15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Small Crimes" Pays Off Big, November 2, 2008
This review is from: Small Crimes (Paperback)
Many years ago, I interviewed the now late Robert Cormier, the author of young adult classics "The Chocolate War" and "I Am The Cheese." Cormier started his career writing adult fiction. Most of his early works focused on working-class French-Canadians struggling to find the American Dream.
After the success of his first book "Now and at the Hour" (1960), Cormier's publisher wanted him to write an epic on the French-Canadian experience. The publisher pictured a 1,000-page opus that would tell the story of French-Canadian family spanning generations. Cormier gave it a go, but he just couldn't make it work.
The canvas was too large. "I like working small," Cormier said. So instead of the epic, Cormier wrote "A Little Raw on Monday Mornings" (1963), the very personal story of a young French-Canadian woman struggling with an unwanted pregnancy.
My conversation with Cormier came to mind as I was reading Dave Zeltserman's crime novel "Small Crimes." You couldn't find two more disparate writers, but both novelists understand the power of a smaller stage. Small stories can produce big results and unveil universal truths.
That's the secret to Zeltserman's fascinating novel about small town corruption and the consequences that follow. Unlike many crime writers today addicted to glamorous, far-fetched shoot-outs, outrageously high-concept plots, and the superhero-like-antics of protagonists, Zeltserman mines the ordinary for the extraordinary.
So instead of a comic book, Zeltserman's readers get a tightly-wrought, character-driven neo-noir thriller that feels like it might be happening - right now. Zeltserman's writing in "Small Crimes" has been compared to Jim Thompson's and the assessment is dead-on (although Novelist Ed Gorman disagrees).
Thompson explored the lives of nihilistic losers on the fringe of society by expertly using first-person narrative. Every character in a Thompson novel is a flawed and damaged personality. Zeltserman's "Small Crimes" plays in that sandbox as well.
It starts with his complex protagonist Joe Denton, an ex-cop recently released from prison for horribly disfiguring the face of the local district attorney by stabbing him repeatedly with a letter opener. Denton is a two-bit loser living in a world of delusion. He's the unreliable narrator of "Small Crimes" and his view of the world is constantly being challenged by the reality of his situations and his interactions with the other characters.
Joe incorrectly thinks he's a changed man: he's ridden himself of his cocaine and gambling addictions and believes the slate is clean for him. That he can simply waltz back into the lives of his parents and wife and daughters and all will be forgiven. The problem with poor Joe is that he's white-washed just how much damage and destruction he wrought on his loved ones.
His mother can barely look at him. His father thinks he's a sociopath (which is likely true) and his wife has fled with their daughters and wants absolutely nothing to do with Joe - ever again. And this, believe it or not, is the least of Joe's problems.
At the heart of "Small Crimes" (how's that for an ironic title?) is mobster Manny Vassey. Vassey is dying of cancer and in talks with the DA Joe maimed to confess his crimes in order to get in heaven. Vassey has a truckload of information about Joe's crimes while a police officer. Vassey also has the local corrupt sheriff Dan Pleasant over the same barrel.
Pleasant gives Joe a simple choice: Kill either Vassey or the DA to end the investigation. If not, Joe gets a bullet in the head. This is the plot device the drives the action of "Small Crimes" - will Joe kill the mobster or the lawyer? Or will he come up with his own plan of action?
But the novel is really about character - about sin and redemption and the power of self-delusion. If you're a fan of crime fiction with some brains and sophistication (not to mention some slam-bang writing) behind it - don't miss "Small Crimes."
And keep an eye on this Dave Zeltserman guy: he's going places.
Why not read more "Literate Blather" at the Dark Party Review? Visit us at http://darkpartyreview.blogspot.com/.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Truly Flawed Hero..., October 28, 2009
This review is from: Small Crimes (Paperback)
What can I say about Small Crimes. This book was, beyond a doubt, absolutely brilliant. There is no way you can put this one down once you begin--you won't want to anyway, believe me.
Yes, there is an intriguing storyline with various contributing sub-plots all helping to fill in the total picture, but the strongest draw here is the characters. Forgive the redundance, but it is also the 'character' of the characters.
Noone is all good guy, but noone is exactly all bad guy either. Like us here in the real world, Zeltserman's characters are a real mix of both. He's got a real hero in Small Crimes though, and here's where it gets murky (as life often does) because, what constitutes a hero, really. If you're looking for someone who is always perfect, always on the side of right, always being truthful and honorable, then look elsewhere. The 'hero' in this story is as flawed as they come, but in my book, a hero just the same. I don't want to give anything away, but I will say that ultimately, it's what's in the heart that makes a hero. He may have sinned and failed and destroyed and a hundred other vile things, but he still believes and hopes there is some measure of salvation for him. It won't take too long and you too will be believing and hoping right along with him that there is a small place for him in the corner of somebody's Heaven.
You will adore Small Crimes and, like me, you will be anxiously awaiting Dave Zeltserman's next.
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