Drama City: A Novel. George Pelecanos

I have read all of his books and he seems to me to be getting better and better. Drama City deals with the lives of three protagonists who have their personal demons and are trying to either forget them, live with them or ignore them. I find that Pelecanos' dialogue is top notch and possibly the best that I know of. He reminds me of Elmore Leonard from the mid-1980's. Highly recommended.

At one point Washington, D.C. was affixed with the nickname "Dodge City" due to the violence, vice and death that plagued --- and continues to plague --- the upstanding majority of that troubled city. George Pelecanos is a native of Washington, D.C., and reading one of his fine detective novels is akin to taking a guided tour of the most dangerous places on its meanest streets. Pelecanos doesn't take you around on a bus; it's a walking tour that doesn't miss a thing. DRAMA CITY is a bit of a departure for Pelecanos. It is a stand-alone novel, outside of the Derek Strange/Terry Quinn mythos, although both of these gentlemen make brief cameo appearances. DRAMA CITY is a crime novel, yes, but it is more of a character study, one that is an edge-of-the-seat read from first page to last. Pelecanos introduces us to Lorenzo Brown and Rachel Lopez, two D.C. residents whose lives and fortunes cross and intertwine over the course of a few days. Brown is a former gangbanger, a straight-up street soldier whose job resulted in a prison sentence. He is back in the Humane Society and earning the grudging respect of those who would look down on him for holding a "public" job. Brown, in turn, is acquiring a respect for himself and what he does, something that helps him resist the lure of the easy but dangerous money of his old life. Lopez is Brown's parole officer, someone who truly wants to see him do well and who is actually involved in the lives of her cases. Lopez, however, is leading a double life. During the day she is a respected parole officer, but at night she gives herself up to alcohol and the lure of random, anonymous sex, with her nights gradually taking control of her days. Brown and Lopez find themselves being pulled into the middle of a territorial dispute between rival drug gangs, one of which Brown was formerly a member. Brown's past is on a collision course with his present, while Lopez is caught in the crossfire. Pelecanos layers his narrative with realistic grit and grime, as well as shine. The characters who populate DRAMA CITY are frighteningly real, but Pelecanos does not create one-dimensional characters. He pulls the curtain back and reveals the social laboratory behind the creation of the societal monsters in our midst. Pelecanos also shows the toll that is wreaked upon the law-abiding, the straights, the people who go to work, come home, and stay behind their shuttered windows and locked doors until morning when they begin again. Ultimately, however, DRAMA CITY draws a sharp and deadly contrast between the ease of doing evil and the difficulty of doing good. DRAMA CITY is a stark, dark read that eschews simplistic characterizations. The story, and its characters, will get under your skin and stay there. Highly recommended. --- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

Layers. After having read Pelecanos's entire catalogue of work, layers, those subtle nuances of character, plot, and setting are to be expected. His latest novel, DRAMA CITY, a more apt nickname for Washington, D.C. than the media-exploited "Dodge City" that never gained favor with the residents, is another layered gem in Pelecanos's oeuvre. We have dogs as metaphor. Animals so shaped by their environment, how they're treated, their relationship to their handlers, that they become what is ordained on them. Much the same as the young street boys that resort to thugism because drug dealers and such are the closest they'll ever come to family. The dog metaphor works wonderfully, after all, that often spoken phrase "dog-eat-dog" is used in reference to people. In DRAMA CITY we have the parallel stories of two tortured but good souls in "dog police"/ex-con, Lorenzo Brown, and conflicted probation officer, Rachel Lopez. As usual, Pelecanos juxtaposes the good with the bad in both characters, rendering them human, and for the reader, all the more likable. We ride shotgun as Brown tries to stay on the straight and narrow, work his Humane Society policing gig, even as the climate of violence around him rises. We're skin-close to Lopez as she attempts to fade away the dark splotches of her life with the ointment of her dedicated, and positive, daily work doing probation detail. Those familiar with Pelecanos's work (and all should be) recognize the cloud of doom hovering above both these characters. As stated before, it is a dog-eat-dog existence on the mean streets, and too often the rabid, unfettered dog comes out on top. A small misunderstanding between rival drug crews starts the ball rolling, and as the momentum of that ball escalates, the sound of it clacking against the pins will leave everyone in its wake, touched, affected, and changed. Pelecanos has the poetry of the streets down perfectly here, yet again. The rhythm of his words is distinctive, powerful, and emotionally charged. The pages turn quickly, the mind even quicker as we are granted that fly-on-the-wall access of these oftentimes somber events. I've read everything Pelecanos has contributed, and look forward to more great work from this "poet laureate of the crime world." Not one wrong note from him, ever. Pelecanos is as sure as that last breath and that April 15 deadline with Uncle You-know-who. Genius. Highly recommended.

It's hard not to like a character who loves animals, even mean animals - the mad ones, the dirty, the underfed, the sick, vermin infested animals too, some trained to kill. Dogs, cats, parakeets, etc., they're Lorenzo Brown's thing. He's an officer for the Humane Society Law Enforcement team in Washington, D.C., and likes his job, a lot. Lorenzo figures if something is off with an animal, it's a human's fault, and is ready to paper offenders and serve search and/or arrest warrants if necessary. He saved his own dog, Jasmine, the night before her scheduled euthanization. She is the first pet he has every owned. Brown is an ex-con, out on parole after 8 years in prison for a drug charge. He is determined to stay straight. Each morning, when he walks Jasmine, he passes the home of Nigel Johnson's mother. Occasionally, he will see Nigel there, along with a couple of young men wearing thick platinum chains. The troops lean against their rides - BMW coupes and sedans, a black Escalade, "tricked with spinners in the mix." The black GS430 with "dual pipes and aftermarket rims" belongs to Nigel, now a powerful drug kingpin, who is usually busy directing business, talking on his Nextel. Lorenzo and Nigel, both smart and ambitious as kids, had run the streets together, going back almost twenty-five years. Brown had done the righteous thing by his friend. He stayed silent when he was pressured to give Nigel up. Brown chose to serve his time instead. Now he has had enough of the life. His old friends don't quite get it, however. Rachel Lopez also loves her work. She is Lorenzo's parole officer and one of the finest. She comes on tough initially and lays down the rules, but she wants all her people to make it. She has invested much of herself in their ultimate success. Rachel knows Lorenzo has committed crimes not included in his jacket. To have advanced in the game as far as he had, he probably did some violence, maybe even killed. She also knows that now, in the present, Lorenzo is not a bad man. But Ms. Lopez has problems of her own. Her own life is spinning out of control, and her late nights are taking their toll. Officer Brown needs Officer Lopez' support right now. He needs all the help he can get. A stupid mistake concerning turf boundaries has triggered enmity between local gangs. A psychopathic youth is on the streets, looking for a way to escalate the problem; waiting for the slightest opportunity to kill. A war is about to go down and our man could very well be sucked into it. I have long been a George Pelecanos fan. Over the years, I have read all his books, and to tell the truth, he has only written novels that I love, and others that I like a lot. This one is special though. I was deeply moved by the character of Lorenzo Brown, a really decent man trying to straighten out his life. The author lets us in on his thought processes. Mr. Brown is far from perfect. He carries within himself a strong streak of humanity though, which is his

George Pelecanos has been called "the poet laureate of the crime world," and justifiably so. "Drama City," a gritty, throbbing story of two damaged souls reinforces that description. Once again, Pelecanos uses Washington as his backdrop. This is where we meet Lorenzo Brown, out on parole and working as a dog catcher for the Humane Society. He's walking a tightwire, only knowing that he doesn't want to lose his hard earned freedom. To accomplish this, he needs the help of his parole officer, Rachel Lopez. Regrettably, Rachel has problems of her own - too much alcohol and too many men. The streets that Lorenzo patrols aren't pretty ones, they a playground for drug dealers, warring drug dealers. It seems inevitable that Lorenzo will be caught in the middle and perhaps even pulled back into his old way of life. Much of this author's skill lies in creating unforgettable, often frightening characters. One such in "Drama City" is Rico, a teenager whom Pelecanos describes as only smiling when he's thinking of hurting someone. Rico's nickname is "Creep," the name his mother calls him. No one ever said this was a pretty story. It is not. It is both shocking and superb, wonderfully read by stage and TV actor Chad Coleman. - Gail Cooke