Customer Reviews

The Last Jew Standing: A Novel

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Gritty, tough, and full of suspense "The Last Jew Standing" by Michael Simon is a sure winner for crime fiction fans.

This fourth installment of Simon's Detective Dan Reles series finds Dan with a new home, a new wife, a son, and far removed from the life he once had in New York. But there is no way that Dan will ever escape his past...especially when it shows up on his doorstep.

Dan's father, Abe has been on the run from the Mafia for twenty-five years, and when he shows up at Dan's new house with a Russian prostitute on his arm, Dan--who still blames his father for his mother abandoning them--can't imagine what he wants.

But he knows it isn't good.

When a former employee of Mafia boss, Sam Zelig turns up dead, Dan is even more concerned about his father's arrival in Austin. And when Sam Zelig and his goons make it personal, Dan is forced to make some tough decisions...never knowing if he's right or wrong.

Michael Simon gets the award for drawing me into a book with the very first sentence. Late nights, skipped meals, and falling into bed with my clothes on were all well worth it, just to read a bit more of this oustanding novel. The danger, the suspense, the raw hatred and violence that poured forth from this crime thriller, leaves the reader clamoring for Simon's next book. "The Last Jew Standing" is one of the best examples I've read of pushing a character so far into desperation that even the reader can't guess what he'll do next.

If all of Michael Simon's books are as thrilling and intense as this one, Simon has just gained a life-long fan.

This is the fourth in Michael Simon's series featuring Detective Dan Reles of the Austin TX PD. Beginning with Dirty Sally, the previous three were all fast-paced, gripping stories, peopled with colorful, believable characters. The Last Jew Standing does not disappoint - it is a first-rate addition to the series. As with the previous books, once I started reading, I couldn't put it down.

Simon's writing style is concise, clever and witty, with lots of snappy dialog and wry observations. I hope that Simon is busy working on another Dan Reles novel - the series is addictive!

Michael Simon's "The Last Jew Standing" is his fourth book starring Dan Reles. In the first three books, "Dirty Sally", "Body Scissors", and "Little Faith", Reles was a detective for the Austin, Texas Police Homicide Squad. In this latest installment, Dan Reles has made lieutenant, and bought a new house for his live-in girlfriend and son. Things are looking up. That is until his father, Ben, an ex-mafia leg-breaker, shows up on Dan's doorstep with a prostitute, both fleeing from mob boss, Sam Zelig. Now Dan is torn between what's right and helping his father. As Zelig closes in, it becomes a struggle to stay alive and keep his family safe.

Suspense and thriller enthusiasts will enjoy this tightly woven, dark tale. I found myself so submerged in its pages, life stopped around me and I couldn't do much else.

Dan Reles is a gritty cop set in a gritty time period in Austin. This book is the 4th in the series, and continues the excellence of the first 3. I highly recommend reading all 4 books - but read them in order as they truly build on each other. The books could probably stand alone, but the true richness of Michael Simon's writing comes out through the development of the characters and storylines from book to book. Excellent suspense tale, great characters - highly flawed and deeply human.

The title of this one suggested to me that there might be a political or
religious subtext, which I do not like in mysteries. But this one is from
beginnng to end a top notch novel that shows Simon's growing skills and
depth of characterization. The title refers to the old days of a Jewish
mafia and brings some marvelous, credible characters into the mix. As usual,
thoughtful insights into interesting characters together with hard
boiled action. A great read for those who love good mysteries and good novels.

I have found Michael Simon's Dan Reles novels irresistible from practically the first paragraph of his debut, DIRTY SALLY. Reles is a character who is not entirely likable but attractive nonetheless. A fish out of water, he is a Jew from New York in the Austin, Texas, Police Department in the early to mid 1990s, feeling less than welcome and doggedly hanging on for reasons good and bad. Simon's plot lines in each book are much more complex than they appear; even when something explicitly good happens to Reles, be it a promotion or luck in love, something bad is going to occur as a result. And so it goes with THE LAST JEW STANDING.

This book is as much concerned with Reles's past in New York as it is with his present in mid-1990s Austin. The occurrence that causes Reles to confront his childhood is the sudden arrival of his father --- who he hasn't seen in many years --- with Irena, a young Russian woman (and a self-proclaimed prostitute) in tow. Ben Reles, a small-time Mafia errand-runner, has himself been on the run for two decades. Now his past (as well as his present) has led him to an uneasy and unwelcome reunion with the son from whom he has been estranged for many years. It is no small irony that Dan Reles is on the cusp of coming to grips with his own new family, consisting of a son he didn't know he had until just recently and a woman he spends all too much time wishing he had never met.

All are in the headlights of Sam Zelig, a New York mobster whose history with Ben Reles goes back for decades and whose all-consuming anger is directed at Ben for stealing (from his perspective) Irena away from him. Zelig is possessed of an uncanny ability to get things darkly and maniacally done, and within hours after his arrival in Austin he is holding Ben, as well as the city of Austin, hostage in a crazed effort to get Irena back. Zelig exercises an inhuman brutality, one from which Simon does not flinch. Yet there is an odd, simple beauty to the narrative as well. Somehow, one knows from the very beginning of the book that things are not going to end well, yet Simon so seamlessly welds the plot together that the hard-won redemption and justice that occurs by the end of the story seems not only natural but also inevitable.

THE LAST JEW STANDING is by far Simon's best work to date --- a statement that has been true with the publication of each of his novels --- succeeding in every way imaginable and even in a few that are unexpected. I cannot imagine Simon writing a better book, but somehow I know he will.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

This is the fourth Dan Reles book and although I would recommend reading them in chronological order it's not imperative. (Similar to Reed Farrel Coleman's books the time line is not a straight one from book to book.) Dan is an Austin, TX police officer and to put it mildly is an outsider - Jewish and originally from NY - a loner and somewhat of a brooder. The glass is always half empty for Dan and one gets the impression that's just fine with him. He has settled into his own version of domestic tranquility with a young son who doesn't know him and a wife that needs some periodic space when his estranged father unexpectedly shows up at his doorstep ( his window actually), with a very young woman in tow. The plot thickens as the Reles' NY past and "connections" find their way to Texas for a showdown.

The Last Jew Standing is dark but stays above downright depressing with Dan's, (Simon's), sardonic sense of humor. The much alluded to NY past in the previous books is front and center and as with any good series the reader gleans another level to Dan through the "reconciliation" with is father. Also, as in the previous Reles books, Dan continues fighting crime in his day job while battling a personal crisis which become one and the same by the conclusion of this book. And this is the only down side of the book - the ending is very reminiscent of a James Bond movie which besides being hokey just doesn't fit. The good news is that this is still a very good book - and series - and I look forward to more.