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Dan Reles #1
Dirty Sally
n Simon's gritty debut novel, police detective Dan Reles, who had fled to Texas at the age of fifteen when his father's "friendship" with the mob had gone bad, has his work cut out for him trying to keep justice in the post-oil-bust, corrupt Texas. Not yet recovered from his partner's recent death, and suddenly behaving erratically and even violently, Reles has internal affairs watching his every move. But when a young prostitute is found brutally murdered and the body count begins to rise, Reles is called to find the killer and prevent the panicked Austin from exploding. What he discovers is financial intrigue and a bloody path leading to Austin's elite.
Audio Cassette
First published July 22, 2004
6 people are currently reading
70 people want to read
About the author
Michael Simon
85 books7 followersBorn in Levittown, Long Island, the birthplace of mass-produced housing, Michael Simon is a former actor, playwright, and Texas probation officer. He has taught at Brooklyn College and New York University.
In 2004, Viking published his first novel, Dirty Sally, which introduced the half-Jewish, New York Mafia-born Texas homicide detective Dan Reles. Dirty Sally was lauded by The Chicago Tribune as "A bloody and intriguing delight for noir aficionados." The Seattle Times called it "the finest crime-novel debut since Dennis Lehane's A Drink Before the War in 1994." It was named one of the Top Ten Thrillers and Mysteries of the Year by Amazon.com.
In 2005, the second book in Simon's Texas series, Body Scissors, was published, also to critical acclaim. The Rocky Mountain News called it, "Fast paced and suspenseful from start to finish."
Viking signed on for two more Dan Reles thrillers, Little Faith (2006) and The Last Jew Standing (2007).
To date, Simon's works have appeared in Swedish, French, Italian, Japanese, and on audio tape.
He lives in New York City.
In 2004, Viking published his first novel, Dirty Sally, which introduced the half-Jewish, New York Mafia-born Texas homicide detective Dan Reles. Dirty Sally was lauded by The Chicago Tribune as "A bloody and intriguing delight for noir aficionados." The Seattle Times called it "the finest crime-novel debut since Dennis Lehane's A Drink Before the War in 1994." It was named one of the Top Ten Thrillers and Mysteries of the Year by Amazon.com.
In 2005, the second book in Simon's Texas series, Body Scissors, was published, also to critical acclaim. The Rocky Mountain News called it, "Fast paced and suspenseful from start to finish."
Viking signed on for two more Dan Reles thrillers, Little Faith (2006) and The Last Jew Standing (2007).
To date, Simon's works have appeared in Swedish, French, Italian, Japanese, and on audio tape.
He lives in New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
February 27, 2014
I read this in May, 2005.
Sylish, noir thriller....kicks off with three grisly deaths, no less....one of which is the eponymous 'ho...Sally. Dan Reles, an alcoholic, brooding cop, is the protagonist, here...a misplaced New York Jew....in Texas..
Parts of Dirty Sally keep turning up..sent to prominent citizens in Austin, where this tale is set....
Oh god...corruption and sleaze abound.....sort of like Real Life, today.
I remember this book, fondly...the gruesome grue was not gratuitous...go forth and read the book, if this is your genre of choice.
Sylish, noir thriller....kicks off with three grisly deaths, no less....one of which is the eponymous 'ho...Sally. Dan Reles, an alcoholic, brooding cop, is the protagonist, here...a misplaced New York Jew....in Texas..
Parts of Dirty Sally keep turning up..sent to prominent citizens in Austin, where this tale is set....
Oh god...corruption and sleaze abound.....sort of like Real Life, today.
I remember this book, fondly...the gruesome grue was not gratuitous...go forth and read the book, if this is your genre of choice.
July 23, 2019
Three and a half stars from me.
I did like the opening, it was nice and crisp. The main character has plenty of demons to deal with so it was winding up well. Then things went a little astray for me. In particular, the large cast of co-workers we were quickly introduced to. They all got a little blurry for me, none were clearly defined in their own right, and how can a man who is university disliked and distrusted be put in charge of everyone, particularly when he is one step from being fired?
They kind of swamped the boat for me in the middle of the book. I also felt a little like I was reading over older chapters from time to time as the man character kept rehashing his feelings about his dead partner. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't bad...but could have been slicker.
On the up side...great finishing, full of drama and visuals. The plot finally started to come into line and the introduction of Bill's son was a brilliant stroke. Nice turning point.
Now I ask myself, would I read more by Mr Simon? The answer is yes. Would I like to read more about Dan Reles? Sadly not.
I did like the opening, it was nice and crisp. The main character has plenty of demons to deal with so it was winding up well. Then things went a little astray for me. In particular, the large cast of co-workers we were quickly introduced to. They all got a little blurry for me, none were clearly defined in their own right, and how can a man who is university disliked and distrusted be put in charge of everyone, particularly when he is one step from being fired?
They kind of swamped the boat for me in the middle of the book. I also felt a little like I was reading over older chapters from time to time as the man character kept rehashing his feelings about his dead partner. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't bad...but could have been slicker.
On the up side...great finishing, full of drama and visuals. The plot finally started to come into line and the introduction of Bill's son was a brilliant stroke. Nice turning point.
Now I ask myself, would I read more by Mr Simon? The answer is yes. Would I like to read more about Dan Reles? Sadly not.
August 25, 2018
Good listen, ending went in a different direction than I was expecting. To be honest, that disappointed me.
April 27, 2011
A noire detective based in Austin, TX, Dan Reles is hunting for the murderer of a headless and limbless prostitute, nicknamed Dirty Sally. The year is 1988. Packages containing parts of her body start to show up around the town, and a link to the dirty underworld (corruption, prostitution, drugs) starts to show. Reles needs to resolve the case before his review is up, and he shouldn't spend too much time thinking about his ex-partner (who made a suicide after drinking and driving, and whose wife Reles doesn't surprisingly enough find annoying at all...).
Some of the places listed in the book I know - Magnolia Cafe, HEB stores... nice local feel. I don't think I've read other mysteries/thrillers based here yet. The localness I do love.
There are a few things that prevented me from totally liking this book;
* Some parts of the story are too evident. When Reles decides to not believe someone, it's too obvious that person will later end up in a bad way in the story
* Parts of the book are written in first person, parts in third. Sometimes I don't mind that, but I hate it when the person telling the story switches during the story.
As an example of this, on chapter starting on p. 251.
"I was watching a movie, a guy standing and a girl sitting on the edge of a bed."
On same chapter, 3 lines belo: "He pulled off his white pants. Whatever he left behind was gone. All bets were off. His powerful hands squeezed her hips.
He felt everything more intensely, both the moistness and the throwing in the back of his head and his hip. He started slow, then moved faster and harder, giving it to the buzzing in his head, mouth, skin, his own pelvis and blur before him, one sizzling firecracker all over, building and building and finally rushing through him, a warm torrent flowing, still flowing, more, harder each moment, as he squeezed her, a final thrust, until there was nothing left, [...]".
No, you CANNOT switch from "I" to "he" form in the same chapter. No, no, and no for that. The "I" cannot know how a third person feels, not even if that I would have been the woman who was, umm, described in the parts below.
* At one point (258), Reles's hand is nailed down on the floor with a kitchen, and he cannot move. He jumps from the floor, without first removing the knife.
* A neighbor in the balcony screams at 50 decibels (p. 272), and the bad guys indoors hear that. How can one scream at 50 dB? Quiet indoor voice is 65 dB. Outdoors background noise can be 50 dB or more. A loud whisper, not even a a screaming whisper, can be over 65 dB.
Otherwise, does the job for the mystery. Reles obsesses too much about his ex cop colleague who made a suicide after drinking and driving (how exactly would it have been his fault?), and seems to find that ex-colleagues widow attractive, despite her killing and drug addict background, and rude behavior.
Some of the places listed in the book I know - Magnolia Cafe, HEB stores... nice local feel. I don't think I've read other mysteries/thrillers based here yet. The localness I do love.
There are a few things that prevented me from totally liking this book;
* Some parts of the story are too evident. When Reles decides to not believe someone, it's too obvious that person will later end up in a bad way in the story
* Parts of the book are written in first person, parts in third. Sometimes I don't mind that, but I hate it when the person telling the story switches during the story.
As an example of this, on chapter starting on p. 251.
"I was watching a movie, a guy standing and a girl sitting on the edge of a bed."
On same chapter, 3 lines belo: "He pulled off his white pants. Whatever he left behind was gone. All bets were off. His powerful hands squeezed her hips.
He felt everything more intensely, both the moistness and the throwing in the back of his head and his hip. He started slow, then moved faster and harder, giving it to the buzzing in his head, mouth, skin, his own pelvis and blur before him, one sizzling firecracker all over, building and building and finally rushing through him, a warm torrent flowing, still flowing, more, harder each moment, as he squeezed her, a final thrust, until there was nothing left, [...]".
No, you CANNOT switch from "I" to "he" form in the same chapter. No, no, and no for that. The "I" cannot know how a third person feels, not even if that I would have been the woman who was, umm, described in the parts below.
* At one point (258), Reles's hand is nailed down on the floor with a kitchen, and he cannot move. He jumps from the floor, without first removing the knife.
* A neighbor in the balcony screams at 50 decibels (p. 272), and the bad guys indoors hear that. How can one scream at 50 dB? Quiet indoor voice is 65 dB. Outdoors background noise can be 50 dB or more. A loud whisper, not even a a screaming whisper, can be over 65 dB.
Otherwise, does the job for the mystery. Reles obsesses too much about his ex cop colleague who made a suicide after drinking and driving (how exactly would it have been his fault?), and seems to find that ex-colleagues widow attractive, despite her killing and drug addict background, and rude behavior.
April 25, 2010
RATING: 4.0
Dan Reles is a homicide detective in Austin, Texas, who is carrying around a boatload of problems. To begin with, he's the only New York Jewish cop in the homicide squad. His father did favors for the mob. His previous partner, Joey Velez, died in circumstances that were murky, at best. He's strongly attracted to his widow, in spite of the fact that he believes she was responsible for what happened to Joey. And finally, he completely blew his lid at work and put a fellow officer out of commission for 2 days, which resulted in his ending up on probation. His behavior since his return hasn't exactly built faith in his co-workers that he won't blow again. The clock is ticking; there's a hearing in a few days, and he has to prove that he has enough self-control to perform his job properly. Reles is a rage-filled man with a dark sense of humor that fits this noir thriller well.
Assigned to investigate the brutal murder of a young prostitute who is nicknamed "Dirty Sally" by the squad, Dan finds that it is a case that he must pursue, even if no one else feels it's terribly important. The killer is truly deranged, and has sent pieces of the victim's body to ten men of influence in the city. Trying to determine her identity, he realizes that someone has gone to extreme lengths to hide who she is. Somebody very powerful seems to be implicated, and Dan uncovers a web of financial malfeasance. At the same time, he's involved in a smaller case out of a sense of guilt created when he didn't believe a young man's story, and several people have died as a result.
DIRTY SALLY is Simon's first book, and it's an ambitious effort that unfortunately isn't able to realize its initial promise. Most of the characters in the book are one-dimensional; the bad guys are evil to the core, with no shades of gray. Reles is grievously wounded but manages to continue on despite injuries that would fell the average elephant. The body count rises to huge levels, with incredibly lucky good guys and incredibly unlucky bad guys. And the denouement, with a corporate type lecturing on societal foibles endlessly, just doesn't fit the gritty tale at all.
Simon does a great job of depicting a police department that's fractured by racial tensions and a city that has more than its share of power brokers gone bad. Within that department, there are some excellently drawn characters, including a mostly functioning alcoholic commanding officer and another odd man out, James Torbett, who is black.
As Reles often said, "Mazel tov, amigo." Simon has been compared to James Ellroy. Although I don't feel that's valid for this book, I have no doubt that his future works will make that comparison justifiable.
Dan Reles is a homicide detective in Austin, Texas, who is carrying around a boatload of problems. To begin with, he's the only New York Jewish cop in the homicide squad. His father did favors for the mob. His previous partner, Joey Velez, died in circumstances that were murky, at best. He's strongly attracted to his widow, in spite of the fact that he believes she was responsible for what happened to Joey. And finally, he completely blew his lid at work and put a fellow officer out of commission for 2 days, which resulted in his ending up on probation. His behavior since his return hasn't exactly built faith in his co-workers that he won't blow again. The clock is ticking; there's a hearing in a few days, and he has to prove that he has enough self-control to perform his job properly. Reles is a rage-filled man with a dark sense of humor that fits this noir thriller well.
Assigned to investigate the brutal murder of a young prostitute who is nicknamed "Dirty Sally" by the squad, Dan finds that it is a case that he must pursue, even if no one else feels it's terribly important. The killer is truly deranged, and has sent pieces of the victim's body to ten men of influence in the city. Trying to determine her identity, he realizes that someone has gone to extreme lengths to hide who she is. Somebody very powerful seems to be implicated, and Dan uncovers a web of financial malfeasance. At the same time, he's involved in a smaller case out of a sense of guilt created when he didn't believe a young man's story, and several people have died as a result.
DIRTY SALLY is Simon's first book, and it's an ambitious effort that unfortunately isn't able to realize its initial promise. Most of the characters in the book are one-dimensional; the bad guys are evil to the core, with no shades of gray. Reles is grievously wounded but manages to continue on despite injuries that would fell the average elephant. The body count rises to huge levels, with incredibly lucky good guys and incredibly unlucky bad guys. And the denouement, with a corporate type lecturing on societal foibles endlessly, just doesn't fit the gritty tale at all.
Simon does a great job of depicting a police department that's fractured by racial tensions and a city that has more than its share of power brokers gone bad. Within that department, there are some excellently drawn characters, including a mostly functioning alcoholic commanding officer and another odd man out, James Torbett, who is black.
As Reles often said, "Mazel tov, amigo." Simon has been compared to James Ellroy. Although I don't feel that's valid for this book, I have no doubt that his future works will make that comparison justifiable.
September 6, 2010
On the plus side: Michael Simon's interesting and complex protagonist, Dan Reles: a stranger in a strange land (i.e. a Jewish detective -- no oxymoron! -- in the Austin, Texas PD.) The psychological motives of most of the principals loom larger in this compelling police procedural than the plot itself. The story is driven, in fact, by the potent fears and desires of its main characters, each beset with a significant personality flaw. All this makes Dirty Sally a worthwhile read.
However--- there are deficits, too: For James Ellroy fans, Simon's prose is reminiscent of the tough-talking contemporary (and retro) Ellroy style. Not a criticism, because Simon does it very well. But Ellroy did get there first. For me, the plot begins to sag in the home stretch because of the familiarity of the villains--evil, corporate developers and politicians. Nothing new here. And disappointing since the gruesome beginning and mysterious middle are fresh and make you want to turn to the next page. Just two more observations: there are two themes in the book which are alluded to a few too many times: Dan's painful memories of his late Austin PD partner, Joey, and Dan's equally powerful lust for Joey's widow, Rachel. Every few pages we are reminded of one or the other---as if the author doesn't trust us to carry these themes with us as we progress through the novel. And finally, the book alternates between first person (Dan's POV) and third person (most other times). I can't put my finger on it, but I sense that this choice weakens the structure of the book along with the focus of the reader.
And yet, overall, Dirty Sally is probably better than 85% of what's out there in this genre. Pretty good for a first time at bat.
However--- there are deficits, too: For James Ellroy fans, Simon's prose is reminiscent of the tough-talking contemporary (and retro) Ellroy style. Not a criticism, because Simon does it very well. But Ellroy did get there first. For me, the plot begins to sag in the home stretch because of the familiarity of the villains--evil, corporate developers and politicians. Nothing new here. And disappointing since the gruesome beginning and mysterious middle are fresh and make you want to turn to the next page. Just two more observations: there are two themes in the book which are alluded to a few too many times: Dan's painful memories of his late Austin PD partner, Joey, and Dan's equally powerful lust for Joey's widow, Rachel. Every few pages we are reminded of one or the other---as if the author doesn't trust us to carry these themes with us as we progress through the novel. And finally, the book alternates between first person (Dan's POV) and third person (most other times). I can't put my finger on it, but I sense that this choice weakens the structure of the book along with the focus of the reader.
And yet, overall, Dirty Sally is probably better than 85% of what's out there in this genre. Pretty good for a first time at bat.
February 23, 2013
What Is It?
Sordid, violent, insidious, and that’s only the beginning. A character in Dirty Sally asks, “What is the largest creature in the world?” and then answers, “A network of cypress trees. The roots are attached, tree to tree, over a span of a hundred miles. You can cut down one tree but you can’t kill the roots. Evil is like that. You don’t beat it. It draws back and pops up somewhere else. But it didn’t move. It’s here, there, it has a network that stretches across the world.” OK, so if this is true, then why live? What are the characters in this book doing besides killing, mutilating bodies and having doped-up or drunken sex? Are we actually supposed to believe a love story develops in this sordid mess? But what really threw me is the kingpin behind it all’s justification for causing these rivers of blood and semen, lame to the extreme. But I guess it must be me, for the jacket says, “Noir fans will be hungry for more.”
Sordid, violent, insidious, and that’s only the beginning. A character in Dirty Sally asks, “What is the largest creature in the world?” and then answers, “A network of cypress trees. The roots are attached, tree to tree, over a span of a hundred miles. You can cut down one tree but you can’t kill the roots. Evil is like that. You don’t beat it. It draws back and pops up somewhere else. But it didn’t move. It’s here, there, it has a network that stretches across the world.” OK, so if this is true, then why live? What are the characters in this book doing besides killing, mutilating bodies and having doped-up or drunken sex? Are we actually supposed to believe a love story develops in this sordid mess? But what really threw me is the kingpin behind it all’s justification for causing these rivers of blood and semen, lame to the extreme. But I guess it must be me, for the jacket says, “Noir fans will be hungry for more.”
July 26, 2013
I've been "reading" this book for about 6 weeks now and am only less than a third of the way through. I want to like it, because I see tiny glimpses of a decent story, but they are overshadowed by too many switches in narrators, which cause me to flip back and forth trying to figure out who's who and if they are the good guys or the bad guys. All this flipping back and forth and wondering whose telling the story is making me nuts. Since I've started this book, I've read two JD Robbs, one Robert Crais, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and one how-to use photoediting software. I've also started harvesting my vegetable garden. Which leads me to believe I am never going to finish this book.
August 19, 2013
I picked this up because the cover looked so interesting and it would be an exciting read. While it was a good whodunit, it was very confusing to read. It went back and forth between people and places and named each section by where it was taking place and the time of day which is hard to keep straight when the whole crime is interwoven into organized crime ring involoving so many players. I have read books like this before and can keep up so I do not think it is me. I didn't love this book as much because it was hard to keep everyone straight and hard to like any of the characters. No one really had any redeeming qualities and it was hard to figure out who to even trust or care about. I would not recommend this book unless you really want to focus all of your energy on it.
July 20, 2015
Pretty good thriller! Interesting characters, captivating story. However, I read it in French (a copy I got from somewhere), and oh boy was it a bad translation: there were the occasional mistakes in spelling/typing or names, but also some obvious errors in meaning. Plus the "franchouillard" slang which I always find so irritating (sorry French people!).
October 12, 2014
A tough, gritty police procedural with a good plot. Readers who enjoy this kind of genre would surely love it. Me...I am not a big fan of reading about drug-related crime or the dirty underbelly of law enforcement agencies.
February 11, 2008
This is like Law and Order: Special Victims Unit- in a book. Pretty awesome but just pure entertainment.
Want to read
January 7, 2009Kris BD 07
May 1, 2012
Really liked this gritty and violent book!
May 30, 2012
Started out good but he tried to put too much into it and it flopped.
Read
June 11, 2013excellent book, i loved it
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews