Dave Zeltserman Books In Order

Publication Order of Bill Shannon Books

Publication Order of Badass Gets Out of Jail Books

Publication Order of Julius Katz Detective Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Short Story Collections

Publication Order of Anthologies

Dave Zeltserman is American bestselling and award-winning author of horror, crime, and mystery & thrillers novels. In 2010, the author won a Derringer and Shamus awards for his novelette, Julius Katz. Zeltserman also writes Morris Brick thriller novels under the pen name Jacob Stone.

Zeltserman debut novel in Badass Gets Out of Jail series; Small Crimes was adapted into a Netflix film featuring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. The author has also published other book series including Bill Shannon series which debuted in 2007 and Julius Katz series in 2011.

Bad Thoughts

Bad Thoughts is the debut novel in Bill Shannon series by Dave Zeltserman. The lead character is Bill Shannon a police officer in Boston suburb who has been trying to deal with his childhood trauma for over 20 years. At the age of 13, Shannon arrived home from school only to find a lunatic torturing and murdering his mother. Shannon reacted and killed the psycho but has since been haunted by the memories ever since.

As an adult, Shannon suffers from alcohol initiated blackouts and now a there is a serial killer killing women in Boston, and Shannon gets too deeply involved in the case.

Bad Thoughts is the type of novel that should be both experienced and also appreciated with very minimal advance knowledge as possible. The author makes it clear to the readers, cops, and even Bill Shannon himself that Shannon might be the new serial killer on the loose. However, Zeltserman cuts off this speculation in the novel early enough by revealing to the reader what’s going on- this does not spoil the story even the revelation of paranormal elements that play a role in the story itself.

However, as soon as the author gives away the solution to these killings (in the first few pages of the novel), the story itself becomes more interesting as violence escalates to its peak.

As you might have guessed right from the start of this review, Bad Thoughts is not just another story for everyone. The level of violence in the story itself is exceptionally high featuring some scenes of torture porn and gruesome imagery that may entirely satisfy or disgust depending on the reader’s sensitivity.
Additionally, the novel requires the reader willing to accept paranormal events and vast suspension of disbelief into a tough cop story.

Dave Zeltserman specialization is in hardboiled crime stories, and you’ll discover that he’s more at home in scenes that deal with Shannon and his fellow police officers. Despite this, the paranormal sequences in the book are perfectly crafted as the author gives detailed instructions on the same.

Additionally, the author has created some beautiful characters in the story. One of the notable characters is Shannon, the man who isn’t sure of his actions or what he is capable of doing in most of the book. However, it’s clear from the word go that he is severely damaged emotionally but his struggles to figure out who he is and the monster he becomes in his blackouts is almost as impressive as the efforts to solve the ever-rising string of murders.

Some readers might argue that the author could have got rid of all the paranormal elements in the novel and be left with an intriguing cop/serial killer thriller. However, Zeltserman is more ambitious here, and the result of incorporating the paranormal events in the story results in an exciting thriller that transcends its genre. While Bad Thoughts is not a story for everyone, but for the readers who appreciate the offbeat and have a thirst for graphic violence.
Bad Karma

In the first novel in the Bill Shannon series, the author came up with one of the best ideas for a cop story. It was in that novel Zeltserman introduced us to his main character Bill Shannon, an unusual cop who attempts to bring to justice a deranged serial killer was a blend of paranormal suspense and hardboiled mystery.

In the second book in the series, Bill Shannon makes a comeback still strong and sturdy like in the series debut novel.

Bad Karma picks up five years after the events in Bad Thoughts, and we find the now-retired Bill Shannon living in Boulder, Colorado working as a private investigator. He has managed to rekindle his love with ex-wife and is also exploring the world of paranormal, but soon Shannon finds himself entangled in two different cases.

In the first case, a pair of college students is found dead in a robbery gone wrong. An insurance firm hires Shannon to investigate what led to the death of the two students. In the second case, Shannon agrees to assist find the whereabouts of a missing girl whom mother believes she has joined a gang that has connections to some nasty Russian gangsters.

As most mystery fans would guess, when the main character is working on two unconnected cases in a story, these cases often intersect, but in this story, these cases intersect in a rather unusual way.

As the mysteries deepen, the cases that Bill Shannon works on in the second novel in the series are not all that mysterious. Any average mystery fan will be able to figure out the identity of the killer even before the main character does, thanks to Zeltserman unique way of dropping clues along the way.
Additionally, the case involving the cult isn’t a true mystery after all, but the case proves to be quite interesting because the author does a fantastic job of describing the dealings of a cult and also builds more suspense as Bill Shannon tries to protect his divorced wife who finds herself a target of some nasty villains.

What you’ll like about Bad Karma beyond the two cases Shannon has to solve is the author’s focus on the main character. Shannon has to deal with both mental and physical problems dating back from his childhood. These problems are further aggravated by the fact that he has to hunt down a serial killer targeting women in the first book. Bad Karma also focuses on Shannon’s efforts to heal himself and mend his relationship with his ex-wife.