Hell to Pay: A Novel
by George P. Pelecanos
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Book Summary Information
Author: George P. PelecanosEdition: Hardcover
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2002-02-28
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Book Reviews of Hell to Pay: A Novel
Book Review: Strange? No. Noir? Nein. Boring? Yes.
Summary: 2 Stars
I have to wonder at the nepotism of the authors on this book jacket, like Lehane, calling Pelecanos "one of the best crime novelists alive." Maybe it applies to earlier books, but with this as my first exposure to Pelecanos I'm not sure I'll find out. I laugh at this being called noir because he finds current cultural references to spit out. Just listen to these people talk--the most stilted dialogue I can imagine:
"What?" said Tracy.
"Nothing."
"You were staring at me."
"Sorry."
"I don't know why I mentioned my father."
"I don't either. Let's get to work, okay?"
This kind of uptight and forced dialogue goes on ad nauseam. Ouch. And Pelecanos obviously needs to fill space, filing whole scenes telling the reader about Pee Wee football, what the offensive play calls mean. Noir should not be stiff, and stiff is what Strange is. Lehane may not be always as current but he is fifty times more hip because he isn't out to prove knowledge of the latest rave club or music group. From the reviews here it appears this guy gets polarized reactions so I still encourage you to read him. But maybe start with a library book, like I did.
Summary of Hell to Pay: A Novel
Derek Strange and Terry Quinn, the team of private investigators who made their stunning debut in Right As Rain, are hired to find a 14-year-old white girl from the suburbs who's run away from home and is now working as a prostitute. The two ex-cops think they know D.C.'s dangers, but nothing in their experience has prepared them for Worldwide Wilson, the pimp whose territory they're intruding upon.Combining inimitable neighborhood flavor, action scenes that rank among the best in fiction, and a clear-eyed view of morality in a world with few rules, "Hell to Pay" is another Pelecanos masterpiece for his ever-expanding audience to savor.
In Hell to Pay, Washington, D.C., is just one more thug in an endless list of thugs who brutalize the poor, the weak, and the young. The primary victim this time is a rising star on Derek Strange's Pee Wee football team. In this city where making T-shirts for bereaved families of young murder victims is a full-time business, the boy is an accidental victim in a war between drug dealers and lowlifes.
Private investigator Strange, in his second George Pelecanos outing (after 2001's Right as Rain), has seen enough of this face of D.C. His relationship to his secretary/lover Janine sputters in the wake of increasing, irrational infidelities. His moral compass swings wildly as he tracks the killers, Garfield "Death" Potter and friends. Not knowing if he can be satisfied seeing these men in prison, Strange contemplates other brands of "justice."
For fans of Pelecanos, all the usual trappings are here: the hyper-real dialogue, the bloody street fights, the immersion in classic R&B, and the most current music on the streets. Pelecanos does stumble in a few places. His narrative becomes wooden at times, and his plot features a couple of glaring coincidences (e.g., Strange just happens to jot down the license plate of a car that later turns out to be the one driven by the murderers). But Pelecanos is the real deal in noir. If Dennis Lehane owns Boston and Michael Connelly is master of L.A., Pelecanos is dark D.C.'s intimate chronicler. --Patrick O'Kelley
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