In His Shadow

Rating:
Summary: Look on the dark side
Review: "In His Shadow" has so many twists and turns that you need to start reading early in the evening. It's a book I couldn't put down, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading about the dark side.

Rating:
Summary: In His Shadow
Review: As a reader, I like to be surprised by an author. All too often, it seems like about halfway through the book, I know pretty much everything that is going to happen. I may not have all the exact reasons and details down but I have a very good idea where the person is going. Then along comes Dave Zeltserman and his book "In His Shadow." This is a book well worth reading.

Johnny Lane is a very successful private investigator in Denver, Colorado in this dark, sometimes comedic but almost always tragic, mystery novel. His business is wildly successful thanks in large part to a case a number of years ago. The resultant media attention earned him new clients as well as a column in the Denver Examiner titled "Fast Lane." His notoriety in which he is known just walking down the street as well as his column and public appearances bring in even more clients. As such, he has a number of private investigators working for him on a case-by-case situation and he splits the fee with them with Lane taking the larger share as he took the case in the first place. For some that are working for him the deal is an issue, but Lane has more serious problems.

While outwardly successful, his mental stability is hanging by a thin thread and it isn't going to take much for him to lose it all. After successfully concluding as best as he could under the circumstances his previous case, Mary Williams arrives in his office. Lane is a ladies man and loved by all the women, at least in the beginning of the relationship, and he instantly attracted to her. While the young lady is beautiful, there is also something else about her that disturbs him tremendously and he does not know why. She knows she was adopted and wants to hire Lane to find her birth parents. He agrees at a fee far lower than normal for reasons he does not know himself.

Though she has the barest of information and over the strident objection of her parents, Lane has almost immediate success in the search. Soon a nagging suspicion that he was not able to put into words is confirmed and presents Johnny with an escalating series of problems. Not only does he find her birth parents, he finds links to his own past and events that he thought he had put long behind him.

I first had the pleasure of reading this novel about a year ago and even after all this time, I think it is one of the best books I have read in a long, long time. The ending has such a twist that I never saw coming and at the same time it absolutely works. Written in a Mike Hammer style with strong currents of Shakespearian tragedy, this novel is a fast read at 254 pages and full of interesting characters. The trail is full of twists and turns and slowly unravels the man behind the façade. Though tragic and dark in tone, the novel is well written and enjoyable.

Rating:
Summary: In His Shadow
Review: As a reader, I like to be surprised by an author. All too often, it seems like about halfway through the book, I know pretty much everything that is going to happen. I may not have all the exact reasons and details down but I have a very good idea where the person is going. Then along comes Dave Zeltserman and his book "In His Shadow." This is a book well worth reading.

Johnny Lane is a very successful private investigator in Denver, Colorado in this dark, sometimes comedic but almost always tragic, mystery novel. His business is wildly successful thanks in large part to a case a number of years ago. The resultant media attention earned him new clients as well as a column in the Denver Examiner titled "Fast Lane." His notoriety in which he is known just walking down the street as well as his column and public appearances bring in even more clients. As such, he has a number of private investigators working for him on a case-by-case situation and he splits the fee with them with Lane taking the larger share as he took the case in the first place. For some that are working for him the deal is an issue, but Lane has more serious problems.

While outwardly successful, his mental stability is hanging by a thin thread and it isn't going to take much for him to lose it all. After successfully concluding as best as he could under the circumstances his previous case, Mary Williams arrives in his office. Lane is a ladies man and loved by all the women, at least in the beginning of the relationship, and he instantly attracted to her. While the young lady is beautiful, there is also something else about her that disturbs him tremendously and he does not know why. She knows she was adopted and wants to hire Lane to find her birth parents. He agrees at a fee far lower than normal for reasons he does not know himself.

Though she has the barest of information and over the strident objection of her parents, Lane has almost immediate success in the search. Soon a nagging suspicion that he was not able to put into words is confirmed and presents Johnny with an escalating series of problems. Not only does he find her birth parents, he finds links to his own past and events that he thought he had put long behind him.

I first had the pleasure of reading this novel about a year ago and even after all this time, I think it is one of the best books I have read in a long, long time. The ending has such a twist that I never saw coming and at the same time it absolutely works. Written in a Mike Hammer style with strong currents of Shakespearian tragedy, this novel is a fast read at 254 pages and full of interesting characters. The trail is full of twists and turns and slowly unravels the man behind the façade. Though tragic and dark in tone, the novel is well written and enjoyable.

Rating:
Summary: Quite a ride...hardboiled fiction with a psychological twist
Review: Hey, we all need some guilty pleasures, and I found this great piece of hardboiled fiction pretty tough to put down. Wise cracking celebrity detective Johnny Lane can outslug any adversary and sweet talk any woman, but when a dark past collides with an even darker future, we join his harrowing descent into madness. Dave Zeltserman treats this story with enough verve and dark humor (Lane's manic impulses include one of the greatest appetites for food I have ever read) that you find yourself carried along for the ride despite your best intentions. I particularly enjoyed his knack for capturing all the little details surrounding this seedy cast of characters and the spasms of violence that engulfs them all. "In His Shadow" has the mesmerizing quality of a bad car wreck. You don't want to watch, but you catch yourself counting all the body parts anyway.

Rating:
Summary: Dark Shadow
Review: I really enjoyed this book! What was most interesting to me was the way the narrator, Johnny Lane, evolved as the story unfolded (or more accurately, devolved). It's a very disturbing book, but also a book I found hard to put down.

Rating:
Summary: Dark Shadow
Review: I really enjoyed this book! What was most interesting to me was the way the narrator, Johnny Lane, evolved as the story unfolded (or more accurately, devolved). It's a very disturbing book, but also a book I found hard to put down.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Travel Companion
Review: IN HIS SHADOW is a very compelling story written by Dave Zeltserman. It is a different, and unusual PI novel. I have never read one quite like it, and was so completely absorbed in the plot that I completely lost track of time while reading it.

Although IN HIS SHADOW is definitely not for the squeamish, or faint of heart, the writing flows, and the characters are so well developed and intriguing, you cannot look away. The scenes, the plotting, the dialogue, although sometimes very disturbing, are absolutely fascinating and real.

IN HIS SHADOW overflows with lies, violence, betrayal, murder, all with a psychological twist. It is a descent into the darkest levels of human nature, which is just so fascinating that you cannot take your eyes from the pages.

In my opinion, IN HIS SHADOW is hardboiled fiction at it's best.

Johnny Lane has it all. He runs a detective agency that is so successful that he can't handle all the business himself. And so to compensate for this he contracts out some of the cases that just aren't that big, thus keeping the major ones for himself. He also keeps 60% of the fees that are collected on those he contracts out. This split isn't exactly that well appreciated by at least one of the PI's that he contracts out to, but Johnny has a way of justifying it to himself that makes perfect sense. At least to him it does, as does everything that Johnny does.

Johnny is also a columnist for the Denver Examiner, where he turns his cases into intriguing articles. This has made Johnny Lane into quite the celebrity around town. And Johnny does love his celebrity status. Not only does he love it, but he also believes it himself.

Life is good for Johnny. Until the day when a young woman walks into his office wanting him to find her birth parents. When Johnny's approached by Mary Williams he finds himself taking the case on, although she can't even come close to paying his normal fees, because he wants a break from the mundane, and depressing cases that have been crossing his desk lately. Besides, Mary is a very, very beautiful young woman. And this case shouldn't be that difficult.

Little does Johnny know. This case could be the end of not only his career as a private detective, but it could also be the end of Johnny. It isn't long before Johnny's life is completely turned upside down, and if discovered, the truth could destroy his life. Then it only gets worse.

There are so many dramatic twists and turns in the life of Johnny Lane that it would be difficult to keep up with them if it wasn't for the superb writing skills of Mr. Zeltserman. You follow along without even a hint of confusion, even though this is a very dark, complex story.

Mr. Zeltserman shows the dark side of Johnny Lane in such a way that even the most disgusting parts are not only explained, but also in the end understood. As Johnny's dark side emerges, the distance between reality and fiction grow even further apart in his mind. The past and the present seem to become one entity of it's own, undistinguishable from each other, and all condensed together into one mass.

IN HIS SHADOW is full of excitement, intrigue, mystery, and even dark humor. It is superbly written and absolutely hypnotizes you. You find yourself on a roller coaster ride that you want to get off of, but you can't. No matter how terrorized you are you just have to find out what that next hill is going to be like, even if it does kill you. Thus you are in free fall, free fall into the insanity that also finds Johnny Lane.

I recommend this book for anyone who wants to be completely taken over by the terror, mystery, thrills, and superb writing of an excellent author. Mr. Zeltserman gives you all of that, and much more in this wonderful novel. IN HIS SHADOW is a winner, in my opinion, and I very much think that will be your opinion also.

Rating:
Summary: This book cannot be put down, in any sense of the term
Review: One of the great benefits of having friends who read is that there is a tremendous give and take of book recommendations. Sometimes you're thrusting books into their hands, other times they're thrusting books into yours. And being the "thruster" is equally enjoyable to being the "thrustee." This, of course, is true of other activities as well, but that is a topic for another place and another time. In any event, one of my best and longest running friendships resulted in my holding a copy of IN HIS SHADOW by Dave Zeltserman up to the light and reading it in one sitting. This is one book that cannot be put down, in any sense of the term.

Zeltserman has studied at the knee of Jim Thompson. It is an influence that he freely and graciously acknowledges at the beginning of IN HIS SHADOW, but it would be obvious in any event. Zeltserman though does not attempt a slavish imitation or pastiche of Thompson here. Rather, he takes the basic building blocks that Thompson used so often and so well and adds another room to the house, if you will.

IN HIS SHADOW concerns Johnny Lane, a private investigator who has his own newspaper column and a boatload of secrets. Lane is not the rumpled knight in tarnished armor that Archer, The Continental Op, or Marlowe wore. He seems to be cut from that cloth, at least at first, when he is retained by a young woman named Mary Williams to locate her birth parents. Zeltserman sets his readers up quite well; Lane is not your typical private eye of detective fiction. It's more than the fact that he's not a nice guy; he's a bad, bad man. The reader has no idea how bad of a guy he actually is until IN HIS SHADOW methodically unfolds and Lane's investigation begins to take him places that he wishes it had not. The reader learns how Lane conducts his business, treats his clients and lives his life. This is a guy who is corrupt and Zeltserman expertly peels off the layers of that corruption to reveal the depths of it below. He also, along the way, breaks a taboo. Yet, as shocking as IN HIS SHADOW is in places, Zeltserman never uses sex or violence gratuitously, but only as a plot vehicle to move things along toward their inevitable conclusion as Lane's recent and remote past begins to catch up with him.

IN HIS SHADOW has found a European publisher and Zeltserman may be poised to become a household name abroad before finding fame here. However, if IN HIS SHADOW is any indication of the depth of his talent, he will not labor in obscurity for long.

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