Lorenzo Brown loves his work. As an officer for the Humane Society, it is his job to cruise the city streets, looking for dogs that are being mistreated - underfed, unclean, trained to kill. He takes pride in making their lives better. And that pride helps Lorenzo resist the pull of easier money doing the kind of work that got him a recent prison bid. Rachel Lopez loves her work, too. By day she is a parole officer, helping people - Lorenzo Brown among them - along a path back to responsibility and advancement. At night she heads for the city's hotel bars, where she can always find a man who will let her act out her damage. She loses herself in sex and drink and more. But Rachel's nights are taking a toll on her days. Lorenzo knows the signs. The trouble is, he truly needs her right now. There is an eruption coming in the streets he's left behind, the kind of territorial war that takes down everyone even near it. Lorenzo needs every shred of support he can get to keep from getting sucked back into that battleground. He reaches out to Rachel - but she may be too far gone to help either of them. Writing with the grace and force that have earned him praise as "the poet laureate of the crime world," George Pelecanos has created a novel about two scarred and human people who must navigate one of life's most brutal passages. It is an unforgettable, moving, even shocking story that will leave no reader unchanged.
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
One of the finest writers in crime fiction today, Pelecanos once again delivers a moving story of life, death and survival on the streets of Washington, D.C. This time, he focuses on Lorenzo Brown, an ex-con who returns to his old neighborhood after serving eight years in prison. Doing his best to keep straight, Lorenzo prowls the streets rescuing abused animals as a Humane Society officer, but the violent actions of two rival drug gangs threaten to drag him back into his former thug life. Pelecanos knows the world he writes about—his streets, and the characters inhabiting them, throb with vivid authenticity. Unfortunately, Coleman, an articulate actor with a well-modulated voice, delivers Pelecanos's emotionally rich and descriptive prose in a dry, matter-of-fact tone. His is a competent line-by-line reading, but in the end, his detached delivery fails to capture the vitality and intimacy of the author's work. This is a shame, since the audio's abridgment, editing and incidental music are all top-notch. Simultaneous release with the Little, Brown hardcover (Forecasts, Feb. 21). (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From AudioFile
Be prepared for an involving listen with DRAMA CITY. Narrator Chad Coleman melts invisibly into the characters populating the title precinct--a drug- and crime-ridden section of Washington, D.C. As author Pelecanos perceptively traces the cursed lives of gang members, drug addicts, and poverty-stricken ghetto-dwellers, portraying the inevitable violence and cruelty they encounter throughout their days, Coleman brings compassion to the characters. Thanks to both incisive writing and a skilled performance, DRAMA CITY will bring listeners to a gritty and disturbing part of the U.S. capital. D.J.B. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
UNFORGETTABLE STORY, BOTH SUPERB AND SHOCKING,
This review is from: Drama City (Audio CD)
George Pelecanos has been called "the poet laureate of the crime world," and justifiably so. "Drama City," a gritty, throbbing story of two damaged souls reinforces that description. Once again, Pelecanos uses Washington as his backdrop. This is where we meet Lorenzo Brown, out on parole and working as a dog catcher for the Humane Society. He's walking a tightwire, only knowing that he doesn't want to lose his hard earned freedom. To accomplish this, he needs the help of his parole officer, Rachel Lopez. Regrettably, Rachel has problems of her own - too much alcohol and too many men. The streets that Lorenzo patrols aren't pretty ones, they a playground for drug dealers, warring drug dealers. It seems inevitable that Lorenzo will be caught in the middle and perhaps even pulled back into his old way of life. Much of this author's skill lies in creating unforgettable, often frightening characters. One such in "Drama City" is Rico, a teenager whom Pelecanos describes as only smiling when he's thinking of hurting someone. Rico's nickname is "Creep," the name his mother calls him. No one ever said this was a pretty story. It is not. It is both shocking and superb, wonderfully read by stage and TV actor Chad Coleman. - Gail Cooke
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