Rating: 
Summary: Sex, Drugs and Rock ¿n¿ Roll
Review: Probably a more appropriate title for the book would have been "Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll". All the action takes place amidst a heaping helping of all three "pleasures". King Suckerman is set in the late 70s and really focuses closely on the drug scene in and around Washington DC. To describe it, I would say it's Cheech and Chong meets Reservoir Dogs.Cheech and Chong because everyone seems to be stoned, getting stoned or looking to get stoned. As a result, I just couldn't take the characters all that seriously, even those with murderous intent. Reservoir Dogs because, at times, the violence was very graphic, the bad guys took no prisoners and the undercurrent of menace was constant. It's an unusual book in that there really is no obvious lead character. Dimitri Karras is the nearest thing to the lead. He is a deadbeat who gets by dealing pot and playing pickup basketball games. The pace is frenetic, there's definitely never a dull moment, mayhem abounds and there's a nice little cameo by Nick Stefanos for all the insiders who have read "Nick's Trip". I enjoyed it, it was very entertaining.
Rating: 
Summary: getting tiresome
Review: So I decide to give Pelecanos a second chance after the narcoleptic Down By The River... and what do I get? A sawbuck poorer and a couple hours off my life that I'll never see again. And the music cues just keep on coming long after we're dead tired of hearing them (hot tip: just mix a greatest hits cd and release that instead). Slightly more hardboiled than a Phyllis Richman culinary mystery, only with people getting shot in the head. But hey, it must be good because he uses actual street names, right? Gimme a break! Never again.
Rating: 
Summary: A major neo-noir novelist
Review: There are three unique values to this writer's noir novels. All shone very brightly in _King Suckerman_. First, Pelecanos recreates a Washington DC which makes the working class and minority (as opposed to administrative) city come alive. You know you are not reading about Baltimore, New York, or Philly, but Chocolate City in the 70s. This takes an extensive understanding of Washington's locales, people, traditions, and institutions. He's got the "spirit of place" down accurately. Second, he presents moral cruxes in a complex manner--you see the convictions unravelling, the loose ends in any well-thought out decision. However honorable a plan is, and however hard nosed and gutty a character's behavior is, it can be seen as flawed and fallible. This often makes the characters more rather than less interesting and commendable. Third, he recreates various shades of evil, from Wilton Cooper and B.J. to the layabouts and street louts, of whom one of his major characters, Dimitri, is not too far removed during the first part of the novel. Pelecanos is a major neo-noir artist.
Rating:
Summary: nearly redeems the 70's
Review: This blaxploitation homage should, if there's any justice in the world, prove to be a breakout book for George Pelecanos. He's produced a funky thriller that is so cinematic that it even seems to have a soundtrack. In the days leading up to the Bicentennial celebration in Washington, DC, record store owner Marcus Clay and his small-time dealer friend and playground hoops partner, Dmitri Karras, run afoul of ex-con Wilton Cooper and his bizarre gang, including B.R. Claggett, a "white-boy-wanna-be-black-boy cracker." While Clay and Karras try to figure out how to put things right and Cooper and his thugs go on a crime spree, the entire town is trying to get to a Theater to see the new movie "King Suckerman", starring Ron St. John--The Man with the Master Plan who be Taken it to the Man. All the while, Curtis Mayfield, the Hues Corporation, Jimi Hendrix, etc. thunder away in the background and TV's are tuned to Kojak, Harry-O, & Streets of San Francisco. The recent 70's revival has produced an awful lot of dreck, but this one book just might make up for all of it. GRADE: A
Rating: 
Summary: Weak
Review: This book did little for me. At times, it read like nothing more than a recount of 1970's brand names and music trivia. Since this was the first Pelecanos book I read, I missed out on any references to his other works. Accordingly, I found the characters very flat and cliched. I would not recommend this work to the casual reader.
Rating:
Summary: Weak
Review: This book did little for me. At times, it read like nothing more than a recount of 1970's brand names and music trivia. Since this was the first Pelecanos book I read, I missed out on any references to his other works. Accordingly, I found the characters very flat and cliched. I would not recommend this work to the casual reader.
Rating:
Summary: Great crime novel, but more. Pelecanos is a great one.
Review: This is a great crime novel, but Pelecanos writes beyond the crime genre. This is a period piece centered around Washington D.C. in the seventies, and he's got it down pat. Wonderful musical references throughout, sets a mood, uses the slang lingo and the fashions at just the right pitch. It has a big cast of characters, and George writes from the viewpoints of most of them. This continues to build on a history he's building behind his characters from the Nick Stefanos novels, building on what he started in THE BIG BLOWDOWN. It has some graphic scenes that I didn't care too much for, and the language is rough, just right for the characters. But rough is rough. I think it's another good book from a guy who has become one of my favorite crime writers very quickly, and I can't wait for more.
As far as comparisons, Pelecanos is unique, but if you like Elmore Leonard, then you'll like any of the Pelecanos books.
Rating: 
Summary: i wish i could give it 3.5 stars
Review: this is my first pelecanos novel and i am ordering more immediately after i post this review. the strengths of the book are really why you'd read it: slick dialogue, strong sense of place, graphic descriptions of violence, and a well-developed cast of charming characters (both heroes and anti-heroes). those of you familiar with the DC/MD area will enjoy pelecanos' treatment of location, especially if you weren't there in the 70s but wish you were. why three stars? mostly because pelecanos relies on cheap morality toward the end. the moral revelations, or maybe evolutions, seem like jokes. they're just so obvious and unimaginative. i don't want to post a spoiler, but the body count at the end is painfully predictable. on the plus side, pelecanos has a great gift for dialogue and characterization. while it's often more entertaining to watch bad guys develop, the ambiguity of the characters early on keeps you interested in the entire cast. everything is tight until the last fifth or so. at that point the good guys arc and it seems canned and facile. as you can see, the crude moralizing bothered me, but that doesn't mean that i wouldn't recommend the book. i thoroughly enjoyed it overall and look forward to more of pelecanos' work.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Review: This is the first Pelecano book I've read. But now I'm hooked. This is absolutely an unputdownable read -- fast-paced, fun, and brimming with real characters.
Rating:
Summary: Helps to be from D.C.
Review: This is the third Pelecanos novel that I've read - starting with 'Shame the Devil' and going backwards via 'The Sweet Forever', and each of them have been enjoyable pageturners. It is remarkable how many areas, places, and occurances that Pelecanos describes mirror my stomping grounds and activities during my ascending years. I'm just glad that I didn't go one more street over to shoot some hoop, or purchase some recreationals from that guy who made me just nervous enough to change my mind - because this guy has me totally believing in a world that was there just inches away from my own. I don't get all the musical references, but Pelecanos feeling that there must always be music present, either real or imagined, is just one more thing that allows me to really identify with his stories and characters. One mistake in 'King Suckerman' - you couldn't license a Superbird or Daytona in D.C., but everything else is right on.
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