Rome was an extraordinary place back in 1960. Economic prosperity culminating in the Dolce Vita era, Italian haute couture up and down the runway, the summer Olympics, the dawn of giallo cinema, Gina Lollobrigida, Sophia Loren, Claudia Cardinale and all the other iconic actresses. And more than anything else, there were dinosaurs from outer space. 

The Saurians arrived en masse five years earlier and quasi-colonized the planet. Explained author James W. Evans: “There were approximately 12 million Saurians on the planet now, along with a mothership the size of Sicily in high orbit, and a fleet of smaller saucers busy across the solar system.”

Saurian Empire technology changed the world completely. It introduced clean and limitless energy, flying cars and high-speed transit. Together, the dinos and humans successfully colonized the moon and began terraforming Mars.  

Most of the Saurian’s looked like anchisaurs, small and obscure dinosaurs from the early Jurassic period. But there were other dinosaurs in the mix as well—the allosaurus, for example. 

These allosaurs were second-class citizens used mainly for soldiers, scouts and slave labor. As a group, they were compliant and disposable. 

One allosaur named Rover was different, however. Because of chemicals or radiation (or just evolution), Rover had somehow become a sentient being. His work during WWII (including twisting Adolf Hitler’s head from his body) had earned him a lot of goodwill with the U.S. Government. 

During the day, Rover was a private investigator working cases involving marital infidelity and domestic abuse. But at night he strapped on a katana and a backpack filled with Batman-like gadgets and transformed himself into an ultra-violent vigilante named the Crimson Executioner. 

Inspired by the Dark Knight in New York and the Shadow from Los Angeles, the Crimson Executioner protected the working-class people of Rome from bandits, bagmen and bullies. By writing his nom de plume on walls using the blood from his victims, Rover’s nightly adventures blurred the line between giallo cinema and superhero comic books. I liked it very much. 

Beyond the solo adventures of the Crimson Executioner, Rover and his human sidekick Robert Levin were recruited by the Rome Police Department to help solve a gaggle of murder mysteries featuring beautiful (and bored) ambassador wives along with various coed libertines. 

Everything quickly becomes a jumble of clues and Rover and Levin don’t know what to think. The killer is either a maniac, a mobster, the member of a post-war Fascist motorcycle gang, a Russian hitman or the entire U.S. Government. 

At some point, the author has to step in and clean up the mess. The Crimson Executioner was pleased with the resolution and anxious to get started on his next adventure. Said the author in conclusion: “The allosaur smiled a terrifying smile that promised nothing but hell.”

[ Giallosaurus / By James W Evans / First Printing: March 2024 / ISBN: 9798321510810 ]