Vendor
	Fritz Agency Christian Dittus
Original language
English

ZERO AVENUE

Dietrich Kalteis

Set to the cranking beat and amphetamine buzz of Vancouver's early punk scene, Zero Avenue follows Frankie Del Rey, a talented and rising punk star who runs just enough dope on the side to pay the bills and keep her band, Middle Finger, together. The trouble is she's running it for Marty Sayles, a powerful drug dealer who controls the Eastside with a fist.

When Frankie strikes up a relationship with Johnny Falco, the owner of one of the only Vancouver clubs willing to give punk a chance, she finds out he's having his own money problems just keeping Falco's Nest open. Desperate to keep his club, Johnny raids one of the pot fields Marty Sayles has growing out past Surrey, along Zero Avenue on the U.S. border. He gets away with a pickup load and pays back everybody he owes. Arnie Binz, bass player for Middle Finger, finds out about it and decides that was easy enough. But he gets caught by Marty's crew.

Johnny and Frankie set out to find the missing Arnie, but Marty Sayles is pissed and looking for who ripped off his other field ? a trail that leads to Johnny and Frankie.

Dietrich Kalteis's debut novel Ride the Lightning won an Independent Publishers Award and was hailed as one of the best Vancouver crime novels. More than 40 of his short stories have been published internationally.

Available products
Book Published 2017-10-01 by ECW Press

Comments

There is a graceful muscularity to his writing. And a sparseness that reminds one of jazz, as well... The book is tight and rich and as hard to pin down as smoke. If you love noir, you'll love Zero Avenue. Simply as good as it gets. Read more...

Who wouldn't want to read a ripping and rocking crime yarn set in the early days of Vancouver's punk scene? A hard-nosed dope dealer, a desperate club owner, and a copycat bass player take our heroine (not to be confused with heroin) on one wild ride. Bravo! I couldn't put this book down. -- Terry Fallis, two-time winner of the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour

If punk rock noir isn't a genre, Dietrich Kalteis just invented it. And if it is a genre, then he just raised the stakes. Not unlike the name of his heroine, Frankie's, band, Zero Avenue is a big middle finger to the establishment, expertly capturing a movement and moment in time that burned bright in its nihilism and fought fierce for its freedom. But that isn't what makes Zero Avenue so special. Anyone can rage against the machine. What Kalteis manages, in the middle of all the drugs, sex, and general debauchery, is to display an unwavering, expert command of the art of storytelling. In this delicately violent portrait of the outsider, Kalteis infuses in each and every character, however repulsive and suspect, an undeniable humanity. -- Joe Clifford, author of the Jay Porter Thriller Series

[...]Kalteis paints a down-and-dirty picture of a punk-rock scene fueled by drugs and marred by violence but buoyed by a heroine with plenty of faults and a grim determination to succeed. -- Kirkus Reviews Read more...

Dietrich Kalteis does a brilliant job melding crime fiction with early punk rock history in Zero Avenue, and rocks the story off the page. The cast of characters are authentic and believable, especially his beautifully tough female protagonist, Frankie, who can spit on me anytime. This is punk noir, folks! -- David Swinson, author of The Second Girl

From the get go, this book will light up readers feeling nostalgic for Vancouver's punk scene of the 1970s... Fast, funny, profane and a pleasure to read. Read more...