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Blood Crimes: Book One
Blood Crimes is a genre-bending collision of dark urban fantasy and crime that rides shot-gun with Jim and Carol as they carve a homicidal path cross-country. Jim is infected with the vampire virus. Carol isn't. Yet. But they're united in their hunt for society’s most dangerous predators for Jim's dinner -- so he can feed without harming the innocent. What they don't know is that they're not alone. There are others on their trail, and the climax of Blood Crimes is pure rock 'n roll violence that leaves other anemic vampire fables out in the twilight.
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First published December 30, 2010
18 people are currently reading
258 people want to read
About the author
Dave Zeltserman
102 books172 followersAuthor 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 ARCHIE'S BEEN FRAMED and ARCHIE SOLVES THE CASE.
PARIAH named by the Washington Post as one of the best books of 2009. THE CARETAKER OF LORNE FIELD (2010) shortlisted by American Library Association for best horror novel of the year and named a horror gem by Library Journal. MONSTER selected by Booklist Magazine for their 2013 list of top 10 horror novels and WBUR for one of the best novels of the year.
OUTSOURCED (2011) and THE CARETAKER OF LORNE FIELD are also currently being developed for film.
Shamus Award winner for JULIUS KATZ. Ellery Queen's Readers Choice Award winner for ARCHIE'S BEEN FRAMED and ARCHIE SOLVES THE CASE.
PARIAH named by the Washington Post as one of the best books of 2009. THE CARETAKER OF LORNE FIELD (2010) shortlisted by American Library Association for best horror novel of the year and named a horror gem by Library Journal. MONSTER selected by Booklist Magazine for their 2013 list of top 10 horror novels and WBUR for one of the best novels of the year.
OUTSOURCED (2011) and THE CARETAKER OF LORNE FIELD are also currently being developed for film.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
July 22, 2012
Think of Charlie Huston's Joe Pitt case books with the violence of Anthony Neil Smith's 'Hogdoggin' and you'll have a solid grounding as to what to expect of Zelterman's 'Blood Crimes'. While vampires have been done to death in recent times, Zeltserman injects not only a fast moving linear plot but sharp characters symbolic of modern vampire pulp. Typecast noir couple, Carol (attractive and human) and Jim (death and wishing he wasn't) are the yin and yang that ties the two distinctly different worlds together of night and day. While vampires Serena (the 'head' of a rather uniquely formed family) and Metcalf, the torture obsessed iron fisted ruler of the farm (no need to guess what his produce is) are classic yet modern icons sure to assume prominent pulp status should the series progress. This was one hell of read, I sure hope Zeltserman delivers on the 5 instalments he had planned for the series. 5 stars
January 17, 2011
Whoa.
WHOA.
Okay. Let's see if I can explain this. Take today's typical vampire fiction, shove it into Bedlam House and whip it with a cat-o'-ninetails to force it to breed with your grittiest crime thriller. That's what you'll get when you open up this book.
Blood Crimes is fast. It's visceral. It's definitely not your fourteen-year-old sister's dreamy vampire fantasy. This book grabs you by the guttiwuts, wrenches hard, and doesn't let go.
But don't get me wrong, this isn't your run-of-the-mill shock literature. Zeltserman weaves a disturbing noir with a passionate craftsman's hand over his characters. He handles point-of-view in a way so you sympathize with the vantage point--and not just when he's switching between Jim and Carol. Frighteningly enough, he managed to get me behind the motives of the sociopathic, amoral Metcalf as well. You definitely know who the villains are, but at times it can become difficult not to like them because they're so dang cool!
All in all, I give this book a 5 over 5. It'll have you speedreading through it, and, by the ending, desperately wondering what happens in the next book!
WHOA.
Okay. Let's see if I can explain this. Take today's typical vampire fiction, shove it into Bedlam House and whip it with a cat-o'-ninetails to force it to breed with your grittiest crime thriller. That's what you'll get when you open up this book.
Blood Crimes is fast. It's visceral. It's definitely not your fourteen-year-old sister's dreamy vampire fantasy. This book grabs you by the guttiwuts, wrenches hard, and doesn't let go.
But don't get me wrong, this isn't your run-of-the-mill shock literature. Zeltserman weaves a disturbing noir with a passionate craftsman's hand over his characters. He handles point-of-view in a way so you sympathize with the vantage point--and not just when he's switching between Jim and Carol. Frighteningly enough, he managed to get me behind the motives of the sociopathic, amoral Metcalf as well. You definitely know who the villains are, but at times it can become difficult not to like them because they're so dang cool!
All in all, I give this book a 5 over 5. It'll have you speedreading through it, and, by the ending, desperately wondering what happens in the next book!
April 18, 2011
Grab your e-book reader of choice, and hold on tight, because Dave Zeltserman has started a vampire series that will knock your socks off, and suck the blood right out of you.
This book has movie written all over it. It’s opening scene is of the protagonist Jim and his girl Carol on the run, driving down the highway jamming to The Doors’ Riders On The Storm.
Needing blood, Jim travels around the country feeding off of low lives, women abusers, and drug dealers.
He’s being chased by Serena, a sex crazed lady that infected Jim, and wants to keep him under her control. She’s also hired a PI, that’s tailing him, not mention an ex CIA Op turned mad scientist ,who wants to use Jim as a Guinea pig in his underground laboratory.
Mix in an angry biker gang, lots of guns, and samurai sword fights, and you’ll start to understand what makes Blood Crimes such a great opener to what I hope will be a great series.
Zeltserman holds nothing back with this book. Full throttle all the way. Very bloody. Very noir. I can’t wait for the sequel to drop. Highly recommended.
This book has movie written all over it. It’s opening scene is of the protagonist Jim and his girl Carol on the run, driving down the highway jamming to The Doors’ Riders On The Storm.
Needing blood, Jim travels around the country feeding off of low lives, women abusers, and drug dealers.
He’s being chased by Serena, a sex crazed lady that infected Jim, and wants to keep him under her control. She’s also hired a PI, that’s tailing him, not mention an ex CIA Op turned mad scientist ,who wants to use Jim as a Guinea pig in his underground laboratory.
Mix in an angry biker gang, lots of guns, and samurai sword fights, and you’ll start to understand what makes Blood Crimes such a great opener to what I hope will be a great series.
Zeltserman holds nothing back with this book. Full throttle all the way. Very bloody. Very noir. I can’t wait for the sequel to drop. Highly recommended.
April 26, 2011
Ugh! This book is horrible! I am really disappointed because it got excellent reviews but it's so filled with gore, horror, sex and profanity that I can't stand it. I read the first 200 pages hoping it would get better but it just keeps getting worse so I give up. I think the story would be good if not for all the reasons I listed above. I'm tempted to keep reading just to find out what happens but I just can't.
August 2, 2021
loved it but where's the rest of the series ,it's now 2021
December 11, 2012
This ain't your mamma's vampire fantasy, I can tell you that right now. Put some bloodsuckers in an urban fantasy these days and images of angsty girls and sparkly creeps brooding their hearts out spring to mind, I'll bet. Dave Zeltserman has a cure for that.
Jim's a vampire. Carol's the woman who loves him. And that's about as close to paranormal romance as you're gonna get. The two cut a path of death across America, picking off one low-life at a time to spare innocents from Jim's thirst for blood. But the two aren't just evading law enforcement, but also the real threat that is a cabal of vampires from Jim's past. His sadistic sire, Serena, let him out of her clutches once before and she wants him back, and another of her sires with plans of his own wouldn't mind getting Jim in his secret lab for some gruesome experiments.
My first time reading Zeltserman's work was with his novel, The Caretaker of Lorne Field, which was a literary marvel in horror. Blood Crimes is the much different facet of Dave's writing style. If Caretaker was a Cadillac, Blood Crimes is the muscle car with a no-nonsense, relentless journey of love, anger, betrayal, revenge--oh, and a metric ton of bullets, blades, and blood.
I'd gripe about the fact that the book leaves off with a little bit of a cliffhanger, but the title clearly reads Book One, so I was ready for plenty of unanswered questions with this book. At least the buildup leads to an exhilarating showdown. That said, when it comes to series books like this, the chapters that diverged from the main plot to set up pieces for future books tended to feel like gear shifts. It does great to set up characters, but when those characters aren't really in play at that time, it becomes aggravating to know Book Two has yet to be published.
It's a great jump-off into a series of books, but without the followup, the story as a whole is unfulfilled. Much like George R.R. Martin, Dave Zeltserman is not your bitch, so far be it for me to demand he get cracking on Book Two. But if he's taking requests ... Book Two, please!
Jim's a vampire. Carol's the woman who loves him. And that's about as close to paranormal romance as you're gonna get. The two cut a path of death across America, picking off one low-life at a time to spare innocents from Jim's thirst for blood. But the two aren't just evading law enforcement, but also the real threat that is a cabal of vampires from Jim's past. His sadistic sire, Serena, let him out of her clutches once before and she wants him back, and another of her sires with plans of his own wouldn't mind getting Jim in his secret lab for some gruesome experiments.
My first time reading Zeltserman's work was with his novel, The Caretaker of Lorne Field, which was a literary marvel in horror. Blood Crimes is the much different facet of Dave's writing style. If Caretaker was a Cadillac, Blood Crimes is the muscle car with a no-nonsense, relentless journey of love, anger, betrayal, revenge--oh, and a metric ton of bullets, blades, and blood.
I'd gripe about the fact that the book leaves off with a little bit of a cliffhanger, but the title clearly reads Book One, so I was ready for plenty of unanswered questions with this book. At least the buildup leads to an exhilarating showdown. That said, when it comes to series books like this, the chapters that diverged from the main plot to set up pieces for future books tended to feel like gear shifts. It does great to set up characters, but when those characters aren't really in play at that time, it becomes aggravating to know Book Two has yet to be published.
It's a great jump-off into a series of books, but without the followup, the story as a whole is unfulfilled. Much like George R.R. Martin, Dave Zeltserman is not your bitch, so far be it for me to demand he get cracking on Book Two. But if he's taking requests ... Book Two, please!
June 30, 2011
This was a good story. I really like vampire tales, and this was a great way to modernize it. As others have written, it's not overly romanticized - there's no trace of Twilight here. However, there is the "vampire" with a conscience and he certainly seems to have kept his humanity, so there is a bit of the romantic to be found here. On the other hand, there is more violence and the characters seem slightly more realistic for being "undead".
There were several typographic errors in my version and other places where I felt there was a lack of editing. This interrupted the continuity of the book (which was great - the action kept me reading every day) so that's why I gave the book 3 stars instead of four.
I really enjoyed the story and I am looking forward to reading the next in the series.
There were several typographic errors in my version and other places where I felt there was a lack of editing. This interrupted the continuity of the book (which was great - the action kept me reading every day) so that's why I gave the book 3 stars instead of four.
I really enjoyed the story and I am looking forward to reading the next in the series.
May 21, 2012
I got this book free from Kindle. I'm a bit over vampires and this book is all about vampires. I feel nobody beats Anne Rice at Vampires. This author really doesn't either, but he weaves a good tale. Jim is a Vampire, turned into one by the sexy vampire Serena. He escapes Serena, and she hires a PI to find him. Hungry and on the run, Jim saves Carol from a rapist, kills him and drinks his blood. Meanwhile another cell spawned from Serena's in Austin Texas is run by an ex CIA assassin, Metcalf, who has a grizzly underground lab where he experiments with Vampires. I enjoyed the story but the book stops abruptly with the caveat to read book #2. I like a series in which each book completes an event before moving on to the next so that each book is self contained.
October 10, 2012
I didn't know anybody used the term "white slavery" these days. It seems so last century.
Anyway, this book picked up the pace towards the end, and ended on a cliffhanger so that any reader interestad in the fates of the surviving characters would want to pick up the sequel as soon as possible. Good mindless fun, but hardly much more than that. Did it bring anything new to the vampire genre? Zeltserman's vampires are created by a virus infection. This book did not specify how long the virus had been around, but I got the impression that it was a fairly new thing. (Or else the vampire population explosion would surely have already obliterated humanity, and starved itself to extinction.)
Anyway, this book picked up the pace towards the end, and ended on a cliffhanger so that any reader interestad in the fates of the surviving characters would want to pick up the sequel as soon as possible. Good mindless fun, but hardly much more than that. Did it bring anything new to the vampire genre? Zeltserman's vampires are created by a virus infection. This book did not specify how long the virus had been around, but I got the impression that it was a fairly new thing. (Or else the vampire population explosion would surely have already obliterated humanity, and starved itself to extinction.)
August 3, 2011
Although this is yet another vampire book this should not be mistaken as an adult Twilight. These vampires a mean and do not sparkle!!! It's a very adult book with a lot of bad language, but to be honest I found it a relief to not have to deal with teenage angst. The story line was good, although a little predictable, and moved along nicely. My biggest problem is the complete cliffhanger at the end. The story isn't wrapped up at all and I can't find anything about when book 2 will be coming out. I will definitely keep an eye out for it though.
October 13, 2012
This is a slightly different vampire book. I was interested to start with, but then it kept getting messier and more out of control without good reason, in my mind. It also ended on a note that didn't feel like any kind of closure. It is clear that there will be another book, but I feel that each book in series should be somewhat sufficient unto itself, rather than leaving nearly all the issues at loose ends. I did want to like it, but was left a bit flat.
February 27, 2013
I couldn't stand this book. It flips around from different points of view-some of which the characters haven't been introduced. I think I was 40% through the book before it actually gave me a real plot line. The only reason I stuck with it is I felt obligated to keep going. Once it started coming to a close it didn't give a good stopping point just okay done check out the next book. I won't be picking up the next book because the writing style is not for me.
October 27, 2011
I loved this book! Plenty of action and horror. A different take on vampires. No mushy romance here! The story telling was fabulous! I can't wait for book 2! In the interim, I will be checking out more of Dave Zeltserman's books.
May 24, 2011
This was a really fun book, a new take on vampires or vampirish type creatures. It was a quick read because it kept the action going the whole way from page one to the end. I love vampire books and love seeing where authors take the superstitions and lore. I'm looking forward to book 2!
May 23, 2017
Interesting take but too much gore and sex and ends with NO closure. I hate series that try to force you to keep going. Write a good book and make me want to instead of just making me want to see what happens.
April 13, 2011
This book kept me captivated throughout. I liked that it was different from the other vampire books out there.
April 19, 2012
An easy read. When will Book Two be out?
October 5, 2013
Ends with no satisfaction. The plot just stops and you have to wait for the next book. There was a lot of action and it was interesting enough but the lack of conclusion is disappointing.
February 28, 2013
At least it was free.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews