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BODY SCISSORS
by Michael Simon
Viking, August 2006
288 pages
$23.95
ISBN: 0670034436


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

It's 1991 in Austin, Texas and Dan Reles is the only Jewish detective from New York City in his squad. He's a tough man who fights for his rights, but he also knows which battle is worthwhile. He's known as a good and clean cop, but his mind is never far away from what happened to his partner, Joey Velez.

By the end of his life, Joey had become a corrupt cop, on drugs and dealing with the worst in Austin. When he died in a car crash Reles didn't believe it was just an accident and still doesn't. But he also recognizes that his feelings that something was wrong with Joey's end can stem from the fact that he was in love with Joey's wife, Rachael while he was still alive and that after Joey died, Reles and Rachael got together and now live under the same roof.

When there's a shooting and a young girl is killed, with her brother critically wounded, Reles is assigned to the case. On that night, lawyer Virginia Key and her children returned home and seemed to have surprised a thief, who then shot the children and escaped. When police chiefs finds out that Key is an up-and-coming leader in the black community they replace Reles with black detective James Torbett to keep the community happy.

Reles understands their orders, and knows that Torbett is a good cop so he delves into his new assignment: Rich white college kids are going into comas after trying a new type of drug.

Soon Reles discovers that a new drug kingpin, here from Afghanistan, is connected to his old partner Joey and is also linked to the two new cases, and he informs Torbett. But what connection can a drug lord have with well-respected mother and lawyer Virginia Key?

While working the Key case, to his despair, Torbett finds that he has fallen in love with Virginia. He won't permit anything to happen between them because he cherishes his wife and family, but he is torn when he finds evidence that Key isn't as clean as she seems.

As the two cops continue to investigate, they discover that the drug lord is a violent madman, and that their investigating him might place their lives and the lives of their loved ones in danger, but both cops are not the type to back down. They continue to investigate, no matter what the outcome.

BODY SCISSORS is an outstanding, multi-layered murder mystery thriller. It is dark and harsh and not an easy book to read. All the characters are going through hard, emotionally trying times in a town that is crumbling under its own corruption, and the atmosphere of depression weighs heavily on the reader.

Author Michael Simon has created a story with a steady moving pace and enough action to keep the readers racing through the pages. Threads of multiple stories are woven into one strong solid mystery with a satisfying and haunting ending. It's a book that will stay with you long after you finish it.

Reviewed by Sharon Katz, August 2006

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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