Rating: 
Summary: Pelecanos continues to amaze
Review: "Hard Revolution" is apparently part of a "prequel" trilogy that will provide the backstory to the Derek Strange we've met in Pelecanos' recent series of novels. The book gives the texture of DC in a way that's recognizable to someone like me who lived there well after 1968. It also captures the way people were thinking and talking about race at that time. One drawback is that someone who hasn't lived in DC (or hasn't ventured East of the Park or North of Logan Circle) will not get the geography. I used to live in Adams Morgan and worked up near Silver Spring & Shepherd Park, so the action takes place in neighborhoods and streets I came to know very well. But someone else is likely to be miffed, in places.
The plot really takes a backseat to the characters and the 1968 riots provide a temporal anchor to the story rather than being its main focal point. In many ways, placing the the riots in a largely secondary role (while priming us for them with the recurring mentions of Dr. King) makes this stronger as a work of historical fiction--we are left to figure out what was happening without someone trying to hit us over the head with "heavy" explanations.
At the heart of this are relationships--between Strange and his brother; between the brother and a couple small time hoods; and among a parallel group of three white hoods of similar age. The interconnectedness of the African-American community in Washington and the connections between the African-American characters with various whites also play a big part. The ambiguity and contradictions that frame peoples' ideas about race and their relations with people from a different race are all real and have seldom been described with such meaning and depth, particularly by a white writer.
Pelecanos is one of the few really prolific mystery writers whose work has continued to grow and develop without outgrowing his characters or plots. I look forward to whatever comes next.
Rating: 
Summary: HISTORY FIRST, MYSTERY SECOND.
Review: A store owner gives a young thief a reprieve. Years later, police officer Dereck Strange remembers how that reprieve shaped his life. His brother, Dennis, isn't so lucky. As a young man, he suffered from the weight of drug addition and hatred against white America. Years later, Dereck is working on the side of the law, while his brother joins up with a drug pusher. Dereck ends up investigating a case involving his brother, and this time it's the ultimate test of self-control. Frank Vaughn is an older cop investigating the hit and run of a young black boy. Vaughn and Dereck's paths eventually cross, and the two end up just a blink away from crossing a line that can't be erased. During this intense time, riots take hold of Washington at the news of Martin Luther King's assassination. The rioting backdrop is powerful. In _Hard Revolution_, vivid scenes of history intertwine with Pelecanos' story of drugs and murder. The dialogue is emotionally strong - sometimes disturbingly so - giving it the characteristics of a hard-boiled mystery. However, the story as a whole reads like historical literature. Introductions and explanations are drawn out, the police cases are slow in evolving, and at times, the rioting backdrop overwhelms the main characters' stories. Actor Lane Reddick narrates _Hard Revolution_ solo. His voice effectively carries the intensity of the storyline. Brenda @ MyShelf.Com
Rating: 
Summary: Hard Revolution
Review: Finished this book with difficulty
Pelecanos is known for his work in crime fiction, he comes recommended by a couple of comic book writers. He's also become known to me as a wrtier on the excellent show the Wire
The Wire connection can be seen here, in the nitty gritty details and the distinct voices of the hood, the novel focuses on two brothers who grew up in the racially charged DC area and it culminates around the tumultuous time around MLK's assassination
Pelecanos paints a vivid picture of black and white co-existing really, rather than living together
The book is heavy on cultural and musical references, all this talk about cars and especially local radio is turning me off. One wonders how does Pelecanos know so much about Black culture, lifestyle and Black music.. he musta grown up there
The book mostly revolves around Derreck and Dennis Strange, 2 Black brothers who's lives are at diametrical opposite of the law but come together in quite a dramatic way
In fact the latter part of the book centers on 2 investigations, one of a hit and run joyride and the other of a murder of one of the Strange brothers
The resolution of the two cases unravel as the city copes with the assassination of Martin Luther King
The whole book is solid, but I feel that this particular brand of crime fiction is not for me
Rating:
Summary: Social issues, day to day life, and hard crime
Review: George Pelecanos is one of those writers you start reading and then in spite of having to take out the garbage, or check the parking meter, or pop a prescription pill, you can't put the book down. What he does is hook you by making his characters so fleshed out, so well drawn, so real, that it's all you can do to stop--even if your wife, husband, girlfriend, or boyfriend is yelling at you because they need something immediately. Hard Revolution, set in the late 50s, then the late 60s around Pelecanos' neck of the woods, Washington DC, seamlessly fuses a tale of social issues, day to day life of the working class, and hard crime. It does this by focusing on, as noted, the characters. Pelecanos does this a whole lot better than a slew of other writers working today. It's the characters that drive the situations they're in--whether they create the situations, or are forced into them, or stumble upon them. Derek and Dennis Strange, brothers, are anything but two peas in a pod. The sons of a solid black working class couple, they live their lives the way they see fit. Dennis drifts--by the time the main action gets underway--1968--he's a VietNam vet and is directionless. This prompts him to move in drug circles, with those a lot nastier and more violent than he is. After getting caught by the proprietor of the store he tried to steal from when a kid, Derek gets his life straight and becomes one of the first black cops on the DC force. No Pelecanos novel would exist without Greek characters and they're here too. But more than that are three lowlife white guys (Buzz and Dominic are two of the names, instantly giving you a sense of the time) whose actions ignite the black-white tension that forms the crux of the novel. Martin Luther King figures prominently here, so Pelecanos has made this far more than a crime novel--although crime itself is present, thanks to both the white and the black guys who just have to get what they want right away, whether it's the murder of an innocent black teenager, or the theft of a piece of jewelry. One of the author's trademarks is definitely in evidence here as well--the music of the time. While this can even be slightly annoying (over and over, he quotes the name of the song and of the artist who sang it, listened to by a number of characters), eventually you really sink into the feel of the street in 60s DC, the atmosphere of the time, the rhythm of day to day life. And in fact it's the description of this day to day life at which Pelecanos excels, and because of which this is such a compelling read. It's not so much the minutiae that he describes, but the way the characters respond to very select details of their lives as they're lived that gives this novel its meat and flavor both. When crime does erupt, it's sudden and violent and inevitable and intense, and at the same time it's what you KNOW will happen because it's what the character who's committed it HAS to do. This is a great, immensely satisfying novel that is a solid addition to the Pelecanos canon. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Strange, The Early Years
Review: HARD REVOLUTION is another stunning book by Pelecanos, taking us back to the turbulent year of 1968, after first making a brief stop in 1959. Pelecanos is an acquired taste because when he tells his story he holds nothing back no matter how distasteful the acts may be. Modern hardboiled at it's nastiest but brilliant in capturing the mood of the people and the time. Before HARD REVOLUTION came the Derek Strange trilogy of RIGHT AS RAIN, HELL TO PAY and SOUL CIRCUS. Set in present day Washington D.C., they featured the black private detective struggling to earn a buck while making every effort to ensure the children from his neighbourhood had a chance to make something of themselves rather than being drawn into the gang lifestyle. Now we are taken back in time, first to 1959 and then to 1968 to meet the young Derek Strange. Unrest simmers close to the surface as everyone senses that there is a social change in the air. This part of the story is paced by constant updates about the approaching rally in Memphis that Martin Luther King JR is due to speak at. So apart from the fictional tension built up by the actions of Pelecanos' characters, there is also the added tension that comes from knowing the true events that about to take place.
This is not what I would term your usual crime novel because there is no clear single plot. Rather, it travels along many paths and gives an insightful commentary about social unrest in a tumultuous period of modern history. Murders take place, murders are solved, but they are more or less incidental to the story which is more a focus on the characters and the period of time in which they lived. It's a powerful book that deals with sensitive issues in a hard-nosed way.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but Pelecanos has done better.
Review: I love George Pelecanos, but Hard Revolution wasn't as good as his previous work. The brutal violence and harrowing villians take a backseat to the music and movies of the era (1968), which Pelecanos drops with an astounding and mildly irritating regularity. I'm not necessarily interested in what 6 songs a characters listens to in his car before he commits a crime. Maybe it's because I was born in '74 and can't relate to the period, but this novel wasn't as involving or affecting as either Hell to Pay or Right as Rain. But even mediocre Pelecanos is better than a lot of the drivel currently being published by crime novelists.
Rating:
Summary: The Music...
Review: If you are new to Pelecanos books, 'Hard Revolution' is a perfect place to start. Series hero Derek Strange gets more depth, and characterization in this 'prequel to the three earlier volumes in this series. Pelecanos transcends the mystery/thriller genre with each succeeding outing. The writing is masterful, as good as the best American writers working today in any genre. This should come with a warning label: 'May cause loss of sleep because it is impossible to put down.'
Rating:
Summary: excellent
Review: In HARD REVOLUTION, George Pelecanos takes Derek Strange (hero of his three previous books) back in time to age 13, and then up through his early 20s to 1968. Much of the book involves the choices that Derek and his older brother Dennis make, and by extension, choices that face young economically disadvantaged men in the inner cities. Derek, after being caught shoplifting, vows to stay on the straight and narrow and eventually becomes a cop. Dennis, who does have good intentions, falls in with two friends planning a crime spree.
Pelecanos is often categorized as merely a "crime" writer, but let's give him more credit than that. Who else is writing with such clear-eyed intensity about the difficulty that black and white have understanding each other? This theme is explored further in RIGHT AS RAIN and the other Derek Strange novels. Derek's father works under a white boss at a diner...the two men have a long relationship but are still awkward with each other. Derek finds that his white partner, despite his liberalism, doesn't really understand the experience of being a young black man.
Derek commits a violent act in HARD REVOLUTION, during the climactic riots after the Martin Luther King assassination. This act, which resonates in the earlier Strange novels, prompts him to find a more meaningful way to be a part of his community and really changes his entire life. Pelecanos has come to own DC the way Connelly and Crais owns LA and Parker owns Boston....Highly recommended, but try RIGHT AS RAIN first.
Rating:
Summary: Back to the 60's with Derek Strange
Review: Much as "The Big Blowdown" took us back into the past of another set of Pelecanos' characters, "Hard Revolution" introduces us to the Sixties in the company of Derek Strange. Though not as searing as some of the DC-based crime novels in his body of work so far, "Hard Revolution" is a strong novel you won't want to miss--especially if you've read the other Derek Strange novels.
Rating:
Summary: Back to the 60's with Derek Strange
Review: Much as "The Big Blowdown" took us back into the past of another set of Pelecanos' characters, "Hard Revolution" introduces us to the Sixties in the company of Derek Strange. Though not as searing as some of the DC-based crime novels in his body of work so far, "Hard Revolution" is a strong novel you won't want to miss--especially if you've read the other Derek Strange novels.
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