RARA-AVIS: Re: The Best George Pelecanos

From: caroli1975 (karabair@gmail.com)
Date: 02 Aug 2008

  • Next message: Bruce Grossman: "RARA-AVIS: Re: The Best George Pelecanos"

    --- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "cptpipes2000" <cptpipes@...> wrote:
    >
    > Incidentally, there is an energy that runs through the early
    Stefanos detective novels that I
    > enjoyed when I read them even though they are quite different from
    everything Pelecanos has
    > done since.
    >

    I second the rec of the DC Quartet, and I think 'The Big Blowdown' is a pretty good place to start. I'm also very fond of the early books, though I admit that the first one -- "A Firing Offense" -- is more of an episodic story about appliance salesmen and their drug habits than a crime novel. But the third Stefanos book, "Down by the River, Where the Dead Men Go," has a strong storyline to go along with that energy, and it should work well as a jumping-on point.

    The Derek Strange series: I liked the writing in these, but often the characters felt more like ideas than people. I read them, but they didn't hold my interest the way the earlier books did.

    'Drama City' started out very promisingly, but it has a point toward the end where a character makes a reckless choice that I couldn't believe, and it took me out of the book to the point that I stopped reading. I don't know whether the ending redeemed it or not.

    I haven't tried 'The Night Gardener' or the new one, so I'd be interested in people's thoughts.

    -Carrie



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