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Bobby Dollar, an angel who has taken part in the long battle between Heaven and Hell, must figure out why there are suddenly an unprecedented number of souls missing from both sides and who summoned a Babylonian demon to kill him.Tags
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LongDogMom Another urban fantasy about angels. Remy has given up being an angel to live on Earth as human but when the Angel of Death goes missing his former colleagues come to him for help.
30
al.vick or the whole Dresden series.
LongDogMom Freshly escaped from Hell, a living soul who should never have been there in the first place, looks for those who put him there. A little darker but a similar feel and probably would appeal to the same audience.
LongDogMom Noir and gritty in a similar tone, Even though it's a series about a vampire instead of an angel I think readers who enjoy one would enjoy the other.
LongDogMom A book set in the Nightside, the secret, magical heart of London, and a search for something called the Unholy Grail with angels who are scarier than many of the monsters that inhabit P.I. John Taylor's strange and gritty world.
12
LongDogMom A human lawyer and a group of angels work as advocates in the Celestial Court for their dead clients, solving their murders along the way in a lighter, cozy mystery way.
LongDogMom Good urban fantasy about angels who aren't so angelic
Member Reviews
The Dirty Streets of Heaven Bobby Dollar is an angel who isn't particularly angelic. He's cynical, swears a lot, gets into epic bar fights, tells the occasional untruth, pines after demonic women and questions the existence of god and Heaven. Usually, writing a book in first person can get dull - only having one perspective can make you want to rip your eyes out if the character has less personality than trigonometric functions. Luckily Tad Williams' character Bobby is a pretty cool guy. He's funny, quite charming in a "I can't believe you have the audacity to say that" way and too curious for his own sake. It's Bobby's curiosity that gets him into trouble really. His angelic duty is to act as a heavenly lawyer and defend dead souls show more when they are judged to go to Heaven, Purgatory or Hell. Unfortunately, Bobby's life becomes violently chaotic when a dead soul magically disappears and he decides to investigate; it doesn't help that Hell thinks that he's stolen the soul! Despite the whole Heaven and Hell thing, the story is not at all preachy. There's no preference towards a particular religious order (thereby neatly avoiding offending anyone). Through Bobby's eyes we see that Heaven isn't quite as perfect as it is made out to be and not all of Satan's servants are crazy evil. It's impressive that Williams managed to pull off moral ambiguity despite the black and white nature of the stage his story plays out in. I really can't wait for the next book, especially as (part of) the story will be set in Hell. As an aside I actually, quite embarrassingly, thought that the city Bobby lived in (San Judas) was a real city. The descriptions were vivid, but the main reason for believing in the existence of the fake city was the historical excursions the character made every so often. I guess my exceptionally poor knowledge of American geography is also a big factor.... show less
Tad Williams is one of my favorite epic fantasy writers. His Memory, Sorrow and Thorn is a classic of the genre, and rivals Tolkien for depth, development, and characters. So I was intrigued and excited by his latest - of all things, a mashup of noir detective fiction and urban fantasy with angels and demons. Guess what? It works, and works pretty well. The world is as well developed as ever, the plot's as noir as it gets, and the characters are his usual well-done. Now, it's nothing ground-breaking; urban fantasy's been done lots lately. But if you're looking for an accomplished example of how it should be done, I'd start here.
I've always been a fan of Tad Williams, and while I loved his epic fantasy and loved his epic sci-fi more, I wasn't sure how I'd get into his take on urban fantasy. I shouldn't have worried. There were enough twists and turns in this noiresque to make it a gumshoe novel while the MC is actually an ex-special forces angel who has a shit job of a lawyer advocate for souls.
Actually, this was a tortured love story between a star-crossed angel and a grand duchess of hell, but who's quibbling?
The plot was fun and pretty much a wild ride. The action sequences didn't suck. The tropes aren't especially original, but how they were all pieced together was pretty damn fun. I always appreciated Mr. Williams for his craft, and his current metaphors show more were definitely thought-provoking and subtle in a way that reminded me of some of the best mysteries I'd read.
I'm looking forward to more. show less
Actually, this was a tortured love story between a star-crossed angel and a grand duchess of hell, but who's quibbling?
The plot was fun and pretty much a wild ride. The action sequences didn't suck. The tropes aren't especially original, but how they were all pieced together was pretty damn fun. I always appreciated Mr. Williams for his craft, and his current metaphors show more were definitely thought-provoking and subtle in a way that reminded me of some of the best mysteries I'd read.
I'm looking forward to more. show less
I wanted to like this book much more than I did. While I didn't dislike it, nonetheless it failed to live up to its potential. Too many plates spinning at once, not enough payoff when the big reveal occurs. Williams is long-winded at times, and the "wise guy" narration felt forced at times. My biggest complaint with the book was the way the female characters (all two of them) were depicted. The women were not well developed and mostly existed to boink the main character. Caz could have been really interesting, and I hope that she has more to do beside frolic in bed with Bobby in the next book.
UPDATE: I tried reading the sequel, but everything I disliked about this book seemed magnified. I've decided to give the rest of this series a pass.
UPDATE: I tried reading the sequel, but everything I disliked about this book seemed magnified. I've decided to give the rest of this series a pass.
The Dirty Streets of Heaven by Tad Williams
I'm giving this book high marks, but they are high marks that come with a qualifier. If you like this type of book, you will like this book in particular. The problem is finding the right shelf for this type of book. Urban fantasy? yes, that's part of it. But something of the mystery genre mixed in, specifically the noire detective novel. But with a supernatural twist to it too. Supernatural noire mystery. Ya, it's a pretty small bookshelf.
Jim Butcher's 'The Dresden Files' were previously the only other volumes filling that slim shelf. And I love those books. And as quickly as Jim Butcher births those slim volumed paper babies, there's still time between them. And like the addict that i am - show more the junkie addicted to first-person wise cracking detectives who don't play by the rules and always get the dames - I've been itching for a new one.
The Dirty Streets of Heaven fills that niche nicely. Starring Bobby Dollar, the angel with a few bad habits who doesn't trust anyone and throws out one-liners so bad they make the entire English language weep, this story has all the right ingredients. You've got your convoluted mystery that our hero is pulled in to, your cast of colourful characters both heavenly and hellish, your sub-mystery that may or may not have something to do with the main mystery, and you literally have a "and then she walked into the room" moment.
Williams gets all these things right. It's hard to believe this is the first novel he's written like this. I only have two complaints.
The first is the pacing near the end of the book. I might have been set up for this one. Someone had warned me that the chase scene near the end of the book seems to drag a bit. So maybe I was anticipating it. But I'm going to have to agree. Without giving anything away, there's a segment where our bad ass angel is being chased by badder-asser things. It seems to fall into this roving cycle of "hey we've got you, there's no way out" and then "ha ha, i found a way out, you're chasing me again!". The pacing just felt a little off here. It didn't ruin the book by any means. But in a story where pacing is so important it definitely stood out.
My second complaint would be the ending. It wasn't bad, but it was a smidge too much "tune in next time to follow the adventures of Bobby Dollar" for me. By this time I was hooked, so I will be picking up the next book. But still, a tighter, more complete ending would have made me happier.
In short, if you like The Dresden Files, or Noire mystery in general, you're going to enjoy this book. If you aren't sure, it's worth picking up and trying. It's a fun book, fast paced, and well written.
If you couldn't get into, or even disliked, the Dresden Files, you probably aren't going to enjoy this one either. show less
I'm giving this book high marks, but they are high marks that come with a qualifier. If you like this type of book, you will like this book in particular. The problem is finding the right shelf for this type of book. Urban fantasy? yes, that's part of it. But something of the mystery genre mixed in, specifically the noire detective novel. But with a supernatural twist to it too. Supernatural noire mystery. Ya, it's a pretty small bookshelf.
Jim Butcher's 'The Dresden Files' were previously the only other volumes filling that slim shelf. And I love those books. And as quickly as Jim Butcher births those slim volumed paper babies, there's still time between them. And like the addict that i am - show more the junkie addicted to first-person wise cracking detectives who don't play by the rules and always get the dames - I've been itching for a new one.
The Dirty Streets of Heaven fills that niche nicely. Starring Bobby Dollar, the angel with a few bad habits who doesn't trust anyone and throws out one-liners so bad they make the entire English language weep, this story has all the right ingredients. You've got your convoluted mystery that our hero is pulled in to, your cast of colourful characters both heavenly and hellish, your sub-mystery that may or may not have something to do with the main mystery, and you literally have a "and then she walked into the room" moment.
Williams gets all these things right. It's hard to believe this is the first novel he's written like this. I only have two complaints.
The first is the pacing near the end of the book. I might have been set up for this one. Someone had warned me that the chase scene near the end of the book seems to drag a bit. So maybe I was anticipating it. But I'm going to have to agree. Without giving anything away, there's a segment where our bad ass angel is being chased by badder-asser things. It seems to fall into this roving cycle of "hey we've got you, there's no way out" and then "ha ha, i found a way out, you're chasing me again!". The pacing just felt a little off here. It didn't ruin the book by any means. But in a story where pacing is so important it definitely stood out.
My second complaint would be the ending. It wasn't bad, but it was a smidge too much "tune in next time to follow the adventures of Bobby Dollar" for me. By this time I was hooked, so I will be picking up the next book. But still, a tighter, more complete ending would have made me happier.
In short, if you like The Dresden Files, or Noire mystery in general, you're going to enjoy this book. If you aren't sure, it's worth picking up and trying. It's a fun book, fast paced, and well written.
If you couldn't get into, or even disliked, the Dresden Files, you probably aren't going to enjoy this one either. show less
Back in ’98 or ’99 I was introduced to Tad Williams during deployment to Germany for infantry training. The Dragonbone Chair (and subsequently its two sequels) quickly committed me as a huge Tad Williams fan. I’ve read all of his fantasy novels and I collect his short story anthologies too. Even his Sci-Fi works are on my to-read list, which is saying something as I am quite the fantasy snob. There’s a reason G.R.R.M. calls Tad one of his influences. His writing combines a deep creative genius with the prose and language to tell fantastic tales. As soon as I heard Williams was writing a new urban fantasy series, I got really excited and a little bit nervous too.
The Dirty Streets of Heaven is a novel in the urban fantasy show more sub-genre. Most of the time when I first hear about a new UF novel I am thrown off. I like Jim Butcher – the quintessential godfather of UF – but something about the genre just doesn’t appeal to me as much as traditional fantasies do. I’ll admit, when I first heard Tad was writing a UF novel, I cringed a little. Not much though as I know he can write anything and write it damn well. Instead of doing my typical likening it to Twilight (yes without ever even having read Twilight or its comparison in question), I caught and reminded myself , “Hey! This is Tad Williams!” I’m glad I did.
The setting is in the fictional city of San Judas in southern California. The Dirty Streets of Heaven transpires in modern day with angels and demons communicating and recording events via smartphones and the like. The story is rather fast paced (also a bit shorter than much of Tad’s previous work) and this was one of those books I simply couldn’t put down. It follows a winding plot that is patterned a lot like a mystery novel. I suppose this is fitting as the protagonist is a lawyer. He runs about the story gathering evidence to both understand the strange events that are transpiring and to save his own immortal soul. I had correctly guessed a fair share of the outcome as I read, but I never knew if my assumptions were actually right until the end.
We follow one point of view which is told in the first person throughout The Dirty Streets of Heaven. Bobby Dollar is an angel in a human’s body. He is a good guy, but has a bit of a distrustful attitude toward other angels, especially those who are stationed up in heaven. He is a lawyer that fights for human souls after their bodies die. He defends to keep them from being successfully prosecuted against by one of hell’s own attorneys. Success and they get to move on to purgatory or heaven. Failure and they go to that other place. Sadly, the poor soul is completely at the whim of their defense, the prosecution, and ultimately the judge who is fallible, yet their decision is eternal law. This may sound awfully Judeo-Christian. And well, it sort of is, but the characters in the book make sure the reader knows not any one of the religions were actually correct. Heaven and Hell are set up a lot like in Dante’s Inferno and Paradiso, but there is no God’s law that states, “Thou shalt be a [INSERT YOUR FAVORITE RELIGION HERE] or burn in eternal hell-fire.” Quite the opposite is actually how Williams tells the story. In his words, anyone (even an atheist) who is a good person can move on to heaven. Being an agnostic atheist myself, I’m okay with that.
Tad William’s writing style is simply perfect and I challenge anyone to debate this in the comments section (No, seriously, I’d love to hear your own opinions). He makes sure that every sentence of his that gets published is well thought and better told. Tad uses the perfect amount of description to paint a scene but doesn’t bore his readers with endless details. His creativity lies in those details and they all come together like lavender and oil. I should mention that there are some graphic sexual scenes in this book. I’m a little embarrassed to say, but I really enjoyed them.
I proudly give The Dirty Streets of Heaven 5 out of 5 stars. I’m not surprised in the least and I can’t wait for the conclusion of this two book series, Happy Hour in Hell. show less
The Dirty Streets of Heaven is a novel in the urban fantasy show more sub-genre. Most of the time when I first hear about a new UF novel I am thrown off. I like Jim Butcher – the quintessential godfather of UF – but something about the genre just doesn’t appeal to me as much as traditional fantasies do. I’ll admit, when I first heard Tad was writing a UF novel, I cringed a little. Not much though as I know he can write anything and write it damn well. Instead of doing my typical likening it to Twilight (yes without ever even having read Twilight or its comparison in question), I caught and reminded myself , “Hey! This is Tad Williams!” I’m glad I did.
The setting is in the fictional city of San Judas in southern California. The Dirty Streets of Heaven transpires in modern day with angels and demons communicating and recording events via smartphones and the like. The story is rather fast paced (also a bit shorter than much of Tad’s previous work) and this was one of those books I simply couldn’t put down. It follows a winding plot that is patterned a lot like a mystery novel. I suppose this is fitting as the protagonist is a lawyer. He runs about the story gathering evidence to both understand the strange events that are transpiring and to save his own immortal soul. I had correctly guessed a fair share of the outcome as I read, but I never knew if my assumptions were actually right until the end.
We follow one point of view which is told in the first person throughout The Dirty Streets of Heaven. Bobby Dollar is an angel in a human’s body. He is a good guy, but has a bit of a distrustful attitude toward other angels, especially those who are stationed up in heaven. He is a lawyer that fights for human souls after their bodies die. He defends to keep them from being successfully prosecuted against by one of hell’s own attorneys. Success and they get to move on to purgatory or heaven. Failure and they go to that other place. Sadly, the poor soul is completely at the whim of their defense, the prosecution, and ultimately the judge who is fallible, yet their decision is eternal law. This may sound awfully Judeo-Christian. And well, it sort of is, but the characters in the book make sure the reader knows not any one of the religions were actually correct. Heaven and Hell are set up a lot like in Dante’s Inferno and Paradiso, but there is no God’s law that states, “Thou shalt be a [INSERT YOUR FAVORITE RELIGION HERE] or burn in eternal hell-fire.” Quite the opposite is actually how Williams tells the story. In his words, anyone (even an atheist) who is a good person can move on to heaven. Being an agnostic atheist myself, I’m okay with that.
Tad William’s writing style is simply perfect and I challenge anyone to debate this in the comments section (No, seriously, I’d love to hear your own opinions). He makes sure that every sentence of his that gets published is well thought and better told. Tad uses the perfect amount of description to paint a scene but doesn’t bore his readers with endless details. His creativity lies in those details and they all come together like lavender and oil. I should mention that there are some graphic sexual scenes in this book. I’m a little embarrassed to say, but I really enjoyed them.
I proudly give The Dirty Streets of Heaven 5 out of 5 stars. I’m not surprised in the least and I can’t wait for the conclusion of this two book series, Happy Hour in Hell. show less
Het is een heerlijk boek, maar ik miste een beetje het Tad Williams gevoel in het begin. Toen ik er eenmaal in zat, vond ik het een erg leuk boek. Bobby Dollar is een engel die mij wel ligt. Een Clint Eastwood engel. De vertaling neemt echter wel wat weg van het origineel, dat ik ook gelezen heb. Daarom is er een sterretje minder.
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For me Tad Williams sits right up there with the very best fantasy story-tellers...
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Author Information
128+ Works 54,216 Members
Tad Williams Tad Williams grew up in Palo Alto, California. He didn't go off to college after high school, he was more interested in living on his own and supporting himself. Williams therefore began a long string of collectively bad part time jobs. He stacked tiles, made tacos, sold shoes, peddled insurance, collected loans not all at the same show more time and worked at other things in his free moments, such as writing, as well as, several years in a rock band, hosting a radio talk show, making commercial and uncommercial art, acting, and others DAW was the first to publish Williams, accepting "Tailchaser's Song," which became an big success. It never occurred to Williams that his books wold not sell and indeed they have not stopped selling since the beginning. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Dirty Streets of Heaven
- Original title
- The Dirty Streets of Heaven
- Original publication date
- 2012-09-04
- People/Characters
- Bobby Dollar (Dolariel); Sam Riley (Sammariel); Harrison Ely (Haraheliel); Temuel; Darko Grazuvac (Grassywax); Posie Walker (show all 46); Foxy Foxy; Monica Naber; Kenneth Vald (Eligor); Casimira; Jimmy the Table; Young Elvis; Chico; Walter Sanders; Silvia Martino; Iphaeus; Howlingfell; Xathanatron; Sweetheart; Nahebaroth; Yurath; Edward Lynes Walker; Urgulap; George Noceda; Weepslug; Cinnamon; Candy; Garcia Windhover; Kareal; Chamuel; Terentia; Anaita; Raziel; Moses Habari; Kool Filter; Jennifer Taccone; Betty Sollyhull; Doris Sollyhull; Gefen Rotwood; Orban; Edie Parmenter; Teddy Nebraska; Annie Pilgrim; Prince Sajatapandra; Adramalech; Caym
- Important places
- San Judas, California, USA; Heaven
- Dedication
- This book is dedicated to my good friend, David Charles Michael Pierce.
Dave loved stuff like this and I think he would of liked this book too. I hope someday we'll see each other again, and he can let me know what I g... (show all)ot right and what I got wrong.
Thanks for being my buddy, Dave. I miss you. We all miss you. - First words
- I was just stepping out of the elevator on the 13th floor of the Five Page Mill building when the alarm began going off-those nightmarish, clear-the-building kindlike the screams of tortured robots-and I realized I pretty muc... (show all)h lost any chance at the subtle approach.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Instead I drank my orange juice straight out of the bottle as I watched the bugs circle the little light in front of god's first house in San Judas, and I kept company with all my ghosts the old ones and the new.
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