Monster #3 on NPR Boston's Best Books of 2012

Monster is at #3 on NPR Boston's 10 Best Books of 2012

The Hunted -- Free Today!

"Stark meets Ludlum meets Forsyth in this tight and tricky opener to a new novella series from the always-innovative Dave Zeltserman. The set-up is all too contemporary (unemployment, economic woes, rogue capitalists) but the spare prose and rollercoaster pace hark back to the glory days of Gold Medal Books: the paperback originals that changed 20th century publishing, just as e-originals like Zeltserman's Dan Willis series are changing the game today." Roger Smith, author of Dust Devils and Wake Up Dead

"The Hunted rockets along, never boring for a second... of interest to the Parker fan who is in the mood for an exciting, entertaining, and efficient read somewhat along the lines of the Grandmaster’s darker material." The Violent World of Parker

Download The Hunted now for free!

Blood Crimes, Fast Lane & Bad Thoughts on sale!

From now thru Sunday (Dec. 16th) Kindle downloads for Blood Crimes, Fast Lane and Bad Thought are all on sale.

Buy now for $0.99

 

"I've just read the manuscript of Dave Zeltserman's new novel, Blood Crimes. This is one of the few fresh takes on vampirism I've read in years. It's as if Charles Bukowski sat down and said, OK, Bram Stoker, how about this?" Ed Gorman, author of Cage of Night and The Poker Club

"I'd call it the anti-Twilight, and in my book that's a good thing." Bill Crider, author of Sheriff Dan Rhodes series

"The prolific and wildly talented Dave Zeltserman serves up a fast, furious, frightening and (yes) funny orgy of bloodletting. Makes "Grindhouse" look like "Little House on the Prairie." Roger Smith, author of Vile Blood and Dust Devils

Buy now for $2.99

"For those of us who believed Jim Thompson would never be equaled, great tidings, he's back in the form of Dave Zeltserman. Hilarious in the darkest fashion, violent, bitter, psychotic and unputdownable... FAST LANE left me bruised, battered and exhilarated ... Tough, violent amoral with that compelling first narrative that has you rooting for a lunatic and crazy he is, in the most entertaining debut since, well, Jim Thompson." Ken Bruen, author of The Guards

 "In the last few years there have been a number of writers, such as Ken Bruen and Victor Gischler, who've taken the classic PI novel and tweaked the hell out of it, creating something fresh and unique. Add Dave Zeltserman to the list. Several pages into his debut, I knew that I was reading something special." Poisoned Pen's Book News, Hardboiled Crime Club Selection

"What begins as rather standard and Chandleresque masks a tale that spirals downward into a pit of noir, lies, betrayal, murder... and worse! Private eye Johnny Lane helps a woman find her birth parents but things soon get out of hand. A likeable PI with a hidden Jim Thompson darkside that gets out of control and seems to know no depths. It's there!" Gary Lovisi, Hardboiled Magazine

Buy now for $2.99

"Dark, brutal, captivating -- this is one hell of a book, the kind of book that doesn't let go of you once you start it. Dave Zeltserman is clearly the real deal." Steve Hamilton, Edgar-award winner for The Lock Artist

"Dave Zeltserman's Bad Thoughts is a fast moving occult thriller, with taut dialogue and smart, likeable characters. Darkness pervades the Bay State in the late 1990's and Detective Bill Shannon will be lucky to solve a standard missing person's case in one piece. In fact as the story unfolds we see that death and dismemberment could be the least of Bill's worries. Pour yourself a fifth of Scotch, get an easy chair, grab a protective talisman and enjoy." Adrian McKinty, author of Dead I Well May Be and Hidden River

"A compellingly clever wheels-within-wheels thriller. An ingenious plot, skillfully executed" Elliott Swanson, Booklist

 

Amazing video

My book covers: Outsourced (Suhrkamp)

I find this 3-D effect of the book cover as a bank vault being opened amazingly clever and just brilliant. There's a somewhat long story for why the title for the German edition is '28 Minutes' instead of Outsourced.

When I was trying to sell the novel, I had far more enthusiasm in Hollywood than I did with NY publishers who were afraid back in 2004 that outsourcing wouldn't be an issue of interest to the public by 2005. Hollywood was different as I had a high-level Hollywood producer pushing this hard and eventually getting a deal in 2008 with Impact Pictures and Constantin Film. By this point I had changed the title to '28 Minutes', stripped out a good amount of the outsourcing commentary, and made the book more into a pure bank heist thriller. Serpent's Tail ended up buying this version, and the title was going to be '28 Minutes', but the film people decided they were going to keep the Outsourced title (which has since changed to avoid confusion with the short-lived TV show), and so Serpent's Tail went back to Outsourced.

Suhrkamp also came up with a second edition of the book, and for this cover they use a safe deposit box that had been violently ripped open. Another excellent cover from them!

My book covers: Outsourced

Serpent's Tail's choice of cover for Outsourced is an interesting one. It's hip and cool and witty, and I understand why Serpent's Tail used it, but it also hides that the book is as violent and dark as it is. Computers aren't used to rob the bank, as the cover implies. Guns are used, and it's a violent robbery, and the aftermath is as bloody and violent as anything in Small Crimes, Pariah or Killer.

"a dark gem of a story...a macabre delight to read" NPR

"A dark, lightening-paced read" Financial Times

"A small gem of crime fiction" Booklist

"Bodies mount up as the double dealing and revenge gather apace. The blurb on the book describes it as a "fast-paced, edge-of-your seat crime novel," and it really does live up to the hype. Add this to your holiday reading list for a piece of escapism." Morning Star

"And here again, Zeltserman manages to tell a riveting story in the straightforward, personality-driven manner at which he’s so accomplished. There’s no purple in his prose even though he obviously has learned lessons of the genre from masters like Jim Thompson." Boston Globe

My book covers: Killer (PulpMaster)

PulpMaster has come up with another work of art. For the German edition of Killer, the cover plays up the quieter, more meditative aspects of the book, which fits well since Killer is very much a meditation into the mind of a killer.

NPR's review of Outsourced

I've taken the audio of NPR's review of Outsourced and added an assortment of my book covers to it to make this video.

My book covers: Killer

Next up for my book covers is, Killer, which Serpent's Tail came up with a beaut for, and was one of the covers featured on a CBS Sunday Morning segment on book covers. Dark, foreboding, but with a quietness to it, which captures my best crime novel perfectly.

Boston Globe review of Killer

Spinetingler review of Killer 

TheBookBag review of Killer