Down by the River Where the Dead Men Go

I've now read all of George Pelecanos' novels and I loved them all, including this one. If there's a better crime thriller author out there, I haven't found them. Gritty seems to be the operative word in describing his work and this story is no exception. His stories are all set in Washington D.C., with lots of great word pictures of places there and lots of music references. It's an outstanding formula and Pelecanos works it very, very well.Having said all the preceding, I will say that I'd rate this as clearly one of his lesser works. If you haven't read the other books with Stefanos et al, I don't believe this book really gives you all the character development you'd like from a stand alone novel. This book is fairly short and maybe that's why I felt that the characters and the story were a little short changed relative to other books by the author.To sum it up, definitely read Pelecanos and you'll almost surely want to read this book and all his work, but don't select this as the first of his books - go with The Big Blowdown, A Firing Offense or Nick's Trip.

This is the last and most cynical novel in the Nick Stefanos trilogy. Nick has now travelled far down the dark road, and his struggle to get some peace of mind is more then ever tangled up in his love for a drink, some good music, and the warmth of a womans body. It's also in one of his more delerious nights that the story gets started. Nick happens to witness a murder when he's lying half unconscious in a pile of himself and his vomits; which is going to be the start of a dangerous ride that leads right into the drug and porn industry of Washington DC.Down by the river where the dead men go is an excelent hard-boiled novel in all its ways. But what makes Pelecanos unique toward other writers, in this genre, is all his references to pop music, and film. This he uses in a very subtle way to describe his chracters and where in the subcultures of Washington DC's street life they belong. It is this total awareness of popular culture combined with his perfect feeling for street dialogue that makes Pelecanos not just a great crime writer, but a great writer in all terms of judgements. And it is in this third novel that he best manages to combine his feeling for pop music, and dialogue with a good and intriguing story.

Hardboiled P.I. fiction doesn't get much better than this. Pelacanos's hero, P.I. and bartender Nick Stefanos, is an alcoholic which is dramatically demonstrated by his harrowing bender as the book opens. In his stupor he sort of, kind of, witnesses a murder and becomes obsessed about solving it. Though not obssessed enough to quit drinking. Along the way, he hooks up with fellow P.I. Jack LaDuke, who has a mess of psychological problems of his own. The two form an unlikely pair, and as Pelecanos's riventing story unfolds, you know the ending will not be pretty.This was my first book in this series, and I definately plan to read more. Fans of Andrew Vachss's Burke series, in particular, should eat this stuff up.

Hardboiled and gritty, Pelecanos' novel gets you into the mind of his main character, Nick Stefanos. Just reading the book made me feel like I was as drunk as Nick. The opening chapter perfectly catches what it is like to wake up the morning after an all night bender, and reminded me why I don't drink that much anymore.What makes this novel better than Pelecanos' others (and I would give 5 stars to all of his works) is the new character of Jake LeDeux (sp?), who joins with Nick on his search for the killers and learns about the evils of the world the hard way.All in all, an EXCEPTIONAL novel in the hardcore genre.