Customer Reviews

Bad Thoughts (Five Star Mystery Series) (Five Star Mystery Series) (Five Star First Edition Mystery)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

BAD THOUGHTS is not your typical mystery or crime fiction novel. It reminds me more of something along the lines of the Denzel Washington movie, "Fallen." Something that starts out seeming like crime fiction and becomes something spookier. Zeltserman gives the term "psychological thriller" new meaning, writing in a carefully controlled but seemingly scattered fashion that makes the reader as edgy as the protagonist. Give this one a whirl, especially if you're looking for something off the beaten path. Expect to read it in just a few sittings, though. Once it starts rocking, it really rolls.

Considering the trauma he experienced when he was thirteen years old and the emotional abuse he suffered at the hands of his father, Billy Shannon grew up to be a fine man and a fantastic police officer. However, a few weeks before the anniversary of his mother's death, he begins to dream but they are no ordinary nocturnal reveries. This year he dreams of a woman who was murdered and from his mind he pulls out the real time location of where her body is located.

He experiences his usual blackout after he goes on his yearly "binge" but this time the dreams don't stop. Two other murders occur to women and in the same manner in which his mom was murdered, a knife in her throat by drifter Herbert Winters. All the evidence points to Shannon as the killer and he keeps dreaming and hearing the whispers of Herbert Winters claiming one of his alter egos are killing the women. Shannon knows he has killed nobody but he also believes Herbert isn't the murderer because he killed him when he was thirteen after hours of torture. Someone is out to frame him for the killings and when he figures out why, he will know who and the reason this person has such a malevolent lethal grudge against him.

David Zeltserman is a talented noir thriller writer who throws one surprise after another at the audience so that they find themselves totally bewildered about what is really happening to the protagonist. Shannon has not had an easy life but his suffering never turned him to the dark side. Instead it made him a strong person determined to see justice is done which is why he became a police officer. The villain is so over the top that he makes the audience feel creepy as if spiders are crawling all over their bodies. This is a must read for thriller fans.

Harriet Klausner

Hmmmm, this is a great piece of hard boiled writing situated around a sort of silly premise. Its too bad.

Given Zeltserman's history of creating likeable dreggs of humanity characters, you are unsure exactly what is happening here. Is Bill Shannon behind a spat of horrific recent murders or is some Dean Koontz style mystic force behind them and setting Shannon up for the fall?

Im not giving away anything by saying that Zeltserman injects a comic book style bad guy into this story who has the ability to wander through other peoples thoughts. You will find this out pretty early on in the book. What makes this story worth reading regardless, is that you want to know what will happen. The writing is good enough to 'almost' make the evil doer worthy of Zeltsermans narrative gift.

I would say, DONT START with this Zeltserman book. It is his least well put together story. Its a good attempt at breaking the mould he was setting up for himself. And your unsure how the story will resolve itself til the end. (which is saying something). I hope that Zeltserman continues to try to break his restraints and would not mind seeing him come back into the mystic realm for another try at this. Just not his finest work thus far.

This is not a bad novel but if you're expecting something plot wise like Zeltserman's last couple of novels such as Small Crimes and Outsourced, well you're in for a surprise. Bad Thoughts is a combination hard violent crimes and homicide police detectives type story running into supernatural Nightmare on Elm Streetish type world. Although not his first novel, (he did write one called Fast Lane six years before this in 2001) this was still an early career effort for Zeltserman, in fact it was only his second novel. At the times the quality of writing especially in conversations isn't as high as he would later develop with more recent novels. The villain's traits also seem a bit cartoonish at times, but none of this means you won't enjoy Bad Thoughts. It's just a fair bit different from his more successful later work. If your thoughts were you'd like to read more, there's also a sequel called Bad Karma.

If you want to be completely creeped out, then, this is the book for you. There is a bad guy in this story who will show up throughout under the most unusual circumstances, and will have you looking over your shoulder and investigating every creak and house whisper before you're halfway into it.

Dave Zeltserman really has a gift when it comes to creating believable characters, and showing us the strength of the human spirit in the face of a nightmare. Definitely read Bad Thoughts on a dark, stormy night when you're all alone in the house. I guarantee that you will enjoy the ride!

I am so happy to have found this author. I gave this book 4 stars because it was a little far fetched for me. I prefer more believable explanations, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I have downloaded some of his other books on audible and will be looking forward to Caretaker of Lorne Field. (I have credits for Audible, but the Kindle version will be a little too expensive for me). People, don't miss 21 Tales by this author.

I have just finnished David Zeltserman's Bad Thoughts and fine it a gem, the book has all the right twist and turns and a very satisfing ending. This book is definitely a 5 star read. I'll be reading all the rest of his books even if I have to buy them in book form. Id rather read them on my Kindle but it looks like the book publisher owns them now and has no intent on putting them in e-book form. I hope mr Zeltserman will make sure that anything new that he writes will be in e-book form.