What do you think?
The Shannon Novels
"Dark, brutal, captivating -- this is one hell of a book, the kind of book that doesn't let go of you once you start it. Dave Zeltserman is clearly the real deal." Steve Hamilton, Edgar Award-winning author of THE LOCK ARTIST
From Shamus Award-winning author Dave Zeltserman comes these two gripping and intense thrillers unlike any you've ever seen. In BAD THOUGHTS horrifying murders are being committed in Massachusetts and everything seems to be pointing to one of two possibilities: Bill Shannon has gone insane or a killer has come back from the grave to torment him. In the sequel, BAD KARMA, Shannon has moved to Boulder, Colorado, and when he's hired to investigate the murder of two college students, he finds himself mixed up with deadly Russian gangsters, evil yoga studios, deviant cults, and worse!
From Shamus Award-winning author Dave Zeltserman comes these two gripping and intense thrillers unlike any you've ever seen. In BAD THOUGHTS horrifying murders are being committed in Massachusetts and everything seems to be pointing to one of two possibilities: Bill Shannon has gone insane or a killer has come back from the grave to torment him. In the sequel, BAD KARMA, Shannon has moved to Boulder, Colorado, and when he's hired to investigate the murder of two college students, he finds himself mixed up with deadly Russian gangsters, evil yoga studios, deviant cults, and worse!
- GenresMystery
468 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 2013
About the author
Dave Zeltserman
104 books177 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. SMALL CRIMES has been made into the Netflix film of the same name, starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Molly Parker, Gary Cole, Robert Forster, and Jacki Weaver.
Edgar Award winner for JULIUS KATZ DRAWS A STRAIGHT FLUSH, Shamus and Derringer Award winner for JULIUS KATZ. Ellery Queen's Readers 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.
Edgar Award winner for JULIUS KATZ DRAWS A STRAIGHT FLUSH, Shamus and Derringer Award winner for JULIUS KATZ. Ellery Queen's Readers 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.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 2, 2017
In a literary universe in which tough cops are a dime a dozen, author Dave Zeltserman came up with a true hardboiled original in Bill Shannon, the protagonist of two of Zeltserman's novels, Bad Thoughts and Bad Karma. The books are a combination of procedural mysteries, character studies, and quite graphic action scenes, with a fair amount of the paranormal thrown in as well. The results are a detective and a couple of books that should stay with readers quite a while. This collection, entitled The Shannon Novels includes both of Zeltserman's Shannon books, one of which is not available as a standalone Kindle purchase currently.
The first novel, Bad Thoughts, is the better of the two and one of the best works of its type that I've read in a long time. In this book, Shannon is a cop in a Boston suburb who has been trying to deal with a boyhood trauma for two decades. When he was 13, he came home from school to find a psycho torturing and killing his mother. Shannon killed the man but has understandably been plagued by the memory ever since. As an adult, he has suffered weeklong, alcohol-fueled blackouts near the anniversary date of her death. Now, a new serial killer of young women is on the loose in Boston, and Shannon gets far too involved in the case. As the case progresses however, it becomes increasingly clear that the killer has a personal agenda with Shannon, and that the case involves some paranormal elements as well..
Bad Thoughts is the type of book that should be experienced and appreciated with as little advance knowledge as possible. Author Zeltserman reveals the identity of the killer and the reason behind the killings fairly early in the book, but that revelation actually makes the book considerable more interesting and considerably more violent. Readers should be forewarned that Bad Thoughts is not for everyone. The level of violence and depravity in this book is exceptionally high, bordering on torture porn in a couple of places (the finale has some exceptionally gruesome imagery that, depending on a reader’s sensitivity, may totally disgust or totally satisfy emotionally). In addition, the book requires an enormous suspension of disbelief and a willingness to accept paranormal elements into a tough cop story. Zeltserman’s background is in hardboiled crime stories, and he is more at home in the sections of the book dealing with Shannon’s and his fellow cops’ investigations. Fans of traditional tough cop novels will easily relate to these sections. The paranormal sequences don’t seem to work as well for me, and the author wisely doesn’t go into too detailed of an explanation. Essentially, the paranormal becomes something akin to warp drive on Star Trek, something you accept in order to move the story around while you try not to figure it out too much.
Bad Karma takes place about five years after the events in the first book, as the now retired Shannon has moved to Boulder, CO, and works as a private detective. He winds up getting involved in two different cases. In the first, a pair of college students are found beaten to death apparently by an intruder in a robbery gone bad. An insurance company hires Shannon to find out what really happened. In the second case, he agrees to help out the mother of a missing girl who has joined a cult that has connections to some unsavory Russian gangsters. Of course, as most mystery fans already know, when the lead character is working on two seemingly completely unconnected cases in a book, they often intersect, as they do here in a rather unusual way.
As mysteries go, the cases Shannon works on in Bad Karma aren’t all that mysterious. Most people will be able to figure out the killer of the college students well before Shannon does, partially because the author’s method of dropping clues is a bit obvious. The case involving the cult isn’t really a mystery at all, just a matter of Shannon proving to be a tougher guy than the slimy cult leader or the Russians. But the cult case proves to be rather interesting all the same because the author does a good job of describing the workings of a cult and then builds suspense as Shannon tries to protect his ex-wife, who once again finds herself the target of some rather unsavory villains.
What I really liked about these books, in addition to the often compelling storylines, was the development of Shannon as a character over the course of the two novels. In Bad Thoughts, he’s a total wreck, suffering from blackouts and with a drinking problem to boot. Many of these problems are due to the serial killer he’s chasing, and it’s only after the final showdown that he begins to start putting his life back together. By the time Bad Karma rolls around he’s doing somewhat better, and the book showcases his continuing attempts to heal both himself and his relationship with his ex-wife.
Bad Thoughts is a stunning original, with a bizarrely fascinating storyline, a memorably twisted villain and an epic final confrontation between Shannon and the killer. Bad Karma can’t match the heights the first novel achieves, and the plot is somewhat familiar, but it’s well written as well and helps reveal more of the hero’s somewhat fragile mental state. Rating them individiually, I would give Bad Thoughts five stars and Bad Karma four stars. However, as a value priced collection that includes one book that’s difficult to find as a standalone book, The Shannon Novels easily rates five stars.
The first novel, Bad Thoughts, is the better of the two and one of the best works of its type that I've read in a long time. In this book, Shannon is a cop in a Boston suburb who has been trying to deal with a boyhood trauma for two decades. When he was 13, he came home from school to find a psycho torturing and killing his mother. Shannon killed the man but has understandably been plagued by the memory ever since. As an adult, he has suffered weeklong, alcohol-fueled blackouts near the anniversary date of her death. Now, a new serial killer of young women is on the loose in Boston, and Shannon gets far too involved in the case. As the case progresses however, it becomes increasingly clear that the killer has a personal agenda with Shannon, and that the case involves some paranormal elements as well..
Bad Thoughts is the type of book that should be experienced and appreciated with as little advance knowledge as possible. Author Zeltserman reveals the identity of the killer and the reason behind the killings fairly early in the book, but that revelation actually makes the book considerable more interesting and considerably more violent. Readers should be forewarned that Bad Thoughts is not for everyone. The level of violence and depravity in this book is exceptionally high, bordering on torture porn in a couple of places (the finale has some exceptionally gruesome imagery that, depending on a reader’s sensitivity, may totally disgust or totally satisfy emotionally). In addition, the book requires an enormous suspension of disbelief and a willingness to accept paranormal elements into a tough cop story. Zeltserman’s background is in hardboiled crime stories, and he is more at home in the sections of the book dealing with Shannon’s and his fellow cops’ investigations. Fans of traditional tough cop novels will easily relate to these sections. The paranormal sequences don’t seem to work as well for me, and the author wisely doesn’t go into too detailed of an explanation. Essentially, the paranormal becomes something akin to warp drive on Star Trek, something you accept in order to move the story around while you try not to figure it out too much.
Bad Karma takes place about five years after the events in the first book, as the now retired Shannon has moved to Boulder, CO, and works as a private detective. He winds up getting involved in two different cases. In the first, a pair of college students are found beaten to death apparently by an intruder in a robbery gone bad. An insurance company hires Shannon to find out what really happened. In the second case, he agrees to help out the mother of a missing girl who has joined a cult that has connections to some unsavory Russian gangsters. Of course, as most mystery fans already know, when the lead character is working on two seemingly completely unconnected cases in a book, they often intersect, as they do here in a rather unusual way.
As mysteries go, the cases Shannon works on in Bad Karma aren’t all that mysterious. Most people will be able to figure out the killer of the college students well before Shannon does, partially because the author’s method of dropping clues is a bit obvious. The case involving the cult isn’t really a mystery at all, just a matter of Shannon proving to be a tougher guy than the slimy cult leader or the Russians. But the cult case proves to be rather interesting all the same because the author does a good job of describing the workings of a cult and then builds suspense as Shannon tries to protect his ex-wife, who once again finds herself the target of some rather unsavory villains.
What I really liked about these books, in addition to the often compelling storylines, was the development of Shannon as a character over the course of the two novels. In Bad Thoughts, he’s a total wreck, suffering from blackouts and with a drinking problem to boot. Many of these problems are due to the serial killer he’s chasing, and it’s only after the final showdown that he begins to start putting his life back together. By the time Bad Karma rolls around he’s doing somewhat better, and the book showcases his continuing attempts to heal both himself and his relationship with his ex-wife.
Bad Thoughts is a stunning original, with a bizarrely fascinating storyline, a memorably twisted villain and an epic final confrontation between Shannon and the killer. Bad Karma can’t match the heights the first novel achieves, and the plot is somewhat familiar, but it’s well written as well and helps reveal more of the hero’s somewhat fragile mental state. Rating them individiually, I would give Bad Thoughts five stars and Bad Karma four stars. However, as a value priced collection that includes one book that’s difficult to find as a standalone book, The Shannon Novels easily rates five stars.
April 18, 2020
Craziness you can't put down!
I always enjoy reading stories with twists and turns. These stories went directions that were unusual - mystical, spiritual, paranormal. The villains were as awful as one could imagine. And the hero truly paid a high price to solve the mysteries.
I always enjoy reading stories with twists and turns. These stories went directions that were unusual - mystical, spiritual, paranormal. The villains were as awful as one could imagine. And the hero truly paid a high price to solve the mysteries.
June 25, 2024
Liked that two novels were presented in one book.
Shannon is a realistic person but he faces personal challenges. Is he thinking straight?
Novels keep the reader interested - enough twists to move the story but not so many that one gets lost.
Shannon is a realistic person but he faces personal challenges. Is he thinking straight?
Novels keep the reader interested - enough twists to move the story but not so many that one gets lost.
July 11, 2017
Well written, but with (in my opinion) a ridiculous premise. Also (for me) far too dark, grim, violent, and depressing.
February 6, 2015
Good Pair of Books
In Bad Thoughts, Massachusetts investigator Bill Shannon investigates a series of murders that bring back bad childhood memories, its sequel Bad Karma taking him to Colorado, where he deals with foes such as Russian gangsters. Both books are enjoyable, even if their endings feel abrupt.
In Bad Thoughts, Massachusetts investigator Bill Shannon investigates a series of murders that bring back bad childhood memories, its sequel Bad Karma taking him to Colorado, where he deals with foes such as Russian gangsters. Both books are enjoyable, even if their endings feel abrupt.
June 26, 2014
Not a bad book. A fun, fast, simple read, but entertaining while I was a busy, busy girl. Great for a day at the beach.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews