What he said. Plus an exciting ending that tempted me to do
likewise.
Joy, usually law abiding
William Denton <
buff@pobox.com>
> Has anyone read the new one from our old friend Mr.
Pelecanos, SOUL CIRCUS
> (2003)? I noticed he was going on tour and called a
store in Seattle
> where was doing a signing and had them ship up a
copy. I had a bunch of
> stuff to do Saturday, but I couldn't put the book
down. Now I'm short on
> sleep and behind on an essay, but it was worth
it.
>
> Bad reviewers still sometimes say that a crime book
is so good it
> "transcends the genre" and becomes actual
literature. Pelecanos's stuff
> is some of the best writing in the US these days,
and we all know it, and
> we don't need to make up any nonsense about leaving
the genre. This book
> finishes up the Derek Strange/Terry Quinn story from
RIGHT AS RAIN (2001)
> and HELL TO PAY (2002). (It also has an update on
how Marcus Clay and
> Nick Stefanos are doing.) It's got the music, the
westerns, the gunfights
> and shootouts, the gangsters, the losers, the cars,
the women, the drugs,
> and the badass behaviour we expect. It's also got
the deeper issues:
> race, politics, guns and society, honour, fate,
raising children, love,
> redemption, how to be a decent person in a bad
world. It's all wrapped up
> in the streets of Washington and Pelecanos's terse,
natural style and
> large cast of characters.
>
> All that and he does it regularly every
year.
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