedure. show less

Contains Blood Hunt and Bloodlinks, previously published only in paperback. Engaging stories about a San Francisco policeman who gets turned into a vampire, moves to the midwest and then returns to San Francisco to help solve a series of killings.
Engaging, good story telling and character development.