Good Cop, Dead Cop

The AfterNet #1

by Jennifer Petkus

Alex Munroe hated being dead, but he hated not being a cop even more. Luckily the discovery of the afterlife means death isn't quite the disability it once was and new technology has allowed him to partner with rookie cop Linda Yamaguchi. Of course technology still can't give him a physical body or the ability to interact with the billions of other dead people, except through the Internet. But technology has allowed Alex to expand his mind and access the world of information in ways he would have never thought possible when alive, which is a useful skill when the dead start to go missing, and it's up to Alex and Linda to solve the mystery of their disappearance.

Genres: Mystery

310 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 3, 2011

About the author

Jennifer Petkus divides her time creating websites for the dead, writing Jane Austen-themed mysteries, woodworking, aikido and building model starships. She has few credentials, having failed to graduate from the University of Texas with a journalism degree, but did manage to find employment at the Colorado Springs Sun newspaper as a police reporter, copy editor and night city editor before the paper died in 1986. She lives in fear of getting a phone call from her dead Japanese mother. Her husband is the night editor at The Denver Post. Her best friend is a cop. She watched Neil Armstrong walk on the Moon live.

Reviews

[Steven Pemberton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the concept behind this book - there is an afterlife, but it's on Earth. The dead are disembodied minds or spirits that can perceive the physical world, but can't interact with it, nor can they perceive each other. This isolation has caused many of them to go mad. Then, new technology makes it possible for them to access the Internet, allowing them to talk to the living and to each other.

The main character, Alex Munroe, is a dead police officer who's working for the Denver Police Department. I liked him - he has just the right combination of grouchiness, compassion and dedication to duty. He's partnered with a rookie, Linda Yamaguchi, whose character I didn't find quite as convincing or likeable - she spends most of book battling a heavy cold, which doesn't seem enough of an obstacle to hinder her in her work.

The dead face a lot of suspicion and distrust - on patrol, Linda is the only one who can talk to Alex (through a terminal strapped to her arm), and the other cops tend to be sceptical about what he is and what he can do. His salary comes out of the equipment budget, because that's the only way the department can pay him.

A nice touch is that most chapters start with a short document that shows how the discovery of the afterlife has affected the world. One is a newspaper article about a proposal to designate a day of the year as "Open Your Door for the Dead Day" - the dead can't move through physical objects, so they can be trapped in cupboards and other seldom-opened spaces. Another document is the script of a late-night infomercial for a gadget that will allegedly keep dead people away, ensuring they don't spy on the living. And - I love this one - the classic Nigerian scam email has shifted from "I am the wife of a deceased African dictator" to "I am a deceased African dictator."

The main thing I didn't like about this book was that many scenes and chapters didn't seem to be related to solving the mystery of who's kidnapping the dead. They might become relevant in a later book - the ending quite obviously sets up a sequel - but I kept waiting to find out how they were connected to the main plot, and was frustrated when they appeared not to be. This also means there are fewer pages available to show Alex and Linda working on the kidnappings, and so when they solve that (I hope I'm not giving anything away there!), the solution seems rushed. I know real police officers usually have several cases on the go at the same time, but fiction usually ignores this, presenting one major case, with the others omitted or kept to a bare minimum.

Overall, though, I enjoyed the book, and if a sequel appears, I will certainly check it out.

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jennifer Petkus is a Denver author who is doing the city proud, and I'm not just saying that because Tattered Cover (my employer) plays a roll in the book. The concept of this book is absolutely brilliant--the afterlife has been discovered, teeming with all the people who have ever died. Until just recently, they had no way to talk to each other let alone the living world, and sadly, many have gone insane from the isolation.

But now the internet is able to help--these disembodied folks can sign on to Afternet with their energy signatures and communicate with the world and each other. Some are even employed like police officer Alex Monroe, who works with a living partner, Linda, getting disembodied witnesses statements, doing special surveillance (he is invisible, after all), etc. Alex and Linda start to get reports of missing disembodied people and discover a sinister plot against the dead--because the disembodied can't move through physical objects, they can be trapped. Someone is doing just that to thousands of people.

This book has it all--humor, action, bits of philosophy and social/cultural commentary, a science-geek level of very plausible and fascinating sci-fi details that make the mind race--and it's very hard to put down once you open its covers. I'm going to be talking about this book like crazy, it is so fresh, intelligent and engaging that I can't NOT tell people about it. Five stars just aren't enough! READ THIS BOOK!

[Rick-Founder JM CM BOOK CLUB · Rating 5 out of 5]

brilliant- unique book- so very well written- a true original-
very highly recommended. Character,plot and locations so finely drawn!
A JAMES MASON COMMUNITY BOOK CLUB MUST READ

Rick Friedman
Founder
THE JAMES MASON COMMUNITY BOOK CLUB

[Susanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am currently reading GOOD COP DEAD COP by Jennifer Petkus.
Very good so far!

[M.J. Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Cop Dead Cop by Jennifer Petkus is set in Denver, Colorado, not somewhere I am personally acquainted with, however the author depicts it as a location very clearly. In fact, everything Jennifer Petkus writes about is done in a way that assures the reader she knows exactly what she's talking about. On the surface the book reads like a straightforward police procedural with a couple of cops, Alex Munroe and Linda Yamaguchi, who are working together on a series of cases. There's the usual cheeky banter between the two main protagonists and a range of characters, likeable and otherwise, that you'd expect to find in most stories set around a police precinct. Nothing unexpected so far, except for the fact that Alex Munroe died at the age of sixty-two which was already some years ago by the time the story starts. His partner, rookie cop Linda, wears a terminal on her arm which picks up Alex's 'field' and allows her to communicate with him. There's a bit of geeky science stuff to explain how the technology works, but Petkus manages to get this across to the reader without sounding like she has been busy swotting up on those computer manuals they don't even bother to print any more.

We are in a parallel universe (of sorts), where in the late twentieth century it was discovered that an afterlife actually existed and due to the development of 'the afternet' it is suddenly possible to communicate with the dead - or rather 'disembodied' (the word 'dead' is now considered to be a rather prejudicial term) who are only just beginning, for want of a better expression, to find their feet. The book suggests that in the future there may be a growing struggle for 'disembodied rights'. In fact the plot concerns itself with the disappearance of several disembodied people - a rather neat idea I thought - someone appears to have been abducting the dead! The disembodied, who were also invisible to other disembodied people too until the discovery of 'the afternet', often hang around newly installed terminals in Starbucks' coffee shops. Even so, 'afternet' technology is still in its infancy and Yamaguchi has undergone special training to enable her to work with a disembodied partner. I'm not going to get bogged down in the detail concerning communications between the living and those who are de*d, because the author has given these matters a great deal of thought and explains everything a reader needs to know in a skilful and often humorous way, which didn't find me skipping pages or leave me bored even once.

The author writes with an assured confidence, and the book's main protagonists have a life that continues off the page. They are both extremely likeable, interact well together and swiftly established themselves in my imagination. I particularly enjoyed the short witty pieces which were presented as coming from a variety of different sources and preceded most of the chapters. These generally related to matters concerning the afterlife and the 'afternet' and the reaction of the living to it. This is imaginative stuff and Jennifer Petkus employs a sly sense of humour which is very well suited to her smart scenario.

I am not someone who often reads Sci-Fi and if like me you habitually turn away at mention of any science stuff - take my word for it, you have nothing to worry about with Good Cop Dead Cop. Once I had reached the book's end, I was certainly more than ready for another instalment. In this debut novel, Petkus has laid the foundation for what could easily become a very enjoyable series. I understand there is a sequel on the way and I will happily read it - there is a lot of potential here! In fact, although the main characters believe that the case has largely been wound-up, we are privy to facts that strongly suggest they are not - there are more dastardly deeds afoot!

This is well written, a very enjoyable read and I have no hesitation in recommending it.

[Denise Zendel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alex Munroe is a dead cop who uses technology to partner with a live, much younger, female rookie cop, Linda Yamaguchi. Technology allows him to communicate with her and the billions of other dead people through the Internet. Munroe and Yamaguchi work mainly with “disembodied” witnesses to crimes. Occasionally they are called out to rescue someone or assist with SWAT situations. The disembodied start to disappear and no one by Munroe and Yamaguchi think there’s a problem.

This book is an interesting blend of mystery, science fiction, cop procedural, technology and paranormal. I liked the growing relationship between Monroe, the veteran cop whose job was his whole life – and now death – and Yamaguchi, who struggles to fit in a male dominated profession while dealing with her dead Japanese mother who plagues her from the Beyond. The story starts out slowly, but there was something about the characters that made me want to keep reading. And I learned things about the disembodied that I never knew before. Would I re-read this book again? No. But it sure held my interest for a one-time read, and I did like the story and characters enough to want to read more. I'm assuming there will be more, this being labeled "Book 1 in the AfterNet Series."

[Mary Roya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Cop, Dead Cop

This is the most imaginative story that I have read in a long time. I loved the this author built for the dead citizens.

I love the dead detective Munroe. Then ending was fairly satisfying. But you know the mystery isn't resolved yet.

So looking forward to read what happens next!

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting premise that when you die, your soul hangs around and through the "Afternet" you can communicate. Different!

[Dan Andriacco · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a clever genre-crosser, written and at times hilarious with great characters.

[Little Red Readinghood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Odd look at afterlife but enjoyable