Small Crimes

Reviewing: "Small Crimes" by Dave Zeltserman

Those who know Dave Zeltserman's writing, either through the now closed and very much missed Hardluck Stories e-zine (shut down due to Dave's increasing success as a novelist with "Pariah" due out in October and "Killer" out next January among other projects and a movie deal) or his novel work, know that Dave Zeltserman looks at things from a dark point of view. That certainly is the case here in "Small Crimes."

Former cop Joe Denton has spent the last seven years of his life in the county jail for a crime he most certainly did commit. Sentenced to sixteen to twenty-four years for arson, attempted murder, and maiming a district attorney strings were pulled to keep him at the local county jail. Released, Joe Denton will return home to Bradely, Vermont. He has lost his wife and daughters, a twelve year career in law enforcement, and has very limited prospects. Nobody in the area, including his parents whom he will be staying with at the start of his parole, wants him around.

Certainly not the maimed district attorney whose face was stabbed 13 times by Joe in an attack that has left Phil Coakley virtually unrecognizable as human. Dan Pleasant, Sheriff of Bradley County, doesn't want Joe around either because Joe could lead investigators to Dan's own corruption. Then there is Manny Vessey and his son who are the local mafia crime bosses and they don't want Joe around. While everyone involved, except for Phil, is graceful Joe kept his mouth shut during his incarceration, they don't trust him to continue to do so and his being around serves as a constant reminder of the past and those secrets.

Before he leaves town, and everyone has made it clear to him that he should, Sheriff Dan Pleasant wants Joe to complete one final job. Manny is dying in a local hospital because of terminal cancer. Phil Coakley visits every single day using the bible and salvation as leverage in a hope to get Manny to confess to all he knows. Manny isn't the hard edged man he once was and facing death closing in on him just might start talking. That could send everyone around, including Joe, to prison and worse. So, Sheriff Pleasant wants either Manny killed or Joe can finish the job on Phil and put him out of his misery. Killing either one solves the problem as the Sheriff is concerned and he doesn't care which one dies.

Joe cares and figures there has to be a way of solving the issue without doing more damage let alone killing anyone. Joe came out promising to keep to the straight and narrow for himself as well as an attempt to correct the past as best he could and get his family back. But, Sheriff Pleasant isn't the only one putting pressure on Joe Denton to go back on his plans and do what needs to be done by any means necessary. The problems rain down upon him and the pressure mounts as Joe fights to make things finally right.

As in "Fast Lane" and "Bad Thoughts" Dave Zeltserman takes a flawed narrator who could be anyone and puts him in an everyday situation that could fit most people. Then, he ratchets up the pressure on all involved. Like the author's other novels, this novel is primarily a character study of one man, who isn't totally aware of himself and his actions, coping as best as he can against a myriad of forces stacked against him. The question to the end is whether or not he can save anyone- including himself.

Kevin R. Tipple (c) 2009

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Great crime Noir

Bradley County police officer Joe Denton moonlighted for local mafia chief Manny Vassey doing all sorts of mostly SMALL CRIMES to pay off his gambling debts and to insure no harm came to his wife Elaine or their two preadolescent daughters. District Attorney Phil Coakley caught Joe breaking into his office panicked into a berserker rage the crooked cop stabs the DA thirteen times in the face with a screwdriver. He scarred the DA for life. Joe confessed, is convicted and goes to the county prison.------------------ Seven years later Joe is paroled and moves in with his parents who do not want him there. His wife left town with the kids with a new name and no forwarding address. Vengeful Phil wants to hang Joe and feels he has a reliable source if he can crack the dying Manny who fears he is going to hell if he fails to confess his sins. Crooked county Sheriff Dan Pleasant, who took care of Joe while he was in prison, reminds him of the Ferguson homicide and warns him he either kills Vassey or Coakley if he does not want Plan B implemented because the lawman knows he faces twenty years hard time otherwise.------------- This crime Noir stars a former crooked cop unable to overcome his past as the key players from back then seem to converge on him now that he is ¿free¿ though he would argue otherwise. Readers will appreciate Dave Zeltserman¿s character driven tale as Joe¿s options are limited obviously by the triangulation that he feels is strangling him and by his own amoral outlook not having his three beloved females nearby increases his anti-societal tendencies. Fans will appreciate this deep Noir-lit as Phil and Dan put the pressure on Joe while Manny is the one who can send him up for life.---------- Harriet Klausner

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

For crime fiction lovers who like their stories extra dark

Fans of James Lee Burke looking for a read to tide them over between Dave Robicheaux novels will find a worthy diversion in, "Small Crimes," by Dave Zeltserman. Like a darker version of Robicheaux, Small Crimes' flawed antihero, Joe Denton, tells his story in a first-person narrative. Denton might lack Robicheaux's flare for atmospheric description but he makes up that with a riveting story that spirals downward from the first chapter. Denton, an ex-deputy sheriff, challenges your sympathies from the opening pages when he's released after serving seven years for mauling the face of the local district attorney with a letter opener. Denton admits his crimes and shady past, not the least of which is a gambling addiction that brought on most of his troubles, in punishing detail. In spite of that, Denton manages to come off as less corrupt than the circle of past associates tightening around him, including a sheriff who runs his county like a mafia don. As Denton struggles to reclaim his life and custody of his children, he clashes with everyone, including his own parents. Despite Denton's flaws and crimes, he proves clever and resourceful enough to root for right up to the head-snapping ending.

Didn't get it

I don¿t know about this one. I read it and can¿t get beyond the fact a group of killer cops feel they need to give Denton an ultimatum. He¿s the only other guy besides the alredy dying one who can burn them so why not kill him? It doesn¿t make sense to me. Why do they need Denton to do the dirty deed? Are they suddenly concerned about getting caught? A lot of unnecessary drama for the sake of moving the story along, I thought. It was difficult to swallow once the ultimatum was issued and that made everything beyond that even harder to swallow.

The plot made zero sense.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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