Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.
Title: Pariah
Author: Dave Zeltserman
Narrator: Joe Barrett
Format: Unabridged
Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
Language: English
Release date: 12-09-09
Publisher: Audible Studios
Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 9 votes
Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Noir
Publisher's Summary:
Once part of the holy triumvirate ruling the South Boston Irish Mob, Kyle Nevin is set up with the Feds by head mobster Red Mahoney, who leads him to a court case and a stretch in the slammer. Now out of prison, Kyle wants revenge on his old boss and mentor and, just as importantly, to reclaim his former glory. A kidnapping gone wrong leads, bizarrely, to a major book deal and a newfound celebrity status for Kyle. However, it also brings about bigger problems for both himself and anyone unlucky enough to cross his path. With this dark riff and contemporary theme, Zeltserman shows why he is the heir of Jim Thompson and James M. Cain.
©2009 Dave Zeltserman; (P)2009 Audible, Inc.
Critic Reviews:
"Darkly enjoyablea page-turner." (The Boston Globe)
"A doozy of a crime-laden crime story.If there's any other young writer out there who does crime noir better than Zeltserman, I don't even want to know. (The Washington Post)
Members Reviews:
Daring Noir
As an example of noir, Dave Zeltserman's PARIAH, the second installment in his man-out-of-prison trilogy, is a cross between Don Tracy's ROUND TRIP (1934) and Jason Starr's FAKE I.D. (2000). Like ROUND TRIP, the structure of PARIAH is episodic. There are several plot elements in the first three-quarters of the novel (including a revenge plot, some family psychodrama, a kidnapping, and a trial), any one of which could have been the foundation of a thriller with a conventional plot arc. But, as in ROUND TRIP, the plot wanders, trading narrative tension for a heightened sense of realism. The major difference between ROUND TRIP and PARIAH is that the protagonist of Tracy's novel, Eddie Magruder, is basically a sympathetic character, while the protagonist of Zeltserman's novel, Kyle Nevin, is fairly loathsome from the moment the novel begins. Thus, like Jason Starr with Tommy Russo, the unsympathetic protagonist of FAKE I.D., Zeltserman takes a chance that he can make readers care enough about the fate of an unlikeable character to keep reading. Combine this risk with the risky plot structure, and Pariah becomes a noir high-wire act. But if Zeltserman gets you across the wire, you will be rewarded at the other side.
The Psyche of a Sociopath
Reading Dave Zeltserman's PARIAH was a slam to the side of the head with a sledgehammer, and that's a good thing if you enjoy digging into the mechanizations of the criminal mind. I read everything he's written. It captured me from page one and never let go. The review by "Forever Reader" totally missed the point. He referred to the character as "not having a flicker of emotion." Apparently a true sociopath has never crossed his path, although statistically one out of 25 people are. He's either very lucky - or totally oblivious. The character in this book is a classic! The only flicker of emotion a sociopath feels is for himself. It is his incapacity for empathy and the feelings of others that drives him so easily into the dark places where a "normal" person would never dream to go. He lives in a world driven by how things effect him, oblivious to others except for how they might serve his own purpose. Dave Zeltserman perfectly captures what makes this guy tick and understands (unlike Forever Reader) the dark and dangerous psyche of the classic sociopath.