The Cut
By George Pelecanos
George Pelecanos
presents a new main character in The Cut. His name is Spero Lucas and is the
adopted son of Greek parents and an Iraqi war veteran. He lives in his native Washington, D.C. and
does private investigator work for an attorney and often takes jobs on the side
finding lost objects and receiving a percentage of the recovered property as
his “cut.” Spero is a complicated
character. He is very intelligent as displayed
by his reading list, but has no interest in formal education. He is not a very religious man, but follows
the customs of his adopted Greek Orthodox family. He is violent in his professional life but
can be very caring and gentle in his personal life. He doesn’t seem overly burdened by his war
experiences, but remains very loyal to his fellow veterans. He is, in a word, unique.
In this novel,
Spero is hired by Anwan Hawkins, a currently incarcerated drug dealer who is running
his business from within the D.C. jail.
Anwan’s has had several bulk deliveries of marijuana stolen and he wants them back. These boxes are delivered by UPS to
legitimate residential addresses, unbeknownst to the people living there who
are usually at work during the day. They
are tracked via the internet and then picked up by two of Anwan’s workers,
Tavon Lynch and Edwin Davis. Several of
these deliveries have been hijacked and Anwan hires Spero to figure out who
stole the product and to retrieve it or the cash it represents.
Spero begins by
interviewing Tavon and Edwin and surveilling the neighborhoods of the
deliveries. He interviews neighbors and
finds one teen who was skipping school and saw the UPS box being pilfered. This witness implicates Tavon and Edwin as well
as a metropolitan police officer. The
rest of the story involves Spero digging into and finding out the police who
are involved and eventually he uncovers a drug and illegal arms operation
running out of an auto body shop in suburban Maryland.
Pelecanos peppers The Cut with his
encyclopedic knowledge of Washington, D.C.
Another trademark Pelecanos touch is the inclusion of multiple food and
diner references as well as many musical citations. These spicey additions add to an already
entertaining story. As usual, this
author has crafted a dark view of modern urban living. I hope that the Spero Lucas series has a long
run and look forward to the next installment.
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