Product Overview
In this sequel to Bad Thoughts, Bill Shannon and his ex-wife, Susan,
are reunited and living in Boulder, Colorado. When Shannon is hired to
investigate the brutal murder of two college students, he finds
himself mixed up with evil yoga studios, dangerous Russian mobsters,
and worse! Bad Karma introduces a new hard-boiled PI series with a New
Age twist.
Detective Bill Shannon, introduced in Bad Thoughts (2007), is back,
and a welcome return it is. .. Its as though Zeltserman has aimed a
12-gauge sawed-off at smarmy New Age sensitivities and fired off both
barrels. Irony abounds, as Shannon unmasks deviant gurus, evil yoga
studios, Russian gangsters, and guys who use their baseball implements
in socially unacceptable ways. If you liked the first novel in this
series, youll love this one. Elliott Swanson, Booklist
Zeltserman is the author of increasingly accomplished crime novels, distinguished by spare and crisp prose, believable dialogue, imaginative plot twists and tightly wound characters who don't wear out their welcome.
Newsday
Superb mix of humor and horror...Zeltserman orchestrates events perfectly...Readers will keep turning pages to see how the ambiguous plot resolves.
Publishers Weekly
Harrowing. Zeltserman colors it black with the best of them.
Kirkus Reviews
Crime writer Zeltserman has produced a nail-biter...The narrative is straightforward and gritty, reminiscent of works of Dashiell Hammett...gripping and actually 'horrifying,' this title is recommended for horror fans and readers who may relish unpleasant surprises.
Library Journal
There's a new name to add to the pantheon of the sons and daughters of Cain: Dave Zeltserman. His new novel, Small Crimes, is ingeniously twisted and imbued with a glossy coating of black humor The plot of Small Crimes ricochets out from [its] claustrophobic opening, and it's a thing of sordid beauty.
Maureen Corrigan for NPRs Best Books of 2008
[Small Crimes] deserves comparison with the best of James Ellroy.
Publishers Weekly, starred review
A strong piece of work, lean and spare, but muscular where a noir novel should be.
The Boston Globe
Not only does the novel have clean, simple prose, ample suspense and twists, and a fast-paced plot--standard fare; it also offers brilliant psychological insight into tortured souls, and on a deeper level, it is a moralistic tale about how small crimes beget larger ones.
Bookmarks Magazine
Small Crimes proves a deft entry in the tradition that goes back to Jim Thompsons The Killer Inside Me, James M. Cains The Postman Always Rings Twice and Charles Willefords High Priest of California small masterpieces celebrating the psychopath as a grinning archetype, as American as apple pie.
Sun-Sentinel
What a sick puppy of a writer Dave Zeltserman is!...a doozy of a doom-laden crime story that not only makes merry with the justice system, but also satirizes those bottom feeders in the publishing industry who would sign Osama bin Laden to a six-figure contract for his memoirs, if only they could figure out which cave to send their lawyers into...I'd say Zeltserman can't top Pariah for its sheer diabolical inventiveness, but he probably will. And given that the corrupting vision of his work is so powerful, I ought to know better than to read the next novel he writes. But I probably will anyway.
The Washington Post
Pariah is sure to catapult Zeltserman head and shoulders above other Boston authors. This is not only a great crime book, but a gripping read that will crossover to allow greater exposure for this rising talent.
BOOKGASM.com
This novel[Killer]is everything hard-boiled fiction should be - compact, direct and disciplined, and concerned with humans rather than stereotypes. It is also, for all its violent subject matter, a quietly told story, which makes its tension all the more intense
Mat Coward, Morning Star
