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Badass Gets Out of Jail #1
Small Crimes
Chosen by NPR and the Washington Post as one of the best crime & mystery novels of 2008, Small Crimes is now a major film starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones' Jaime Lannister)Bent copper Joe Denton gets out of prison suspiciously early after disfiguring the district attorney. Nobody wants Joe to hang around, not his ex-wife, his parents or his former colleagues - if he had any decency he'd get out of town and start over. Unfortunately, Joe has precious little decency - and a whole lot of unfinished business to attend to. A tale of redemption and revenge as dark and violent as it's bitterly comic, Small Crimes is the UK debut of hard-boiled hotshot Dave Zeltserman.
274 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 2008
17 people are currently reading
616 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 - 30 of 81 reviews
August 24, 2011
This is a dark, noirish tale of tormented characters who have no real hope of happiness or redemtpion. Joe Denton was a corrupt cop who lost his soul, his wife and his children to his gambling and drug addictions even before he brutally attacked Phil Coakley, the D.A., and disfigured him for life.
Joe has spent seven years in jail and once released would like nothing more than to put his past behind him, reunite with his wife and children, and live happily every after. But within hours of his release Joe's checkered past has reached out to grab him once again. His parents are uneasy and would rather he not stay with them; his ex-wife and kids have left for parts unknown; an old crime boss is dying of cancer and threatening to take Joe down with him, and his corrupt ex-boss wants Joe to clean up the mess that threatens the both of them.
Denton finds himself in an impossible situation but struggles to make the best of it. But the tentacles of his tortured past grip him like a vice and mock the dreams to which he now aspires. This is a lean, taut book that will appeal to those who like their crime fiction raw and cut close to the bone, and Dave Zeltzerman is a writer to look out for.
Joe has spent seven years in jail and once released would like nothing more than to put his past behind him, reunite with his wife and children, and live happily every after. But within hours of his release Joe's checkered past has reached out to grab him once again. His parents are uneasy and would rather he not stay with them; his ex-wife and kids have left for parts unknown; an old crime boss is dying of cancer and threatening to take Joe down with him, and his corrupt ex-boss wants Joe to clean up the mess that threatens the both of them.
Denton finds himself in an impossible situation but struggles to make the best of it. But the tentacles of his tortured past grip him like a vice and mock the dreams to which he now aspires. This is a lean, taut book that will appeal to those who like their crime fiction raw and cut close to the bone, and Dave Zeltzerman is a writer to look out for.
March 29, 2025
This gem of a novel has fewer than 100 reviews, while total pieces-of-shit mysteries like The Disappearing Woman in the Window on the Train garner tens of thousands of them. What is wrong with readers?
I watched the Neflix movie of Small Crimes first which is the wrong order. For some reason I felt that there was a good story hiding beneath what I thought was a barely comprehensible screenplay. I didn’t even know that it was a novel, but I looked around to get it in print—from movie to book is always an upgrade. I was right that there was a good story buried under the film. When I watched the film again after reading this fine novel, I found it to be a masterpiece of noir cinema.
Joe Denton is a completely toxic human being and should be avoided at all costs. Bad people and worse deeds are attracted to him like a magnet, yet he can’t seem to figure out why because he thinks he’s a pretty good guy. He lets his jailer beat him at checkers right up until he’s released after serving seven years in the county jail for disfiguring a district attorney. According to Joe, it really wasn’t his fault because of the coke and booze. And things go immediately downhill after serving a sentence which everyone thinks was too lenient.
Joe may have served his sentence, but a lot of people feel that he has yet to pay his debt to society, or at least to the society that Joe once called home, mainly one of crooked cops and sociopathic hoodlums. Joe owes money and he has some other debts to pay which involve murder. For some reason the film used this exposition of the story to spark a love story, of sorts. The book is pure noir and there’s nothing approaching romance.
Joe needs someone to be dead or he will end up worse. He flirts with a nurse caring for his intended victim. He will try to enlist her to do his dirty work. He knows that she has a history of, how shall I say, less than exemplary patient care. Just how the movie thought to create a romance out of this pathetic and darkly comedic couple is beyond my imagination:
It felt nice sitting with her. I know it sounds crazy, knowing what she had done, but it wasn't as if I was much of a choirboy myself. Body-count-wise, she might've had an edge, but not by much, and not if you included the maimed and wounded.
Someone queue the violins and let the romance begin!
The little corner of Vermont where the story takes place must be one of the worst places on earth, filled with murderous thugs—many of whom are policemen—and scattered with seedy strip clubs, torture chambers, meth labs, and dingy motels. In the true noir tradition, you just know that no one is getting out of this New England hell. No one even deserves to escape, and especially not Joe Denton.
His wife and two daughters made it out, thank goodness. His ex wants absolutely nothing to do with Typhoid Joe and his own parents don’t want him to be in contact with them. Joe’s fantasy of one day being a good father are about as remote as his dreams of traveling to Europe or going to a trade school to learn a career at 40 something. He can’t even convince himself that any of this is possible and he certainly doesn’t convince the reader that he is capable of anything other than mayhem. Get ready for mayhem.
I watched the Neflix movie of Small Crimes first which is the wrong order. For some reason I felt that there was a good story hiding beneath what I thought was a barely comprehensible screenplay. I didn’t even know that it was a novel, but I looked around to get it in print—from movie to book is always an upgrade. I was right that there was a good story buried under the film. When I watched the film again after reading this fine novel, I found it to be a masterpiece of noir cinema.
Joe Denton is a completely toxic human being and should be avoided at all costs. Bad people and worse deeds are attracted to him like a magnet, yet he can’t seem to figure out why because he thinks he’s a pretty good guy. He lets his jailer beat him at checkers right up until he’s released after serving seven years in the county jail for disfiguring a district attorney. According to Joe, it really wasn’t his fault because of the coke and booze. And things go immediately downhill after serving a sentence which everyone thinks was too lenient.
Joe may have served his sentence, but a lot of people feel that he has yet to pay his debt to society, or at least to the society that Joe once called home, mainly one of crooked cops and sociopathic hoodlums. Joe owes money and he has some other debts to pay which involve murder. For some reason the film used this exposition of the story to spark a love story, of sorts. The book is pure noir and there’s nothing approaching romance.
Joe needs someone to be dead or he will end up worse. He flirts with a nurse caring for his intended victim. He will try to enlist her to do his dirty work. He knows that she has a history of, how shall I say, less than exemplary patient care. Just how the movie thought to create a romance out of this pathetic and darkly comedic couple is beyond my imagination:
It felt nice sitting with her. I know it sounds crazy, knowing what she had done, but it wasn't as if I was much of a choirboy myself. Body-count-wise, she might've had an edge, but not by much, and not if you included the maimed and wounded.
Someone queue the violins and let the romance begin!
The little corner of Vermont where the story takes place must be one of the worst places on earth, filled with murderous thugs—many of whom are policemen—and scattered with seedy strip clubs, torture chambers, meth labs, and dingy motels. In the true noir tradition, you just know that no one is getting out of this New England hell. No one even deserves to escape, and especially not Joe Denton.
His wife and two daughters made it out, thank goodness. His ex wants absolutely nothing to do with Typhoid Joe and his own parents don’t want him to be in contact with them. Joe’s fantasy of one day being a good father are about as remote as his dreams of traveling to Europe or going to a trade school to learn a career at 40 something. He can’t even convince himself that any of this is possible and he certainly doesn’t convince the reader that he is capable of anything other than mayhem. Get ready for mayhem.
April 24, 2017
Small Crimes is the first book in Dave Zeltserman's impressive three book "Badass Get Out of Jail" sequence. They do not have to be read in order. What distinguishes the books are the different voices of three lethal dudes. In Pariah, Zeltserman presented Kyle Nevin, a heat seeking lunatic that had the novel, at times, bordering on a black comedy. In Killer, the author offered up Leonard March, a 60-something mob killer. The voice was more measured, reflective, honest in its own way, but still dark as hell. In Small Crimes, Zelserman gives us Joe Denton, a disgraced cop who once stabbed the district attorney 13 times in the face with a letter opener. Denton is the most unreliable voice of the three "badasses," and the most manipulative.
The novel opens with Denton, on the morning of his release playing checkers with a slow-witted old jail guard. He's been deliberately losing checkers for the relatively easy seven year sentence (at the county jail). Denton should have been doing time at the maximum security facility, but strings were pulled, and his time was soft because Denton kept his mouth shut. The police force in Denton's home town is throughly corrupt, and works closely with a brutal mobster, who happens to be dying of cancer when Denton gets out. Almost immediately Denton is placed between a rock and a hard place by the police chief, Dan Pleasant(!). Either the the dying mobster or the local district attorney (Denton's old stabbing victim) needs to die, and Denton has to be the agent. Denton is reluctant (no doubt because either death would make him the number one suspect), and spends the rest of the book trying to work around this dilemma. Hanging over his head is Pleasant's promised "Plan B."
Compounding this pressure cooker is that Denton's family doesn't want to have anything to do with him. His parents are distant, frightened, and his ex-wife, who has moved and changed her name, has cut off all contact with his two children. Denton's voice throughout is seemingly self-effacing and regretful. The problem with that is people keep getting the shit kicked out of them. It's clear people are afraid of Denton, and I'm talking about some bad characters. (He once admits to doing 1000 situps and 400 pushups a day. Or is it the other way around?) At one point, Denton's father tells Joe he should probably get help, and that (after some lay research) he probably suffers from Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Joe of course blows that off. It was just bad luck that made him earlier have to shatter one guy's jaw and snap another one's arm in the wrong direction.
Meanwhile, the dying mobster has found God, and is making arrangements for a deathbed confession that will bring everyone down. The police chief is getting antsy, Denton's wiggle room is getting tight, and someone is taking shots at him through the window. As the clock ticks, mayhem multiplies as Denton's desperation, and calculation (often hidden from the reader), goes into overdrive. Highly recommended.
The novel opens with Denton, on the morning of his release playing checkers with a slow-witted old jail guard. He's been deliberately losing checkers for the relatively easy seven year sentence (at the county jail). Denton should have been doing time at the maximum security facility, but strings were pulled, and his time was soft because Denton kept his mouth shut. The police force in Denton's home town is throughly corrupt, and works closely with a brutal mobster, who happens to be dying of cancer when Denton gets out. Almost immediately Denton is placed between a rock and a hard place by the police chief, Dan Pleasant(!). Either the the dying mobster or the local district attorney (Denton's old stabbing victim) needs to die, and Denton has to be the agent. Denton is reluctant (no doubt because either death would make him the number one suspect), and spends the rest of the book trying to work around this dilemma. Hanging over his head is Pleasant's promised "Plan B."
Compounding this pressure cooker is that Denton's family doesn't want to have anything to do with him. His parents are distant, frightened, and his ex-wife, who has moved and changed her name, has cut off all contact with his two children. Denton's voice throughout is seemingly self-effacing and regretful. The problem with that is people keep getting the shit kicked out of them. It's clear people are afraid of Denton, and I'm talking about some bad characters. (He once admits to doing 1000 situps and 400 pushups a day. Or is it the other way around?) At one point, Denton's father tells Joe he should probably get help, and that (after some lay research) he probably suffers from Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Joe of course blows that off. It was just bad luck that made him earlier have to shatter one guy's jaw and snap another one's arm in the wrong direction.
Meanwhile, the dying mobster has found God, and is making arrangements for a deathbed confession that will bring everyone down. The police chief is getting antsy, Denton's wiggle room is getting tight, and someone is taking shots at him through the window. As the clock ticks, mayhem multiplies as Denton's desperation, and calculation (often hidden from the reader), goes into overdrive. Highly recommended.
November 7, 2011
I feel like I should have liked this book more than I did. I've had it sitting on a pile of books waiting to be reviewed for the past couple of weeks, and I haven't been able to think of what to really say about it. Now, today, it's due back at the library and it must leave the pile of books, so I guess I should say something, right?
If the book were a Buddhist maybe it would be a compliment to say it just is and leave it at that. Books that just are, without any kind of qualifying thought aren't really in some enlightened or great state. They just aren't really good or bad. What am I trying to say? I'll ramble on a bit. Feel free to just go on to some other review. I noticed there are some others here that are much more informative. I normally like the idea of first person crime novels, even if the narrator is less than likable or even reliable, those things usually make the book better. Some reviewers have commented on the narrators unreliability, I didn't really see that here. I thought he was pretty reliable to the facts as he saw them, he is a little deluded and see's the world through a filter that makes him see events from his own perspective, but then don't most of us (except for you and me, us two are perfectly objective and see the world as it really is without any personal bias or prejudice, but all those other people out there, they see things fucked up, right?). The narrator is pretty unlikable, he's sort of like a small-town version of The Bad Lieutenant, but without the total degenerate charm of that movie's character.
Ok, this review is going no where, but I feel like I've accomplished a little more than nothing, and this book can now go back to the library.
If you read this sorry for wasting your time.
If the book were a Buddhist maybe it would be a compliment to say it just is and leave it at that. Books that just are, without any kind of qualifying thought aren't really in some enlightened or great state. They just aren't really good or bad. What am I trying to say? I'll ramble on a bit. Feel free to just go on to some other review. I noticed there are some others here that are much more informative. I normally like the idea of first person crime novels, even if the narrator is less than likable or even reliable, those things usually make the book better. Some reviewers have commented on the narrators unreliability, I didn't really see that here. I thought he was pretty reliable to the facts as he saw them, he is a little deluded and see's the world through a filter that makes him see events from his own perspective, but then don't most of us (except for you and me, us two are perfectly objective and see the world as it really is without any personal bias or prejudice, but all those other people out there, they see things fucked up, right?). The narrator is pretty unlikable, he's sort of like a small-town version of The Bad Lieutenant, but without the total degenerate charm of that movie's character.
Ok, this review is going no where, but I feel like I've accomplished a little more than nothing, and this book can now go back to the library.
If you read this sorry for wasting your time.
October 6, 2012
Sure it's dark but Joe always has the hope of redemption in his mind.
Read whilst ill in bed in Boxford, Suffolk and my friends were all at the pub
After reading great reviews of Outsourced (Melki) and Pariah (Ed) finding this on the shelf in Brighton was quite the exciting find. I'm not sure it lived up to the praise of the other two however.
The sequence is titled Badass Gets Out Of Jail and sure the charactr in Pariah certainly sounds like a total Badass I'm not sure the same can be said of Joe Denton. He's a weak man who has the capacity for violence and the potential is always bubbling under the surface. He's a dreamer who wants to change his ways and the denouement reveals so much more about him as a person than the previous 230 pages combined.
This is the second novel in a week that I've read that has been compared to Thompson and Cain on the front cover and it is the second novel in a week that doesn't live up to the hype. It's a solid, entertaining book but there's nothing in it that raises the stakes above simple enjoyment; that being said I'm not sure it has any designs on being great, amazing, superb or any other superlative you might what to hyperbolically throw at it either.
I'm sure Zeltserman will get only better the more you read him and I'm still on the lookout for more of his work.
Read whilst ill in bed in Boxford, Suffolk and my friends were all at the pub
After reading great reviews of Outsourced (Melki) and Pariah (Ed) finding this on the shelf in Brighton was quite the exciting find. I'm not sure it lived up to the praise of the other two however.
The sequence is titled Badass Gets Out Of Jail and sure the charactr in Pariah certainly sounds like a total Badass I'm not sure the same can be said of Joe Denton. He's a weak man who has the capacity for violence and the potential is always bubbling under the surface. He's a dreamer who wants to change his ways and the denouement reveals so much more about him as a person than the previous 230 pages combined.
This is the second novel in a week that I've read that has been compared to Thompson and Cain on the front cover and it is the second novel in a week that doesn't live up to the hype. It's a solid, entertaining book but there's nothing in it that raises the stakes above simple enjoyment; that being said I'm not sure it has any designs on being great, amazing, superb or any other superlative you might what to hyperbolically throw at it either.
I'm sure Zeltserman will get only better the more you read him and I'm still on the lookout for more of his work.
June 26, 2011
Joe Denton, ex-cop, ex-cokehead, ex-arsonist, is released on early parole after having spent only seven years in a jail instead of doing 20 years in a maximum security prison. He had slashed the face of the district attorney who stumbled on him during a robbery attempt and then he had tried to set fire to the office. Joe wants nothing better than to get his act together and be left alone. Unfortunately, the corrupt sheriff who had kept Joe out of maximum security in return for keeping quiet about the crimes they had committed, now wants Joe to kill a prospective informer or the DA who ever since his disfigurement has made a crusade of trying to root out all the corruption in the community.
Since the narrator is totally unreliable, one never quite knows the truth of the story as he recounts it, nor his motivations. Joe is abandoned by his parents, his ex-wife, his former colleagues, everyone. The police are all corrupt, he is manipulated and betrayed at every turn. We try to feel sorry for him, yet one wonders all the while of his true motivation. Does he really want to support his children, does he really like Charlotte, does he really want to stay off cocaine. He’s ostensibly a very bright guy who has gone horribly wrong. Yet how much of it is self-delusional.
Very hard to put down. I read this because I had enjoyed Zeltserman’s Julius Katz charming stories. This book is very different but very good. He is definitely on my list of not-to-miss authors.
Since the narrator is totally unreliable, one never quite knows the truth of the story as he recounts it, nor his motivations. Joe is abandoned by his parents, his ex-wife, his former colleagues, everyone. The police are all corrupt, he is manipulated and betrayed at every turn. We try to feel sorry for him, yet one wonders all the while of his true motivation. Does he really want to support his children, does he really like Charlotte, does he really want to stay off cocaine. He’s ostensibly a very bright guy who has gone horribly wrong. Yet how much of it is self-delusional.
Very hard to put down. I read this because I had enjoyed Zeltserman’s Julius Katz charming stories. This book is very different but very good. He is definitely on my list of not-to-miss authors.
February 18, 2009
Once I figured out that Joe Denton was as full of s*** as a porta-potty on a construction site, I was able to sit back and enjoy this book. I have to admit that it took me awhile to catch on. (I think it was when he was surprised his ex-wife didn't take him back. Dude! Think about what you did!)
This guy is like every loser you've ever met. Bad decisions followed by excuses and rationalization and a promise to try and do better, and woe to whoever believes that line of BS. Brilliant characterization, Joe especially, but the other characters were fun too. What a twisted book.
This guy is like every loser you've ever met. Bad decisions followed by excuses and rationalization and a promise to try and do better, and woe to whoever believes that line of BS. Brilliant characterization, Joe especially, but the other characters were fun too. What a twisted book.
March 8, 2025
"That’s your problem, Joe. You have to make things so damn complicated."
Oh my word! Complicated doesn't even begin to describe Joe Denton, this guy is delusional on a level that is hard to comprehend. Denton is a junkie, a drunk and a bad cop but he's just a victim of circumstance in his mind, he blew up his marriage, lost his wife and daughters, ended up in prison for maiming the district attorney, and bad things just keep happening around him, but they are not his fault. He has made a promise to change his ways but he can't even convince himself.
Joe Denton is not a likeable character, but as is often the case with bad guys he sure is interesting.
This book is noir at its best, and Dave Zeltserrman has become a favorite of mine, I recommend it to anyone who loves noir/crime thrillers/mystery.
Oh my word! Complicated doesn't even begin to describe Joe Denton, this guy is delusional on a level that is hard to comprehend. Denton is a junkie, a drunk and a bad cop but he's just a victim of circumstance in his mind, he blew up his marriage, lost his wife and daughters, ended up in prison for maiming the district attorney, and bad things just keep happening around him, but they are not his fault. He has made a promise to change his ways but he can't even convince himself.
Joe Denton is not a likeable character, but as is often the case with bad guys he sure is interesting.
This book is noir at its best, and Dave Zeltserrman has become a favorite of mine, I recommend it to anyone who loves noir/crime thrillers/mystery.
April 29, 2021
Let's be clear, I generally don't read books about naughty police officers, let alone a book that has a police car on the cover. However, I watched the movie version on Netflix of this when it came out in 2017, and of course after I watched it I found out it was a book, and I was really curious about the book at the time. This year I remembered that I wanted a copy of this book, having mostly forgotten what the book was even about let alone that it was a movie; and it showed up at my house a few months ago and sat in my to be red pile, which is outrageously tall. But I've been working on really getting through books as they come in my door, which is difficult for me, as I usually find more books that I want to read literally every day. I got a wild hair, and I saw it I flipped through it, and I was like you know what This looks good. Needless to say I inhaled this book over about a day and a half, constantly squeezing in a chapter. It was really interesting book, very propulsive. As I say I don't usually care for a police books, it's one thing if there's police involved because it's a crime thriller, but I usually don't care about naughty cops, but I managed to care about this particular naughty cop. And that says a lot about the writing, a lot of good things. Usually if there are bad cops they are side characters, and they certainly aren't complicated in the way that Joe is. This book is a fantastic example of how people fall into dangerous patterns, and life choices that ultimately bite them in the ass. It's also a really interesting exploration of the interior monologue of someone who falls into these patterns, and what it's like to try and get out of them and rectify after the fact. What begins as Joe looking for a way to handle his gambling debt and cocaine habits turns into a pretty brutal act of violence, and no one wants anything to do with him after that let alone when he's released early from prison. This is also a hot house small town novel, which I think adds a delicious element, because in small towns you can't hide. I managed to feel bad for Joe, even though he was trying to figure things out after being released from jail, it felt like everyone was against him, and I do mean everyone. He was set up to fail, it was near impossible to do anything but that, he just got roped into the same old things, not because he wanted to, but because he had to. Some really interesting complexities, I'll quit rambling now. If you're looking for a quick character study, this is a really good one to think about. I enjoyed it.
October 20, 2019
Hell isn't down below us, it's alive and well in a small town in Vermont. This was like driving through a thick fog and you can't get out of it soon enough. This claustrophobic tale, that takes a look into the criminal/coked up mind of crooked cop Joe Denton, stuck with me for a few days. I'm looking forward to the second one in Zeltserman's "Badass Gets Out of Jail" trilogy. But to tell ya the truth....I grabbed my next Myron Bolitar to read next. Had to lighten it up a bit! :)
March 30, 2017
Joe Denton is an ex dirty cop, cocaine and gambling addict who gets out of prison after 7 years doing county time for attempting to murder the DA and trying to burn down his office. When he gets out he thinks he'll start afresh and help his ex wife to raise his two estranged daughters. However immediately on his release he is met by the DA who makes it clear that scores still need to be settled. His old Sheriff also meets him and lets him know that he is not a free man and he has to finish what he started before he was sent down and to top it all, the local mob bosses son lets him know he is still due $30k in bad debts. None of the locals want him around least if all his parents with whom he is staying with. Joe has to find a way to resolve all these problems and get away a free man.
The title of the novel is 'Small Crimes' but Joe's previous and potential future crimes are anything but small ! I started out quite enjoying the novel but the more I read the more is revealed of our protagonist and despite his efforts to try and go straight, I found that I had little empathy for his situation, as he had brought a lot of these things on himself. As Joe's problem's mount he eventually comes up with a plan that'll expose the bad guys and leave him in a good light. However, there are a couple of twists in the tale and things don't go entirely as planned and we also learn a bit more about our 'hero's' past.
The title of the novel is 'Small Crimes' but Joe's previous and potential future crimes are anything but small ! I started out quite enjoying the novel but the more I read the more is revealed of our protagonist and despite his efforts to try and go straight, I found that I had little empathy for his situation, as he had brought a lot of these things on himself. As Joe's problem's mount he eventually comes up with a plan that'll expose the bad guys and leave him in a good light. However, there are a couple of twists in the tale and things don't go entirely as planned and we also learn a bit more about our 'hero's' past.
April 2, 2010
Great pace, consistently dark tone, and an original approach. Zeltserman is a confident enough writer that even when he seemingly paints himself into a corner, he finds a way to get himself out of it.
It's hard not to compare it to Jim Thompson. It has that same approach, the morally ambiguous characters, and an unapologetic blackness.
The end felt a little forced and the effort to make the main character sympathetic faltered, but overall a real marvel and pace and tone. An author worth watching.
It's hard not to compare it to Jim Thompson. It has that same approach, the morally ambiguous characters, and an unapologetic blackness.
The end felt a little forced and the effort to make the main character sympathetic faltered, but overall a real marvel and pace and tone. An author worth watching.
January 7, 2009
hard hitting crime story with hardboiled language like James Cain's
very good and quick read
book is very entertaining and language is sparse but weighted with meaning/truisms/observations about human character/how humans interact
very good and quick read
book is very entertaining and language is sparse but weighted with meaning/truisms/observations about human character/how humans interact
January 4, 2011
Joe, an ex-con and once dirty cop is fresh out of prison is welcomed home by being beat up, shot at and nearly killed despite not dropping a dime on his fellow dirty cops. This is small town noir in all its depraved glory. 4 stars.
January 8, 2009
Published as a paperback original, Small Crimes just might be a small
January 24, 2018
Erbarmungsloser Noir im Laufschritt. Wenn die Abwärtsspirale in Gang gesetzt ist, geht es direkt in die Hölle.
Joe Denton hätte wohl nie gedacht, dass er mal die Seiten wechselt. Nach seiner Heirat mit seiner College-Liebe fängt er bei der Polizei an. Doch dieser Kleinort Bradley ist bevölkert von korrupten Bullen und in den Fängen eines Mannes, der sich mit Drogen, Wetten, Prostitution, Abzocke und Erpressung über Wasser hält. Und seinem Psychosohn. Und so landet auch Joe auf der anderen Seite der Gitterstäbe, denn seine Drogen-, Trink- und Spielsucht bleibt nicht ohne Folgen.
Bradley ist ansteckend.
Der Ex-Cop Joe Denton kommt nach 7 Jahren Gefängnis wieder frei. Er hat viele guten Vorsätze. Keine Drogen, keine Wetten, sondern ein ganz normales Leben führen und ein Vorbild für seine Töchter sein. Das wünscht er sich.
Bradley bringt Optimisten wieder auf den Boden der Tatsachen.
Nichts läuft so wie er sich vorstellt. Ein bisschen tut er dem Leser leid. So gute Vorsätze, so ein bösen Leben! Schon seine Eltern behandeln ihn wie einen gefallen Engel. Dem sie noch die Flügel stutzen müssen. Seine Opfer von damals sind auf Rache aus. Seine Frau hat sich längst auf und davon gemacht und seine Töchter kennen ihn nicht.
Erbarmungslos wird hier eine Abwärtsspirale in Gang gesetzt. Erbarmungslos wird das Leben so böse gezeigt, wie es für manche Menschen wirklich sein kann. Wenn man denkt, noch schlimmer kann es nicht kommen. Es kann! Und wie!
Joe Denton ist chancenlos.
Noir vom Feinsten! Keine Hoffnungen, kein Wunder, schon gar kein Happy-End. Sondern ein hoffnungsloser Kampf um ein kleines Stück normales Leben, das einfach keine Chance bekommt. Seitenweise dunkle, böse Seiten erwartet den Leser, in denen es richtig ungemütlich zugeht. Absoluter Buchtipp für Noir-Fans!
Joe Denton hätte wohl nie gedacht, dass er mal die Seiten wechselt. Nach seiner Heirat mit seiner College-Liebe fängt er bei der Polizei an. Doch dieser Kleinort Bradley ist bevölkert von korrupten Bullen und in den Fängen eines Mannes, der sich mit Drogen, Wetten, Prostitution, Abzocke und Erpressung über Wasser hält. Und seinem Psychosohn. Und so landet auch Joe auf der anderen Seite der Gitterstäbe, denn seine Drogen-, Trink- und Spielsucht bleibt nicht ohne Folgen.
Bradley ist ansteckend.
Der Ex-Cop Joe Denton kommt nach 7 Jahren Gefängnis wieder frei. Er hat viele guten Vorsätze. Keine Drogen, keine Wetten, sondern ein ganz normales Leben führen und ein Vorbild für seine Töchter sein. Das wünscht er sich.
Bradley bringt Optimisten wieder auf den Boden der Tatsachen.
Nichts läuft so wie er sich vorstellt. Ein bisschen tut er dem Leser leid. So gute Vorsätze, so ein bösen Leben! Schon seine Eltern behandeln ihn wie einen gefallen Engel. Dem sie noch die Flügel stutzen müssen. Seine Opfer von damals sind auf Rache aus. Seine Frau hat sich längst auf und davon gemacht und seine Töchter kennen ihn nicht.
Erbarmungslos wird hier eine Abwärtsspirale in Gang gesetzt. Erbarmungslos wird das Leben so böse gezeigt, wie es für manche Menschen wirklich sein kann. Wenn man denkt, noch schlimmer kann es nicht kommen. Es kann! Und wie!
Joe Denton ist chancenlos.
Noir vom Feinsten! Keine Hoffnungen, kein Wunder, schon gar kein Happy-End. Sondern ein hoffnungsloser Kampf um ein kleines Stück normales Leben, das einfach keine Chance bekommt. Seitenweise dunkle, böse Seiten erwartet den Leser, in denen es richtig ungemütlich zugeht. Absoluter Buchtipp für Noir-Fans!
April 19, 2018
Don‘t judge a book by its cover? It‘s been years since I bought it but I remember that I wanted to buy a couple of dark crime novels with a lot of fucked up characters in them. I already had a couple of books in my hands when I saw Small Crimes and thought to myself, „Whatever, this one looks interesting too...“ After that it‘s been on my shelves for a long time and only because I needed something to put my mind at ease after another battle with Nabokov’s Ada or Ardour I finally got to read it.
Turns out it’s an excellent little book. It never fails to amaze me how in control of language many crime novelists are. Every sentence is so precise. Not a single word is wasted. It‘s a prime example that writing is a craft. The story went along at a high pace but it never felt forced. The writer also plays with the reader a lot because the main protagonist is actually a grade a asshole but you find yourself rooting for him a lot. I have read and heard a lot about the mediocre film adaptation and the audience definitely fell for our antihero.
It‘s not only an excellent story but it‘s also an extremely interesting portrayal of a man who is detested by everybody around him. The people he feels the most for don‘t want to have anything to do with him and both strangers and acquaintances mostly know about what he has done. (He disfigured another man when he tried to cover up a case against him involving all kinds of felonies) But most importantly he actually hates himself as well. In this way, it is an extremely dark book. I was disappointed to find out that it‘s a standalone and not part of another awesome crime series.
Turns out it’s an excellent little book. It never fails to amaze me how in control of language many crime novelists are. Every sentence is so precise. Not a single word is wasted. It‘s a prime example that writing is a craft. The story went along at a high pace but it never felt forced. The writer also plays with the reader a lot because the main protagonist is actually a grade a asshole but you find yourself rooting for him a lot. I have read and heard a lot about the mediocre film adaptation and the audience definitely fell for our antihero.
It‘s not only an excellent story but it‘s also an extremely interesting portrayal of a man who is detested by everybody around him. The people he feels the most for don‘t want to have anything to do with him and both strangers and acquaintances mostly know about what he has done. (He disfigured another man when he tried to cover up a case against him involving all kinds of felonies) But most importantly he actually hates himself as well. In this way, it is an extremely dark book. I was disappointed to find out that it‘s a standalone and not part of another awesome crime series.
March 25, 2018
Small Crimes by Dave Zeltserman took me way too long to read. I kept pushing forward, hoping it would improve. But the fact is, Zeltserman's prose is so drab and flat, that even if this story made some sense, the convoluted plot with its many holes never takes flight.
He failed to make me care about a single character, especially the protagonist.
Time seems to stop for hours to let the protagonist get away with dangerous activities that should have been discovered in 5 minutes.
The protagonist appears to fall for two different women, in the space of a few pages, to the point that he believes he could make a life with them after he successfully navigates himself out of the piled-on predicament he finds himself in.
A badly bruised man, who gets seemingly mortally injured in successive scenes, seems to still have the oomph to take out three or four more bad guys.
I didn't want to be one of those reviewers who just says a book is terrible. So I wanted to give any readers of this review a few reasons why this book was terrible.
But the bottom line is, this book is terrible.
He failed to make me care about a single character, especially the protagonist.
Time seems to stop for hours to let the protagonist get away with dangerous activities that should have been discovered in 5 minutes.
The protagonist appears to fall for two different women, in the space of a few pages, to the point that he believes he could make a life with them after he successfully navigates himself out of the piled-on predicament he finds himself in.
A badly bruised man, who gets seemingly mortally injured in successive scenes, seems to still have the oomph to take out three or four more bad guys.
I didn't want to be one of those reviewers who just says a book is terrible. So I wanted to give any readers of this review a few reasons why this book was terrible.
But the bottom line is, this book is terrible.
October 5, 2017
"October 5, 2017 –
35.0% "One is for sure somewhere around the end... they are fucking crazy"
October 4, 2017 –
15.0% "I did fail... but still the same and goes and for this here story.
...
Crimes don't exist... if they exist... anger... agression typical pattern."
October 4, 2017 –
15.0% "If you wish to die...
...
You won't die in the most awesome away... but in the most boring way in which you are going to shout out your killer:
"Oh... come on... kill me...""
October 4, 2017 –
15.0% "Life is changing
...
Good Cover doesn't mean anything
Bad Cover the same story and here"
October 4, 2017 –
15.0% "48:16"
October 4, 2017 –
5.0% "LET"S FUCK YOU!"
October 4, 2017 –
5.0% "38:01"
October 4, 2017 – Started Reading"
P.S. - First two stars then 3...
...
Note: Wasn't that the father... and he just killed his own son... WOW... smalll life... small crimes.
35.0% "One is for sure somewhere around the end... they are fucking crazy"
October 4, 2017 –
15.0% "I did fail... but still the same and goes and for this here story.
...
Crimes don't exist... if they exist... anger... agression typical pattern."
October 4, 2017 –
15.0% "If you wish to die...
...
You won't die in the most awesome away... but in the most boring way in which you are going to shout out your killer:
"Oh... come on... kill me...""
October 4, 2017 –
15.0% "Life is changing
...
Good Cover doesn't mean anything
Bad Cover the same story and here"
October 4, 2017 –
15.0% "48:16"
October 4, 2017 –
5.0% "LET"S FUCK YOU!"
October 4, 2017 –
5.0% "38:01"
October 4, 2017 – Started Reading"
P.S. - First two stars then 3...
...
Note: Wasn't that the father... and he just killed his own son... WOW... smalll life... small crimes.
July 18, 2017
Writers of noir don't often supply happy endings for their tales of the dark side of human nature. So it is here, with a corrupt cop finally getting out of jail, but finding his past catches up with him quickly. The title and theme show perfectly how a series of small, bad decisions lead one into a hell that is hard to escape from. The main character, Joe Denton, wants to do better, but at every turn is beset with ghosts of his past crimes. Trouble with his parents, his ex, his community, his criminal ex-partners, his former co-workers, all builds to mount a savage attack on his well-being. He manages a bit of an opportunistic romance, but even that has a darkness to it. A good lesson in paying attention to the choices one makes. This tough situation makes for a stellar read.
April 24, 2021
This story starts when the main character, Joe Denton, gets out of jail after seven years. Shortly after that, it becomes clear that he would have been better off staying there. Joe appears to have more lives than a litter of kittens, but afterwhile the numerous escapes from close calls was too unbelievable for me. While the book ends with a bang, the abundance of improbable events leading to the conclusion left my head spinning. 2.5
January 22, 2021
This story was decent. I thought it dragged a little in the middle (or maybe it just wasn't landing right at the time) which is why it took so long for me to finish it. I'll definitely give some other Dave Zeltserman book(s) a shot though. He writes in the vein of stories which land pretty well with me.
February 9, 2025
I was really underwhelmed by this and disappoint. It had gotten praise from some of the GR friends thatI listen to on these matters. I found the writing flat and somewhat purposeless, the characters flat and uninteresting, the plotting was fine, but hardly intricate or nuanced. A decent beach book at best
November 9, 2017
Joe goes to hell
Tightly written contemporary noir with a full complement of turns of the screw and twist of the knife. Nihilism on the half shell and nobody's a hero. You'll read it in a sitting.
Tightly written contemporary noir with a full complement of turns of the screw and twist of the knife. Nihilism on the half shell and nobody's a hero. You'll read it in a sitting.
October 13, 2022
I chose to watch the movie and sorry I did. Lots of violence, confusion and coverups. A man comes out of prison somewhat hopeful of a new start. That is not to be from every aspect of his life, family, work and friends.
October 16, 2023
Good book. You feel yourself rooting for the character even though there is nothing in him worth rooting for. You know how it's going to end from the first page, but you can't stop reading until you get there.
July 1, 2020
Excellent read. Dark
July 19, 2020
Very good
November 7, 2020
Really good setup, but meandering, implausible plot peters out in the second half b
January 31, 2021
Okay Until Ending
I kind of enjoyed this book until the stupid ending.
I won't give it away but don't say you weren't warned.
I kind of enjoyed this book until the stupid ending.
I won't give it away but don't say you weren't warned.
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