Small Crimes
Crooked cop Joe Denton gets out of prison early after disfiguring the local district attorney, which doesn’t help his popularity. Nobody wants Joe to hang around, not his ex-wife, his parents or his former colleagues. Meanwhile, local mafia don MannyMore Crooked cop Joe Denton gets out of prison early after disfiguring the local district attorney, which doesn’t help his popularity. Nobody wants Joe to hang around, not his ex-wife, his parents or his former colleagues. Meanwhile, local mafia don Manny Vassey is dying of cancer and keen to cut a deal with God. He’s thinking of singing to the DA if this will set him up for a better afterlife. And he knows stuff that will send Joe down again for a very long time.
Set in the pressure cooker of a very small town, Small Crimes is an explosive thriller that brings the claustrophobic hell of Jim Thompson and James M. Cain right up to date. Less
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James Thane rated it really liked it
over 3 years ago
This is a dark, noirish tale of tormented characters who have no real hope of happiness or redemtpion. Joe Denton was a corrupt cop who lost his soul, his wife and his children to his gambling and drug addictions even before he brutally attacked Phil Coakley, the D.A. an. Read full review
Steve rated it it was amazing
Small Crimes is the first book in Dave Zeltserman's impressive three book "Badass Get Out of Jail" sequence. They do not have to be read in order. What distinguishes the books are the different voices of three lethal dudes. In Pariah. Zeltserman presented Kyle Nevin, a he. Read full review
Greg rated it liked it
over 5 years ago
I feel like I should have liked this book more than I did. I've had it sitting on a pile of books waiting to be reviewed for the past couple of weeks, and I haven't been able to think of what to really say about it. Now, today, it's due back at the library and it must lea. Read full review
Tfitoby rated it liked it
over 3 years ago
Sure it's dark but Joe always has the hope of redemption in his mind.
Read whilst ill in bed in Boxford, Suffolk and my friends were all at the pub
After reading great reviews of Outsourced (Melki) and Pariah (Ed) finding this on the shelf in Brighton was quite the exciting. Read full review
Eric_W rated it really liked it
about 6 years ago
Joe Denton, ex-cop, ex-cokehead, ex-arsonist, is released on early parole after having spent only seven years in a jail instead of doing 20 years in a maximum security prison. He had slashed the face of the district attorney who stumbled on him during a robbery attempt an. Read full review
Pam rated it it was amazing
over 8 years ago
Once I figured out that Joe Denton was as full of s*** as a porta-potty on a construction site, I was able to sit back and enjoy this book. I have to admit that it took me awhile to catch on. (I think it was when he was surprised his ex-wife didn't take him back. Dude! Th. Read full review
Leftbanker rated it really liked it
I watched the terrible Neflix movie of Small Crimes first and for some reason I felt that there was a good story hiding beneath the barely comprehensible screenplay. I didn’t even know that it was a novel but I looked around to get the novel. I was right that there was a. Read full review
Ross Cumming rated it liked it
Joe Denton is an ex dirty cop, cocaine and gambling addict who gets out of prison after 7 years doing county time for attempting to murder the DA and trying to burn down his office. When he gets out he thinks he'll start afresh and help his ex wife to raise his two estran. Read full review
Johnny rated it really liked it
over 7 years ago
Great pace, consistently dark tone, and an original approach. Zeltserman is a confident enough writer that even when he seemingly paints himself into a corner, he finds a way to get himself out of it.
It's hard not to compare it to Jim Thompson. It has that same approach. Read full review
Josh rated it really liked it
over 3 years ago
Joe, an ex-con and once dirty cop is fresh out of prison is welcomed home by being beat up, shot at and nearly killed despite not dropping a dime on his fellow dirty cops. This is small town noir in all its depraved glory. 4 stars.
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Book Details
Published October 1st 2008 by Serpent's Tail
ISBN 1852429712 (ISBN13: 9781852429713 ) Edition Language English Original Title Small Crimes
About this Author
Author of the crime noir novel SMALL CRIMES named by NPR as the best crime and mystery novel of 2008, and by the Washington Post as one of the best novels of 2008, and made into a major film (to be released in 2017) starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Molly Parker, Gary Cole, Robert Forster, and Jacki Weaver. Shamus Award winner for JULIUS KATZ. Ellery Queen's Readers Choice Award winner for.