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Homicide 69
It's the summer of 1969, and veteran Chicago homicide detective Mike Dooley is investigating the brutal torture-murder of a young woman. The victim is a former Playboy bunny and mobster’s girlfriend. Dooley suspects this is more than a sex killing, which leads him into the deep waters of mob intrigue and political corruption.
The Night Watch is a gripping novel about a man, his family and his times. As Dooley, whose own youth was sacrificed in the Pacific in World War II, scans the news for hopeful portents regarding his son Kevin, a Marine in the thick of the fighting in Vietnam, he sees the world changing before his eyes. The moon landing, Woodstock, the Manson murders, and riots in the streets provide a backdrop for the personal and professional crises precipitated by Dooley’s stubborn refusal to give up on a crime nobody but him wants solved.
The Night Watch is a gripping novel about a man, his family and his times. As Dooley, whose own youth was sacrificed in the Pacific in World War II, scans the news for hopeful portents regarding his son Kevin, a Marine in the thick of the fighting in Vietnam, he sees the world changing before his eyes. The moon landing, Woodstock, the Manson murders, and riots in the streets provide a backdrop for the personal and professional crises precipitated by Dooley’s stubborn refusal to give up on a crime nobody but him wants solved.
480 pages, Hardcover
First published December 12, 2006
14 people are currently reading
64 people want to read
About the author
Sam Reaves
24 books69 followersAka Dominic Martell.
Sam Reaves has written ten novels, most set in Chicago, and co-authored the true crime memoir Mob Cop. Under the name Dominic Martell he writes a European-based suspense series featuring Pascual Rose, and ex-terrorist trying to go straight. Reaves has traveled widely in Europe and the Middle East but has lived in the Chicago area most of his life. He has worked as a teacher and a translator.
Sam Reaves has written ten novels, most set in Chicago, and co-authored the true crime memoir Mob Cop. Under the name Dominic Martell he writes a European-based suspense series featuring Pascual Rose, and ex-terrorist trying to go straight. Reaves has traveled widely in Europe and the Middle East but has lived in the Chicago area most of his life. He has worked as a teacher and a translator.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
August 7, 2013
Homicide 69 is another excellent book from Sam Reaves, an author who doesn't have nearly the following nor the reputation that he deserves.
The book is set in the summer of 1969. Richard Nixon is in the White House; war is raging in Vietnam; Neal Armstrong is walking on the moon; the Manson family is on its murderous rampage, and American society is in the process of being torn apart.
Against that backdrop, Mike Dooley, a solid, decent homicide detective, is doing what he can to redress the injustices committed by his fellow Chicago residents against each other. He's also trying, with marginal success, to navigate the treacherous waters of his own personal life. And a veteran of World War II, Dooley worries day and night about the safety of his son Kevin, a Marine who has been deployed to Vietnam.
Late one night, Dooley and his partner are called to the scene of an especially horrific homicide. A young woman, Sally Kotowski, has been brutally tortured and murdered. Kotowski was a former Playboy Bunny who hung out with mobsters, and Dooley quickly concludes that her death was mob-related.
A solution to the murder appears almost magically, and Dooley's bosses are happy to sign off on the case and declare it closed. Dooley is not. He believes that the solution is too neat and tidy and that the real killers are still at large. Through a long and difficult summer, he pursues the case relentlessly, often on his own time and at the risk of destroying his own career. And his journey takes him deep into the dark side of Chicago life in the late 1960s.
Homicide 69 is much more than a conventional crime novel. The reader knows fairly early on who the guilty parties are and so this is not a "mystery" novel in the traditional sense. It is, at heart, the story of one lone man, struggling against seemingly impossible odds, to do the right thing and to achieve one very small measure of justice in a world gone mad.
It's a story brilliantly told. Reaves has captured perfectly the tenor of the time in which the story is set and he has created an absolutely riveting protagonist in Mike Dooley. Even at nearly 600 pages, the story is way too short, and one closes the book wishing that you could follow Dooley's career indefinitely.
After being hard to find for some time, Homicide 69 is now available in a new e-book edition. It's hard to imagine any fan of crime fiction who would not enjoy it.
The book is set in the summer of 1969. Richard Nixon is in the White House; war is raging in Vietnam; Neal Armstrong is walking on the moon; the Manson family is on its murderous rampage, and American society is in the process of being torn apart.
Against that backdrop, Mike Dooley, a solid, decent homicide detective, is doing what he can to redress the injustices committed by his fellow Chicago residents against each other. He's also trying, with marginal success, to navigate the treacherous waters of his own personal life. And a veteran of World War II, Dooley worries day and night about the safety of his son Kevin, a Marine who has been deployed to Vietnam.
Late one night, Dooley and his partner are called to the scene of an especially horrific homicide. A young woman, Sally Kotowski, has been brutally tortured and murdered. Kotowski was a former Playboy Bunny who hung out with mobsters, and Dooley quickly concludes that her death was mob-related.
A solution to the murder appears almost magically, and Dooley's bosses are happy to sign off on the case and declare it closed. Dooley is not. He believes that the solution is too neat and tidy and that the real killers are still at large. Through a long and difficult summer, he pursues the case relentlessly, often on his own time and at the risk of destroying his own career. And his journey takes him deep into the dark side of Chicago life in the late 1960s.
Homicide 69 is much more than a conventional crime novel. The reader knows fairly early on who the guilty parties are and so this is not a "mystery" novel in the traditional sense. It is, at heart, the story of one lone man, struggling against seemingly impossible odds, to do the right thing and to achieve one very small measure of justice in a world gone mad.
It's a story brilliantly told. Reaves has captured perfectly the tenor of the time in which the story is set and he has created an absolutely riveting protagonist in Mike Dooley. Even at nearly 600 pages, the story is way too short, and one closes the book wishing that you could follow Dooley's career indefinitely.
After being hard to find for some time, Homicide 69 is now available in a new e-book edition. It's hard to imagine any fan of crime fiction who would not enjoy it.
February 9, 2020
Loved this. Well crafted police procedural. And like the throwback to Chicago in '69. Good solid read. Highly recommended.
July 30, 2024
Wonderful and captivating read. The author does an incredible job of taking the reader along for the ride with him - I felt as though I was with Mike Dooley every step of the way. Impressive and complex character development. A must for those interested in a class murder mystery with a history twist.
May 14, 2019
Good cop book
Enjoyed the read. Felt as if it was a bit disjointed at times. Michael Dooley comes off as supercop. Maybe he is.
Enjoyed the read. Felt as if it was a bit disjointed at times. Michael Dooley comes off as supercop. Maybe he is.
December 11, 2008
Sam Reaves keeps getting better. Reaves sets this book in Chicago, in 1969. His protagonist, homicide detective Mike Dooley, is one of those people from the 1960s that we tend to forget-the guy with the short haircut who was mainly interested in doing his job, the guy who fought in WWII, who sees the world going to hell around him and is dismayed. He's a card-carrying member of the Silent Majority.
The main line of this story is Dooley's investigation into the brutal torture and murder of a young woman by a guy (or guys) who may (or may not) have connections with the Outfit. When a guy confesses that he and his partner kidnapped the girl, and his partner (now dead) killed her, the Department considers the case closed. Dooley thinks otherwise.
Entwined in all of this is Dooley's anxiety for his children. His eldest son is in Vietnam and his other two children seem to be growing away from him. His relationship with his wife isn't bad, but it isn't great. Then, there's this girl he met in connection with the case, a friend of the victim. Is he continuing to pursue the case out of a sense of justice or is it because the victim's friend is attractive and affects him in disturbing ways? Reaves handles the relationship triangle that results from this with sensitivity.
All of this goes on amidst a round of other, less complicated murders, resulting from liquor store holdups and domestic disputes in the heat of a Chicago summer. The other cases act like mood music, setting a tone. They underline Dooley's feeling that the city is going to hell.
I liked best the way the author set his story within a historical context, without dwelling a lot on contemporary events. What we know of them is from what Dooley peruses in the newspaper. What resonates, though, is Dooley's attempt to make sense of everything that's going on in the world and in his personal life from the perspective of his past experience. For Dooley, it's an unsatisfactory exercise, at best. The more he fails to understand his life and come to terms with the world around him, the more obsessed Dooley becomes with solving his case.
The main line of this story is Dooley's investigation into the brutal torture and murder of a young woman by a guy (or guys) who may (or may not) have connections with the Outfit. When a guy confesses that he and his partner kidnapped the girl, and his partner (now dead) killed her, the Department considers the case closed. Dooley thinks otherwise.
Entwined in all of this is Dooley's anxiety for his children. His eldest son is in Vietnam and his other two children seem to be growing away from him. His relationship with his wife isn't bad, but it isn't great. Then, there's this girl he met in connection with the case, a friend of the victim. Is he continuing to pursue the case out of a sense of justice or is it because the victim's friend is attractive and affects him in disturbing ways? Reaves handles the relationship triangle that results from this with sensitivity.
All of this goes on amidst a round of other, less complicated murders, resulting from liquor store holdups and domestic disputes in the heat of a Chicago summer. The other cases act like mood music, setting a tone. They underline Dooley's feeling that the city is going to hell.
I liked best the way the author set his story within a historical context, without dwelling a lot on contemporary events. What we know of them is from what Dooley peruses in the newspaper. What resonates, though, is Dooley's attempt to make sense of everything that's going on in the world and in his personal life from the perspective of his past experience. For Dooley, it's an unsatisfactory exercise, at best. The more he fails to understand his life and come to terms with the world around him, the more obsessed Dooley becomes with solving his case.
July 16, 2015
Where Has Sam Reaves Been All My Life?
A fine detective story, but a finer character study. Reaves' Chicago P.D. Homicide Detective Dooley finds himself deeply disturbed by the victim's apparent suffering in a mob murder and spends the 600+ pages trying to bring her sadistic killers to justice. He faces obstacles at every turn from mob infested CPD to puzzling FBI ultimatums. But this is far more than a detective story: it's a story about a mid-40s WWII vet, father, husband, falling angel set in the torrid summer of 1969, when the Cubs leading the league gave hope to pennant starved fans, Viet Nam decimated our young men, and Dooley grows up at 40 something.
Reaves gives us a stubbornly flawed hero. Few other writers in this genre dare to deal with character growth, the very definition of what a novel should show us. Good drama does this too, but the author here dares to exercise his skills as a story teller as Dooley stumbles his way to a stunning ending. Please don't expect a hero like Child's Jack Reacher who is certainly well-drawn, but hardly flawed and never grows or changes. I loved Child's series until I read "69." Now I'm hooked on Reaves, and you will be as well.
A fine detective story, but a finer character study. Reaves' Chicago P.D. Homicide Detective Dooley finds himself deeply disturbed by the victim's apparent suffering in a mob murder and spends the 600+ pages trying to bring her sadistic killers to justice. He faces obstacles at every turn from mob infested CPD to puzzling FBI ultimatums. But this is far more than a detective story: it's a story about a mid-40s WWII vet, father, husband, falling angel set in the torrid summer of 1969, when the Cubs leading the league gave hope to pennant starved fans, Viet Nam decimated our young men, and Dooley grows up at 40 something.
Reaves gives us a stubbornly flawed hero. Few other writers in this genre dare to deal with character growth, the very definition of what a novel should show us. Good drama does this too, but the author here dares to exercise his skills as a story teller as Dooley stumbles his way to a stunning ending. Please don't expect a hero like Child's Jack Reacher who is certainly well-drawn, but hardly flawed and never grows or changes. I loved Child's series until I read "69." Now I'm hooked on Reaves, and you will be as well.
September 11, 2013
What a great book Homicide 69 is. Sam Reaves is a masterful writer. I had to force myself to save the book for evening reading, or I wouldn't have gotten anything else done. If I didn't know better, I would've sworn that Reaves, like his protagonist Michael Dooley, is an Irish Catholic homicide detective working the grittier streets of Chicago.
The author's clever writing often made me laugh out loud, something you don't expect when you're reading mysteries about homicides. More than that, Reaves showed us Michael Dooley's soul. I got caught up in Dooley's troubles, following him down the tough road he's traveling in 1969.
The author's clever writing often made me laugh out loud, something you don't expect when you're reading mysteries about homicides. More than that, Reaves showed us Michael Dooley's soul. I got caught up in Dooley's troubles, following him down the tough road he's traveling in 1969.
January 26, 2015
This was a first-rate police procedural with quite a bit of factual history and geography. I had forgotten how many significant events happened during 1969. Everyone remembers Woodstock, but foreign conflicts, the Tate-LaBianca murders, riots, the Mets/Cubs, Vietnam post-Tet Offensive, Panther executions, Nixon etc. Wow. It's a wonder we made it through at all. The book provided strong environmentals and zeitgeist.
The story itself developed in an interesting fashion and had sufficient tension and intrigue to keep my interest throughout. A very strong novel. The first I've read by this author. I'll be watching for more.
The story itself developed in an interesting fashion and had sufficient tension and intrigue to keep my interest throughout. A very strong novel. The first I've read by this author. I'll be watching for more.
January 28, 2016
This is a stellar work of crime fiction, a classic work of art. It is spellbinding and works on numerous levels. The events of 1969 permeate this almost noir-esque novel. Finally, an author who can not only write but who shows you that he knows what a plot is and develops a magnificent tapestry of one, not thin and see through, not stupidly convoluted but where all the loose ends dovetail expertly into their proper position. Sam Reaves has my respect and admiration, and my money whenever he publishes another book. Why doesn't everyone know this guy? Why hasn't Hollywood beaten a path to his door? More people should be aware of this author.
August 21, 2015
Whew! It took me a month to read this book. Yeah it ran a bit slow. I had just finished another one of Sam Reaves' books, Cold Black Earth, and liked it so much I thought I'd try another. Not as good. This was more of a crime drama and less of a spine-tingling suspense-filled thriller. I did like how it was a "period" drama, set in 1969, and he set the stage with events like Vietnam, Woodstock, riots, etc.. and I still like his writing style, but this book could have been about one-fourth shorter. If you want a better murder mystery, stick with Cold Black Earth.
September 4, 2013
Excellent hardboiled noir: character-driven, expertly plotted, a vivid rendering of a particular time (summer and fall of 1969) and place (Chicago). It puzzles me that Reaves is not better known because I think he's every bit as good as Pelecanos and Price. I'll be looking for more titles by him, especially in this series.
June 6, 2009
that even good guys have ego-related weaknesses and flaws...
February 5, 2010
Turned me into a fan of Sam's as well as a friend of his. His development of the character of Dooley was absolutely wonderful.
September 9, 2015
Intriguing story line
An excellent job of portraying crime in Chicago in the '60's. A little draggy at times but all in all a well written novel.
An excellent job of portraying crime in Chicago in the '60's. A little draggy at times but all in all a well written novel.
October 5, 2015
An excellent book - good story of how the police force of Chicago ran in 1969.
January 27, 2016
A story too close for comfort
As a former resident of Chicago, a Vietnam vet, and once a cop, this story hooked me and hung on.
As a former resident of Chicago, a Vietnam vet, and once a cop, this story hooked me and hung on.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews