Small Crimes

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 show more 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. show less

Below is an excerpt from the Libération review of the French translation of Dave Zeltserman's Small Crimes, which prompted me to buy the book in English:

"For the soundtrack of Small Crimes I would recommend Hey Joe by Jimmi Hendrix or Highway Patrolman by Springsteen. The first novel by the American Dave Zeltserman to be translated into French rushes ahead at breakneck speed and, right from the start, stinks of the sort of jinx you cannot get out of. In spite of the fact that the Joe of the book just got out of jail, the way the district attorney invites him for a little talk has the hairs standing on the back of the reader's hand. Joe used to be a cop. He let himself be corrupted to the bone. Even his parents no longer want to know show more him. They stand up for his ex-wife, who refuses to let him see his daughters... To counteract what Manny, the local crime boss could reveal, Joe is ready to sacrifice more lives than his own. (The book features) a sumptuous last stand and finale. Small Crimes is an arrow head dipped in curare."

I bought the book and did not regret it. Small Crimes is a true noir novel. It contains no heroes, there is no happy ending, but you are held in thrall until the very last sentence.

For any of you who may be wondering about curare, here is how it is described in the arrow poison page of Wikipedia: Curare is a generic term for arrow poisons that contain tubocurarine show less

A good book that kept me interested to the end with the innumerable ways the author found of inflicting fresh misery on the central character. In the beginning I felt a certain amount of sympathy for Joe Denton but it had faded by the end and was only interested in finding out whether he could emerge unscathed and I didn't foresee the conclusion. I will certainly keep an eye out for more of Zeltserman's work and at 7 out of 10 it probably was hard done by following up so soon after some quite superb novels.

A surprisingly solid crime and action novel, and while based in a small town is no small achievement. The main character Joe Denton is an ex-cop just released from prison for brutally stabbing a district attorney while under the influence. Denton is a gambling addict whose previous actions have betrayed his family and daughters--a fact that the author does not paint into the story enough. While burying Denton's history as driver for the motivations of his ex-wife, parents and community members may make the protagonist someone who is appealing, continued bad guys trying to snuff life and/or money from Denton makes this almost a noir work. Characters were a bit underdeveloped but the book was well edited, taut, and gut-wrenching at times. show more All too realistic, the ending includes a requisite twist that is unpredictable and rewarding. show less