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DIRTY SALLY is the noirest of noirs -- dirty, depressing and bloodsoaked, but a damn good novel. The book is set in 1980s Austin, Texas, but is oddly timeless. There's drugs, violence and racism everywhere you turn, and you soon discover there are very few good guys around. Dan Reles is a Jewish cop who fetched up in Texas at the age of 15 when his father fell out with the Mafia. He's an outsider in more ways than one in a homicide department rife with racism and anti-Semitism. And his life has gone further down the pan since the death of his work partner Joey in a car accident. DIRTY SALLY is chock-full of flawed characters, with Dan up there near the top. His career is on the line during the book, and it's a race for him to save his job as he investigates the murder of a beautiful young prostitute. But the bodies soon start piling up, and with internal affairs gunning for Dan because of his erratic behaviour, he's working against the clock. Michael Simon is an assured writer who shoves the reader straight into an unpleasant , uncomfortable world with his bleak, spare prose. The book has the feel of LA CONFIDENTIAL, with bent cops, racism and casual violence. And there's also corruption at the top and all the way down. Reles isn't helped by his own side, but Simon manages to make the often stereotyped dinosaur cops in the grotesque form of Senior Sergeant Lloyd 'Buck' Jeffries and his scummy sidekick Milsap seem like fresh creations. Also muscling off the pages are career drunk Miles Niederwald, the squad's commanding officer, and James Torbett, the sole black cop in the team. This has the feel of a series with legs -- and it also has the promise of a film, should anyone care to take the chance, with its cinematic timelines. I notice that Simon has written plays, and it shows. DIRTY SALLY is a dark, challenging read all the way through, but was that just the tiniest glimmer of hope I spotted at the end?
Reviewed by Sharon Wheeler, July 2004
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