Right As Rain (Nova Audio Books)

Rating:
Summary: right as rain
Review: i have read 160 pages and still am not compelled to continue this book to the end. the plot is boring and predictable . it does not pull you forward, wondering what happens next. the writing is very good, no question about that; but it proceeds too slowly and has not grabbed my interest. i will read lahaine, colben, crais, and connelly before coming back to pelecanos.

Rating:
Summary: WHAT IS "RIGHT AS RAIN" -- THIS BOOK IS!!!
Review: In a recent issue of Book Magazine, George Pelecanos claims that he
doesn't want the words "cool and tough" to dominate his dust
jacket blurbs in describing his writing so I'll have to come up with
some other adjectives to describe his explosive storylines and quick
dialogue. He describes one of the characters in his book as being
"violent, fearless, sensitive and disturbed" -- come to
think of it, these are the adjectives that could be used to describe
his own writing in this book. I had an opportunity to see Pelecanos
in person at a book signing in Philadelphia and if the words cool and
tough shouldn't be used to describe his books, they certainly can be
used to describe this author, as the picture in his book doesn't do
him justice.

In Right As Rain, Derek Strange is a 50 something
ex-cop who now has his own investigation agency. Terry Quinn is a 30
something ex-cop who now works in a bookstore. The shooting death of
black cop Chris Wilson at the hands of a white cop will bring these
two together as the white cop and shooter was Terry Quinn. Strange is
hired by Wilson's mother to clear her son's name since Quinn said he
acted in self-defense in shooting Wilson. The investigation will lead
Derek Strange to a drug trafficking ring originating out of Florida
and supplying the D.C. dealers with enough drugs to make everyone
rich. The middlemen in D.C. are lowlifes and their connection is even
worse. Pelecanos explores the lives of the junkies, the dealers, the
bad cops involved and some good cops trying to come to terms with
urban life in D.C. as well as their own prejudicial agenda. This
isn't the Washington, D.C. you see on CSPAN. The author states that
there are "more violent criminals there, per capita, than in any
city in the country." Yet it is quite obvious that George
Pelecanos loves this city and knows its good points as well as its bad
ones. His research is extensive and I've heard he's been known to
drive around with D.C. cops at night to further understand the inner
workings of the beat....after signing stacks of liability releases I'm
sure.

The story comes to a cataclysmic end as all roads lead to one
and everyone's story becomes connected. It was at this point in the
book that I truly became nervous wondering how it would all end up.
This is the true sign of a good mystery writer -- one who can keep you
on the edge of your seat.

Pelecanos makes some very good points on
social reform yet he doesn't lecture you as some other authors might.
He just throws his thoughts out there perhaps hoping they'll stick.
He's also obviously a music lover and aficionado of books with a
western theme as most every scene in the book has accompanying music
mentioned as well as many western book titles being read in the
bookstore where Quinn works. Lovers of music and westerns will eat
this up.

The teaming up of Derek Strange and Terry Quinn is one that
definitely works and this reader hopes to meet up with them again in
another Pelecanos' offering. If you've yet to check out George
Pelecanos, I'd suggest starting with this one since you'd be hard
pressed not to enjoy it. I know that Pelecanos is being compared to
many other authors out there right now. Believe me, there's no
comparison -- he's in a class of his own.


Rating:
Summary: More from the Mean Streets of DC
Review: Oddly, no one from DC has thrown in their 2 cents on the latest Pelecanos book, so I guess I'll give it a shot. I've lived in DC for 20 years, my family is from here, and Pelecanos is only the second author I've come across who writes about the DC that I know and recognize (the other Edward Jones, check out his story collection "Lost in the City" if you can find it). In this new book, he steps away from his established characters Nick Stefanos and Dmitri Karras, and launches a new duo, black, middle-aged PI Derek Strange, and younger, white ex-cop Terry Quinn. Through them, and the story of Chris Wilson, an off-duty black cop shot by Quinn, Pelecanos displays the racial awkwardness and tension that pervades Washington, D.C. The central message of the book is that everyone, regardless of race, carries preconceptions with them about other groups. That doesn't make them racist-that term is reserved for those who carry hatred in their hearts.

Strange is hired to investigate the shooting of her son, Chris Wilson, leading him to Quinn, who works in a little used bookstore in Silver Spring (Like all the locations in the book, the store really exists, it's a few blocks from my office and I sometimes swing by on my lunch break). The two men fall into an uneasy partnership as this discover more about he events that led to Quinn's killing of Wilson. They make an engagingly effective odd couple as they verbally spar with one another about race, underneath their respective flaws, they're good men. At the same time, both men are struggling to make relationships work, Strange with his divorcee secretary, and Quinn with a Latina student/waitress. As with most of Pelecanos's men, they often make selfish or simply clumsy moves in looking for love. And like most of those same guys, they have well-defined tastes in music, cars, movies, and books.

Following the tone of Pelecanos's previous work, what is gradually revealed is a sordid tale of drugs and corruption, with some powerful drug pushers, and a few violent rednecks. All this unfolds in a world instantly recognizable to Washington natives, where drug dealers work in the open, neighborhoods revolve around local restaurants, and corruption has spread to even the upscale oases (the well-known high-end restaurant Red Sage being one example). As we have come to expect from Pelecanos, everything comes together in a cinematic violent climax offering some attempt at justice. If you've read and enjoyed previous books of his, you're likely to enjoy this one as well. It's got two great new characters, and is a bit more explicit in examining racism, but is otherwise very much in keeping with his previous work.

Rating:
Summary: Dark, Gritty, Good!
Review: Right as Rain is gritty social realism at its best. Pelecanos works against the straight-jacket of the detective genre to bring us a novel that is equal parts detective novel, social commentary, and roller coast ride entertainment. In the end, it's easiest just to call Right as Rain a detective novel, but it could just as well fit on the literary or mainstream book shelf inside a bookstore. It is that good!

One honest word of caution to anyone who may be reading this review trying to make up her mind whether or not to buy or read Right as Rain -- it is a very "male" novel. It is macho. It is violent and gritty in its depiction of drugs and drug use, and women take subordinate roles to men. If you want great women characters go read Jane Austen, if you want a shotgun and Sharmba Mitchell, Pelecanos is your man.

Right as Rain is the story of private detective Derek Strange and former cop Terry Quinn's first meeting and first work together. Quinn has been forced into retirement for shooting and killing a plain-clothed black cop (Chris Wilson) in a morally compromised situation, and the story is primarily about his ability to redeem himself. The race issue is described in multi-textured layers where honesty proves the better line to walk than PC social convention.

Both Quinn and Strange have mature issues to work through. For Strange, he must decide how much to commit to a role as father and husband, while working the thankless streets of D.C. And at the center of their work is the lost junkie sister (Sondra Wilson) of the cop Quinn killed. She may hold the answers to why Wilson was going ballistic on a slimeball kid named Ricky Kane, which drew Quinn into pulling his gun in the first place.

All of this makes Right as Rain sound like a heavily weighted character novel, and while the characters are heavy the novel itself never gets weighted down. Pelecanos's pacing is about as good as any writer writing today, regardless of genre. You get the sense that he just writes each chapter on the fly, and when done well this makes for the best kind of novel -- one with a pulse, man. One with a very strong pulse.

I highly recommend Right as Rain to ...anyone who likes really good fiction. I'd also suggest checking out "Shame the Devil," a novel who's opening twenty-five pages may be the best opening twenty-five pages I've ever read. Pelecanos doesn't mince words. When he gets into writing a novel, it's the fiction equivalent of Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali. The fight is for truth, justice and moral redemption, and the result is an undisputed knockout!

Stacey...

Rating:
Summary: Gritty Realism Addresses Important Themes
Review: This is the first story I've read by the highly regarded George Pelecanos. It is found in an "Advanced Reading Copy" that also contains "Hell To Pay", his next book, which is scheduled for publication in February, 2002.

"Right As Rain" is gritty, often humorous in a perverse sort of way, but still able to seriously address the issue of racism. Set in the mean streets of Washington D.C., Derek Strange is hired to find the daughter of a Black cop who, while off duty was killed by White policeman, Terry Quinn. Derek meets Quinn and wonders if he is racist or if he is being judged unfairly. Quinn and Strange begin to work together and uncover a father son duo that brings out the best of Pelicanos' descriptive writing skill. They are Earl and Ray Boone and are working for Colombian drug suppliers by delivering product to Afro American dealers. The Boones are portrayed to a T in appearance and dialogue as poor white trash; anti-social personalities who aren't too bright and let their basic human drives govern their crass behavior. Without spoiling the story, I'll just say that all the pieces, including themes of trust, friendship, and justice are expertly brought together in the book's climax and the stage appears set for future Strange-Quinn interactions.

Rating:
Summary: Why isn't Pelecanos better known?
Review: With Elmore Leonard, Michael Connelly and Dennis Lehane writing blurbs on the book jacket, you know this guy can write a crime story with great characters and dialogue. It's set on the streets of D.C., different from what you see on Brokaw and Rather. Derek Strange, a retired black cop, is asked by Chris Wilson's mother to clear her son's name. He was a black off duty cop with a gun standing over a white guy when he was shot and killed by Terry Quinn, a white off duty cop.

Derek and Terry become buddies. The story reels in redneck Earl Boone and his dumb son Ray (Critter), a couple of dope smugglers, a few Colombians and Cherokee Coleman, a local hoopster of some note, good point guard but not good enough for the big time, who runs the drug operation.

When you cut to the chase, Terry's old partner Eugene Franklin was a bad guy and Chris Wilson was onto him. Strange figures things out, of course, there's some great action and the kind of not quite tied together ending that Pelecanos presents so well. The Metro Police don't know exactly what happened, but they have enough to give Chris Wilson the posthumous recognition he deserved. Derek and Terry go back to their separate day to day lives, but they'll be back in "Hell to Pay".

I thought both stories were great!