- Paperback: 224 pages
- Publisher: Serpent's Tail (May 1 2010)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 184668644X
- ISBN-13: 978-1846686443
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.7 x 1.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 181 g
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #573,928 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
"* 'White-knuckle ride... a cracking piece of hard-boiled noir... different kinds of venality are put wittily under the microscope as the book rattles along to its terrific conclusion' Metro * 'So noir... all the way to a surprisingly bold ending... Fairly zips along' Laura Wilson, Guardian"
Product Description
Praise for Dave Zeltserman:
“ Pariah will keep you glued to its pages. There are no holds barred anywhere in this wonderful launch into evil. The meek beware . . . be-very-ware.” —Charlie Stella
“This fusion of hard-boiled and bitter satire is brand new territory for noir and I suspect that [ Pariah ] will be one of the most talked about novels of 2009.” —Ed Gorman
“The plot of Small Crimes is a thing of beauty.” — The Washington Post
Leonard March walks free from jail after fourteen years' hard time served after turning state’s witness against his Mafia boss Salvatore Lombard. It’s only after Leonard is sentenced that the public learns that he was a Mob hitman with eighteen deaths to answer for.
Leonard is released to public outrage and media furor. He spends his time working as a janitor while looking over his shoulder, fearful of a vigilante attack or revenge hit from his former colleagues. At sixty-two and with plenty of time on his hands, he is at an age when most men grow reflective and attempt to understand their mark on the world. But for Leonard, while the threats to his safety are not imagined, his self-reflection may pose the greatest threat of all.
Dave Zeltserman lives in the Boston area with his wife. Small Crimes was included in The Washington Post ’s Best Books of 2008 and was one of NPR’s top five crime and mystery novels of 2008.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.9 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
STUNNING END TO A MEMORABLE TRILOGY, April 28 2010
By Roger Smith - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Killer (Paperback)
KILLER is the final instalment of Zeltserman's "man-out-of-prison" series. SMALL CRIMES and PARIAH take some beating, but KILLER is superb. When once-upon-a-time hit-man, Leonard March, is freed from prison, he's like an old, de-fanged wolf, battle scarred and shunned by the pack. Zeltserman, in this meditation on the mind of a killer, expertly weaves together two time frames: Leonard now, and Leonard in his bloody heyday. KILLER is a measured, compelling, character study that manages to be at once terrifying and strangely moving, as Leonard struggles with alienation, loneliness, and old ghosts. But don't be lulled into expecting a Hollywood ending to this story: this is vintage Zeltserman, and that means there's always a tail. With a sting. Be warned.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Read to Kill Time!, Jan 2 2011
By James N Simpson - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Killer (Paperback)
I've read a few of Zeltserman's books, and Killer is easily one of the best. Like all Zeltserman novels you go in knowing it may either turn out well for the main character or maybe not, which I wish more authors would do. It's a simple plot, a now become old by age and more importantly by hard time served, man Leonard March is released from prison. He brilliantly had a much would be heavier sentence reduced by half for the murder of a policeman by promising to testify and bring down his employer, mafia boss Salvatore Lombard. His plan was so brilliant, because he forced prosecutors to put in writing that he would never be prosecuted for his other crimes that he would divulge while providing the information that would bring down Lombard. What he didn't tell the prosecution was that those other crimes were the murders of eighteen people. You see Leonard March was a mob hit man.
Like with Zeltserman's Small Crimes initially we the reader don't know should we be hoping this inflictor of terrible atrocities is able to move on with his life or should we in fact be hoping those he comes across get their vengeance. Flashbacks to his years as a hit man paint a different picture to that which the public (and the relatives of the victims) have portrayed of those events. So is or was Leonard really a villain? Zelterserman takes us along for the ride to find out as those who wrongly believe a ruthless killer now trapped in a withered old man's body do, that you can only push an old killer so far. All Leonard wants to do is work hard and move on with a peaceful life and overtime reconnect with his children, who along with his wife who died of cancer while he was behind bars, was what he was doing the highly paid work for in the first place.
It's a good read, these sort of Zeltserman novels remind me of Richard Stark's Parker series in that we know the main character is a violent criminal and if those crimes were against us we'd certainly want to see him stopped, but as readers knowing he's a fictional character, we now still sort of want him to succeed. Through the flashbacks we get a lot more information on Leonard March than Westlake (Stark) ever gave us on Parker though, and for this novel, that's a great thing! Some parts of the novel, Sophie related and so forth are a little predictable but the fun is in how Zeltserman delivers us there.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Astounding!, Nov 25 2010
By Frank A. Stevens Sr. "casertadue" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Killer (Paperback)
Cleverly crafted tale structured about the ebb and flow from present to past in alternate chapters -- two books in one. The climax is the most astonishing one I have ever come across.The Gangster Film Reader (Softcover) (Limelight)
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