Bad Thoughts
David Zelsterman
Five Star, July 2007, $25.95, 279 pp.
ISBN: 1594145407

Considering the trauma he experienced when he was thirteen years old and the emotional abuse he suffered at the hands of his father, Billy Shannon grew up to be a fine man and a fantastic police officer. However, a few weeks before the anniversary of his mother's death, he begins to dream but they are no ordinary nocturnal reveries. This year he dreams of a woman who was murdered and from his mind he pulls out the real time location of where her body is located.

He experiences his usual blackout after he goes on his yearly "binge" but this time the dreams don't stop. Two other murders occur to women and in the same manner in which his mom was murdered, by drifter Herbert Winters. All the evidence points to Shannon as the killer and he keeps dreaming and hearing the whispers of Herbert Winters claiming one of his alter egos are killing the women. Shannon knows he has killed nobody but he also believes Herbert isn't the murderer because he killed him when he was thirteen after hours of torture. Someone is out to frame him for the killings and when he figures out why, he will know who and the reason this person has such a malevolent lethal grudge against him.

David Zeltserman is a talented noir thriller writer who throws one surprise after another at the audience so that they find themselves totally bewildered about what is really happening to the protagonist. Shannon has not had an easy life but his suffering never turned him to the dark side. Instead it made him a strong person determined to see justice is done which is why he became a police officer. The villain is so over the top that he makes the audience feel creepy as if spiders are crawling all over their bodies. This is a must read for thriller fans.

Harriet Klausner