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: Mr. Pelecanos' Best Yet
Review: 'Hard Revolution' is a seamless blend of fiction and history that pulls the reader into the turmoil of Mr. Pelecanos' characters and the late sixties of Washington, DC. His trademark melodies set the tone for a long, dark ride. In my opinion, this is his best offering in books that were right on from the git.
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: Semi hard revolution
Review: First let me say I eagerly awaited this "prequel" and had been a little disappointed with the earlier Soul Circus. I 've read Hell to Pay & Right as Rain. The early part of the current novel which features the key characters in their youth is fine and yes I thought of Richard Price's work covering the Bronx of my youth. Ultimately I'm a little disappointed with the tale, the last remarks about Frank Vaughn and the selective morality and plain old believability. It will be interesting to see if GP takes one last shot with Derek. I'll bet yes.
Rating:
Summary: Pelecanos Masterwork
Review: George Pelcanos is flat out the best mystery writer working today and one of the best writers period. Just when fans may have been worrying that he would start coasting with his Derek Strange series, Pelecanos digs deep and writes his most complete and compelling novel to date. Pelecanos packs more characterization and intensity into one paragraph than most bestselling authors provide in an entire book, so be prepared. This is the back story of Derek Strange, set against the 1968 riots in DC. If you haven't read any of the three previous books in the series you may still find this book enjoyable, but will be getting only half the story. One minor criticism, the first 70 pages or so contain an inordinate number of mood-setting music references, even for a Pelecanos book. Read all of Pelecanos, but you may not want to start here.
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: George can do it all
Review: I read "Right as Rain" two years ago, then read "Hell to Pay" and went on to "Soul Circus." Mr Pelecanos is just what others proclaim him to be: a favorite read. Here, in "Hard Revolution," he takes us back in the day to when Derek Strange, connoiseur of R&B, rock and blues, a wealth of information on sports, and an Orwellian 'hard man,' began. As a young boy he is, like all of us, influenced by well meaning but nevertheless flawed people, but Derek is able to love those flawed people and learn from their virtues as well as their flaws. He doesn't give up on the message because the messenger has clay feet. He looked up to his older brother for years but even as a youngster he sees his brother making bad choices. When years later Dennis is murdered, Derek is a Police Officer taking it on the chin from white racists as well as 'his own people,' some of whom have pegged him as an 'Uncle Tom.' But he promises to right his brother being wronged, even if by doing so he must give up some of his accomplishments. Doing what he has to do may be mutually exclusive to the life he now leads. Passion and the tension bubble and boil. Yet Pelecanos is able to do what few others have done in the novel genre: he shows the beauty of the race, either race, along with individual flaws. Because these are heady conflicts that we fought then in 1968 and now 35 years later. And a man or woman on the other side of the racial divide can be silenced with an albeit appropriate criticism of a brother, or of a sister's criticism of a caucasian man. Yet Pelecanos has his hero apologizing when his partner points out 'he only had to ask' about an issue that Derek 'thought he knew it all.'There are African American men who are Homeric, yet flawed, and there are Caucasian men who are Neanderthals, but Homeric. Excellent book. A book Pelecanos had to write to make sense of his assortment of characters 30 years later. (Man, how does he dredge up those songs from the early '60's? It's like a trip down Route 66 in your '57 Chevy with the top down and three on the tree.) 5 stars. Larry Scantlebury
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