Little Faith by Michael Simon

47. – 510.) Little Faith by Michael Simon – It is 1995 in Austin, Texas. George W. Bush is the new governor and Sgt. Dan Reles personal and professional life is a mess. His livein girlfriend, Jessica, has no interest in their relationship beyond having a place to stay. He has been transferred from Homicide to Family Violence. Suddenly his mixed up existence is sent into further turmoil when he is assigned the investigation of the murder of Faith Copeland – a teenage has-been. A T.V. star as a child her career disappeared when she was no longer cute. Her life has spiraled down. Reles, the only Jew in Homicide, seizes upon the case. While pursuing leads he is at risk from “The Family”, a shadowy group of white crackers who control the police department, and are upset with his report to IA on a corrupt Lieutenant. Cate Mora, another lone ethnic representative on the squad being a female Latina, gains his assistance in looking for a missing boy. The story wends its way through the upper and lower classes of Austin. Reles has little regard for the new governor and those seeking to return Christianty to public life. The story is gritty and uncompromising. The plot asserts criminal cases are routinely manipulated by the power elite in the heart of Texas. It is not going to be a Hollywood feature. At the same time there were too many bodies and the connections too intertwined and formulaic. Reles is an interesting character but I do not expect to read another one of the series. (Dec. 6/09)