Three dangerous men released from prison...three distinct noir journeys which follow. Welcome to the writing world of Dave Zeltserman."It happens rarely, but sometimes you get to the end of a book and what has gone before leaves you speechless. As a reader, this is a wonderful feeling, as you've just been through a great experience. As a book reviewer, however, it presents a problem, as you tend to have to sum up a book in more than no words. My first draft of this review read simply '..." The Bookbag
Dave Zeltserman is back with his second installment from Serpent's Tail three-book "men just out of prison" noir series. Dave writes with a deft and clever hand that whisks the reader into a side of humanity the average rarely see. As a native Bostonian, Dave breathes fresh life into the dark and dangerous underbelly of Boston's notorious crime scene and the "rat bastards" that dwell in its shadows. Mix in the greatest extremes of New York's publishing industry, add a dash of plagiarism, a touch of revenge, and Kyle Nevin becomes an unforgettable protagonist.
Once part of the holy triumvirate ruling the South Boston Irish Mob, Kyle Nevin is set up by his boss Red Mahoney, which leads him to a court case and a stretch in the slammer. Newly released, and reduced to sleeping on his brother's couch, Kyle's hungry -- for revenge, status and easy money.
A kidnapping gone horribly wrong leads to a major book deal for Kyle and newfound celebrity -- but it also unleashes a trail of mayhem for those unlucky enough to cross his path.
Pariah is a heady mix of crime novel, history, social commentary and a satirical look at the publishing industry.
"Pariah is a tense, violent and sometimes absurd study of criminality and the world's obsession with it. Each layer has something to say that'll leave you thinking, cringing or praying. But I mean that in the best possible way. Another great addition to the Serpent's Tail stable." Crime Scene NI
Dave discusses Pariah and allows a great insight into his inspiration behind this book.
Pariah is written on two levels--one level being a fierce crime story, the other a darkly satirical look at the New York publishing industry and all their follies. Like a lot of people in Boston, I was fascinated for years by the Whitey Bulger/Billy Bulger story, and read everything I could on it. Here you have the most feared mobster in Boston, with his brother being the State Senate President. Stories would come out about how Whitey would lean on other pols to keep his brother in power, and Billy would squash state police investigations into Whitey, going as far as ruining the careers of state police who would try to bring Whitey in.
After Whitey goes on the lam it then comes out that he was an informant for the FBI, that he corrupted several FBI agents, including his childhood friend, John Connolly. Connolly would tip him off if anyone went to the FBI to give up Whitey, and Whitey would use the FBI to get rid of his competition, and he'd also give up his own people to help Connolly and these other corrupt FBI agents advance their careers.
I knew there was a great crime novel in all of this, and I was mulling over what angle to go at, when several things happened--first was a Harvard student who had a reported 500K 2-book deal with Little Brown being vilified when it came out that she plagiarized other chick lit books in writing hers. The other thing was a bunch of tell-all books hitting the shelves early March 2006, by South Boston mobsters (Brutal by Kevin Weeks, Rat Bastard by John "red" Shea). I now saw my angle, as well as getting excited about the idea of a "man just out of prison" trilogy, with Small Crimes being the first, Pariah the second. I wanted Pariah to start the same as Small Crimes--a man just getting out of prison, but have this man (Kyle Nevin) be the polar opposite of Joe Denton, my main character in Small Crimes.
"With this book Zeltserman entrenches his position as the ranking neo-noirist, putting a contemporary spin on a tradition that goes way back to Thompson and James M. Cain. If you like your fiction dark, lean and uncompromising, Pariah has to be at the top of your list." Roger Smith, Crime Beat South Africa
The final installment in the "men just out prison" series is Killer, which is being published in January 2010.
Julie Korzenko is a senior paralegal at a boutique domestic law firm in Atlanta. Her first book DEVIL'S GOLD hit the shelves in March of 2009. Publisher's Weekly stated that "Fans of Alex Kava, Shannon, McKenna, and Suzanne Brockmann will hope to see more of Cassidy and Jake." She is currently wrapping up its sequel ANGEL FALLS.
