Book Review:The Cut by George Pelecanos

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.

Book Review: What It Was by George Pelecanos

What It Was

George Pelecanos

     George Pelecanos has crafted another superb crime noir novel set in Washignton, D.C.  The main character is again Derek Strange, an African-American former metropolitan police officer who left the force after the infamous 1968 riots following the King assassination.  Strange is now a private investigator and is hired by a young woman to find a stolen ring.  The ring was stolen during the contract murder of her boyfriend, a small time drug dealer.   The murderer was Robert Lee Jones, nicknamed “Red” because of his hair color.  Jones’ street name is “Red Fury” since he is frequently driving his girlfriend’s automobile, a red-over-white Plymouth Fury GT Sport.

      Strange’s ex-partner Frank “Hound Dog” Vaughan is the investigating officer in the boyfriend’s murder.  Frank, an ex-Marine who fought at Okinawa, earned his nickname because of his facial features as well as his reputation for dogged pursuit of criminals.  Strange and Vaughan’s investigations overlap and they co-operate with each other in an attempt to capture Red Jones whose life of crime goes into hyperdrive.  Vaughan is under increasing pressure from the city government to put Jones behind bars and turns to a varied group of informants including cross-dressing prostitutes.  Complicating matters, there are two mafia connected fellows from New Jersey in town who are also looking for Red to collect on a bad debt. The story comes to a shattering conclusion as all parties converge on a house in suburban Maryland being used by Red and his partner as a hide-out. 

      Pelecanos infuses this novel with gritty realism, sometimes illuminating some unimaginable habits of the druggies and prostitutes who comprise most of the secondary characters.  All of his characters are memorable.  He also vividly brings the story to life by including many details of the automobiles of the era (1972) as well as the popular music of the time.  You can listen to all of the music he mentions in a George Pelecanos playlist on Spotify.    What It Was is a very entertaining read and anyone who enjoys police procedurals and realistic crime fiction would enjoy this book.