Zero Avenue: A Crime Novel

In late-’70s Vancouver, the punk scene was thriving. But in those same clubs, alleys, and side streets, crime and drugs were also thriving. Frankie is the lead guitarist for the band Waves of Nausea, but she also runs drugs for a local crime lord. Her two worlds collide when her bass player goes missing at the same time that her crime lord’s psychotic second-in-command begins strong-arming her and everyone else in sight. Things are going south quickly, and if Frankie isn’t careful, her dreams might go up in smoke, one way or another.

Zero Avenue is a hardnosed, gritty, grimy, and utterly believable recreation of the sinister underbelly of the late ’70s, punchy in both word and deed as our irascible, kickass protagonist rages against the system AND the machine. Every character has an angle, a lot of bad decisions are made, and the ish hits the fan pretty quickly.

Like a rock performance, this novel starts off hot, allows for rising crescendos and momentary lulls to catch your breath before launching into the next song at breakneck speed. Kalteis makes the novel feel like both its setting and its subject, by turns indulgent and savage.