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The Hunted
THE HUNTED and THE DAME are now part of THE INTERLOPER , which is available as both a paperback and kindle ebook. THE DAME is being retired immediately, THE HUNTED will be retired May 3rd, and will be on sale from April 25th to May 2nd for $0.99 so that readers can sample what is now the first part of THE INTERLOPER .
74 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 28, 2012
4 people are currently reading
52 people want to read
About the author
Dave Zeltserman
102 books172 followersAuthor of the crime noir novel SMALL CRIMES named by NPR as the best crime and mystery novel of 2008, and by the Washington Post as one of the best novels of 2008, and made into a major film (to be released in 2017) starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Molly Parker, Gary Cole, Robert Forster, and Jacki Weaver.
Shamus Award winner for JULIUS KATZ. Ellery Queen's Readers Choice Award winner for ARCHIE'S BEEN FRAMED and ARCHIE SOLVES THE CASE.
PARIAH named by the Washington Post as one of the best books of 2009. THE CARETAKER OF LORNE FIELD (2010) shortlisted by American Library Association for best horror novel of the year and named a horror gem by Library Journal. MONSTER selected by Booklist Magazine for their 2013 list of top 10 horror novels and WBUR for one of the best novels of the year.
OUTSOURCED (2011) and THE CARETAKER OF LORNE FIELD are also currently being developed for film.
Shamus Award winner for JULIUS KATZ. Ellery Queen's Readers Choice Award winner for ARCHIE'S BEEN FRAMED and ARCHIE SOLVES THE CASE.
PARIAH named by the Washington Post as one of the best books of 2009. THE CARETAKER OF LORNE FIELD (2010) shortlisted by American Library Association for best horror novel of the year and named a horror gem by Library Journal. MONSTER selected by Booklist Magazine for their 2013 list of top 10 horror novels and WBUR for one of the best novels of the year.
OUTSOURCED (2011) and THE CARETAKER OF LORNE FIELD are also currently being developed for film.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
December 3, 2012
Among the many wonders of the Internet is a resurgence of pulp fiction. There are many definitions of pulp fiction and I don’t plan on starting another one with this review. The best one I’ve ran across is: a short, action-filled story with characters who are pure in their motives. Noir came along at the end of WW2 with characters not absolutely good or evil. In the 1960′s, the boom in paperback book publishing unleashed many blends of pulp and noir with the action series. Mickey Spillane and Lester Dent stared at each other from the book aisles in the local supermarket.
The rise of electronic publishing is making it easy for established writers, such as Mr. Zelterserman, to send their works directly to the reader. Jeter is doing this with his Kim Oh series. Other writers are following suite, issuing new works to the reader or opening up their extensive backlog (Hello Michael Stackpole, what’s taking you so long to get those Horn novels back out to us?).
Dave Zeltserman continues exploring the themes of Outsourced with The Hunted series. In the first novel, we are introduced to government assassin Dan Willis, a former military specialist who has returned to his old profession after losing a job as a representative for a liquor company. It’s the not-so-near future and unemployment is sky-rocketing. When Dan is contacted by a shadowy agency known as “The Factory”, he finds himself employed to terminate sleeper agents for a secret insurgency raging across the USA.
But Willis begins questioning his work. After 20 or so hits, he begins to wonder about the profile of the targets. When he is given an unemployed computer specialist, Willis asks his contact at The Factory if they’d made a mistake. “No mistake”, he’s told, “this is war being fought to the end”. Willis carries out his latest hit, but the seed of doubt has been sown.
I won’t give away the plot of the series or book and reveal to you why Willis is really killing his targets. Suffice it to say, the discovery was stunning. A little far-fetched, but not too crazy in the world of paperback pulp. Again the connection to pulp and noir writing is strong with this book. Which is why I call it “New Real Pulp”, to distinguish it from the people trying to duplicate the hero pulp of the 1930′s.
My only issue with the book is the price. A little steep for a download which clocks in at 70 pages. But still a great read which kept me going back to the book. I’m reading the next one in the series too.
The rise of electronic publishing is making it easy for established writers, such as Mr. Zelterserman, to send their works directly to the reader. Jeter is doing this with his Kim Oh series. Other writers are following suite, issuing new works to the reader or opening up their extensive backlog (Hello Michael Stackpole, what’s taking you so long to get those Horn novels back out to us?).
Dave Zeltserman continues exploring the themes of Outsourced with The Hunted series. In the first novel, we are introduced to government assassin Dan Willis, a former military specialist who has returned to his old profession after losing a job as a representative for a liquor company. It’s the not-so-near future and unemployment is sky-rocketing. When Dan is contacted by a shadowy agency known as “The Factory”, he finds himself employed to terminate sleeper agents for a secret insurgency raging across the USA.
But Willis begins questioning his work. After 20 or so hits, he begins to wonder about the profile of the targets. When he is given an unemployed computer specialist, Willis asks his contact at The Factory if they’d made a mistake. “No mistake”, he’s told, “this is war being fought to the end”. Willis carries out his latest hit, but the seed of doubt has been sown.
I won’t give away the plot of the series or book and reveal to you why Willis is really killing his targets. Suffice it to say, the discovery was stunning. A little far-fetched, but not too crazy in the world of paperback pulp. Again the connection to pulp and noir writing is strong with this book. Which is why I call it “New Real Pulp”, to distinguish it from the people trying to duplicate the hero pulp of the 1930′s.
My only issue with the book is the price. A little steep for a download which clocks in at 70 pages. But still a great read which kept me going back to the book. I’m reading the next one in the series too.
July 22, 2012
In Manhunt and other noirboiled digests of the 1950s, unusually long stories, which often had short numbered chapters, were called “novelettes.” If the noirboiled novelette should become popular in the 21st century, it will be because these stories—too short to stand alone as novels, too long for most magazines—have found their perfect home: e-readers. Dave Zeltserman, the hardest-working man in noirboiled, gives the genre a go with The Hunted Series. The first entry in the series details the backstory and early career of hitman Dan Willis. My favorite thing about Zeltserman’s books is that his plots never go exactly where I expect them to, which is a joy when you spend your time rutting endlessly in the same genre. (The most important lesson that Zeltserman learned from Jim Thompson is this: Great writers take chances.) This time out, the unexpected twist nearly crushed my credulity, but I clicked through this novelette fast enough that I will surely read the next in the series.
March 2, 2012
Dan Willis began to suspect something when he recognized his latest target. The man had set beside him in the van when he'd been recruited by The Factory, a division of Homeland Security. The two hadn't spoken(ordered not to) and Dan had not seen him since.
A man out of work after twelve years as a liquor salesman, and eleven discouraging months of looking for work, the job offer had seemed like a godsend. Of course he had to pass a battery of tests, which he did, before the job was offered. Ex-military, he was loyal to his country which now had a new enemy. Insurgents working from within, often going years as a normal citizen, and his new job was to take them out.
Twenty-three kills so far.
But this latest was troubling. Dan went ahead anyway.
It was his next target that really hooked him. A thirty-two year old woman with a ten year old son, she worked at a dentist's office as a receptionist.
A bit of looking and Dan started to realize what was really going on. It also put the Factory out to kill him and he got mad.
When Dan Willis got mad, God help anyone in his way...
First in a new action/crime/government conspiracy series.
Looks good.
A man out of work after twelve years as a liquor salesman, and eleven discouraging months of looking for work, the job offer had seemed like a godsend. Of course he had to pass a battery of tests, which he did, before the job was offered. Ex-military, he was loyal to his country which now had a new enemy. Insurgents working from within, often going years as a normal citizen, and his new job was to take them out.
Twenty-three kills so far.
But this latest was troubling. Dan went ahead anyway.
It was his next target that really hooked him. A thirty-two year old woman with a ten year old son, she worked at a dentist's office as a receptionist.
A bit of looking and Dan started to realize what was really going on. It also put the Factory out to kill him and he got mad.
When Dan Willis got mad, God help anyone in his way...
First in a new action/crime/government conspiracy series.
Looks good.
October 29, 2013
The Bourne films have done such a good job of imprinting what a government spook gone rogue should look like that it's hard for variations to get any kind of purchase. I simply want Jason Bourne. Look at the Bourne franchise's fourth outing. I'm not buying it, I want Jason Bourne. I want Matt Damon as Jason Bourne.
Dave Zeltserman's The Hunted has a similar problem, in that for the first few pages I couldn't picture him as anybody other than Matt Damon. It didn't last long. That's not Zeltserman's fault, it's mine. Because once you get past that, this is a pretty cool novella about Willis, a killer for a government agency which has gone off the rails. After killing more than twenty people, he starts questioning whether his targets are actually part of an insurgency his handler says is out to destroy the United States.
The book is not long, and you could read through it in an afternoon. Its language is as sparse as the main character's personality, though he does love the dog of a man he has murdered.
The book is enjoyable, though it never really gets the blood pumping. It's hard to feel much for Willis, even if he does eventually conclude that the agency he kills for has warped well beyond common morality. He is a cold fish with absolutely no ties (apart from the dog), who spent 11 months unemployed, and was so desperate for work he killed unquestioningly. Maybe the first few, but with somebody who clearly has conscience, I'd expect the self-analysis a little earlier.
The agency's reasoning didn't convince me either, unless they're a paramilitary wing of the Tea Party. I couldn't buy it.
Still, I raced through it, and Willis will undoubtedly gain depth and breadth in future books in the series.
Dave Zeltserman's The Hunted has a similar problem, in that for the first few pages I couldn't picture him as anybody other than Matt Damon. It didn't last long. That's not Zeltserman's fault, it's mine. Because once you get past that, this is a pretty cool novella about Willis, a killer for a government agency which has gone off the rails. After killing more than twenty people, he starts questioning whether his targets are actually part of an insurgency his handler says is out to destroy the United States.
The book is not long, and you could read through it in an afternoon. Its language is as sparse as the main character's personality, though he does love the dog of a man he has murdered.
The book is enjoyable, though it never really gets the blood pumping. It's hard to feel much for Willis, even if he does eventually conclude that the agency he kills for has warped well beyond common morality. He is a cold fish with absolutely no ties (apart from the dog), who spent 11 months unemployed, and was so desperate for work he killed unquestioningly. Maybe the first few, but with somebody who clearly has conscience, I'd expect the self-analysis a little earlier.
The agency's reasoning didn't convince me either, unless they're a paramilitary wing of the Tea Party. I couldn't buy it.
Still, I raced through it, and Willis will undoubtedly gain depth and breadth in future books in the series.
May 9, 2012
This is the first novella-length entry in an exciting new series from noir master Zeltserman. Dave Willis, recruited into a shadowy organization called The Factory, seeks out and exterminates anyone whom his superiors deem “threats to national security”. But he’s soon riddled with doubts about the job and begins to suspect The Factory is not what it claims to be, forcing him to make a moral choice that could put his name next on the hit list. There’s maybe a bit too much exposition in this first outing as Zeltserman lays out the premise, but the action soon kicks into high gear and the reader is swept along in the high-octane thrills. Looking forward to seeing where this one goes.
January 2, 2017
Found the premise too pat and absolute. The fictional world it created seemed like a bureaucratic dream. Okay, the protagonist breaks out of the system, fine. It's just hard to swallow that such a smooth-running and extensive system would even exist.
Once it got past the set up chapters, then the action moved along okay, kept me interested. Glimpses of depth for the protagonist showed up through the dog and a love interest. Overall though it didn't grab me.
Once it got past the set up chapters, then the action moved along okay, kept me interested. Glimpses of depth for the protagonist showed up through the dog and a love interest. Overall though it didn't grab me.
March 27, 2012
The perfect KINDLE afternoon read! Zeltserman uses bare knuckle prose to pound out a solid set up for an action series that looks like it will have serious staying power. A Noir Nikita, THE HUNTED is the kind of book that will satisfy a variety of readers and bring them back for more. Highly Recommended.
March 6, 2012
A real disappointment. I've liked a lot of Zeltserman's books in the past, but the dialogue and plot of this one reminded me of something a 16-year old fanboy might write. Glad it was only $2.99.
January 30, 2014
Interesting solution to a particularly thorny economic problem.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews