Customer Reviews

Drama City

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(8)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

It's hard not to like a character who loves animals, even mean animals - the mad ones, the dirty, the underfed, the sick, vermin infested animals too, some trained to kill. Dogs, cats, parakeets, etc., they're Lorenzo Brown's thing. He's an officer for the Humane Society Law Enforcement team in Washington, D.C., and likes his job, a lot. Lorenzo figures if something is off with an animal, it's a human's fault, and is ready to paper offenders and serve search and/or arrest warrants if necessary. He saved his own dog, Jasmine, the night before her scheduled euthanization. She is the first pet he has every owned.

Brown is an ex-con, out on parole after 8 years in prison for a drug charge. He is determined to stay straight. Each morning, when he walks Jasmine, he passes the home of Nigel Johnson's mother. Occasionally, he will see Nigel there, along with a couple of young men wearing thick platinum chains. The troops lean against their rides - BMW coupes and sedans, a black Escalade, "tricked with spinners in the mix." The black GS430 with "dual pipes and aftermarket rims" belongs to Nigel, now a powerful drug kingpin, who is usually busy directing business, talking on his Nextel. Lorenzo and Nigel, both smart and ambitious as kids, had run the streets together, going back almost twenty-five years. Brown had done the righteous thing by his friend. He stayed silent when he was pressured to give Nigel up. Brown chose to serve his time instead. Now he has had enough of the life. His old friends don't quite get it, however.

Rachel Lopez also loves her work. She is Lorenzo's parole officer and one of the finest. She comes on tough initially and lays down the rules, but she wants all her people to make it. She has invested much of herself in their ultimate success. Rachel knows Lorenzo has committed crimes not included in his jacket. To have advanced in the game as far as he had, he probably did some violence, maybe even killed. She also knows that now, in the present, Lorenzo is not a bad man. But Ms. Lopez has problems of her own. Her own life is spinning out of control, and her late nights are taking their toll.

Officer Brown needs Officer Lopez' support right now. He needs all the help he can get. A stupid mistake concerning turf boundaries has triggered enmity between local gangs. A psychopathic youth is on the streets, looking for a way to escalate the problem; waiting for the slightest opportunity to kill. A war is about to go down and our man could very well be sucked into it.

I have long been a George Pelecanos fan. Over the years, I have read all his books, and to tell the truth, he has only written novels that I love, and others that I like a lot. This one is special though. I was deeply moved by the character of Lorenzo Brown, a really decent man trying to straighten out his life. The author lets us in on his thought processes. Mr. Brown is far from perfect. He carries within himself a strong streak of humanity though, which is his saving grace. Then there is Rachel Lopez, whom I also grew to care about. She is battling, against the odds, to keep her head above water. They both are having a real hard time in this world, yet always look to give someone else a hand up.

No one captures the mean streets of the neighborhood like Pelecanos. His gritty prose, street-smart dialogue, fast-paced narrative and wonderful character development are what make his books bestsellers - literate ones! Highly recommended!

JANA

After loads of success with his earlier series, Pelecanos introduces two new protagonists in this excellent trip down Washington, D.C.'s mean streets. His work on the HBO series "The Wire", shows in the main character of Lorenzo, a drug crew thug recently off an eight-year stretch of jail after a third strike. Now he's trying to put the game behind him and live a square life as an enforcement officer for the city's Humane Society. Part of Lorenzo's routine involves reporting to his parole officer, the young, attractive Rachel Lopez. Given the D.C. area's substantial Latino population, it's taken Pelecanos a while to introduce one as a major character, but with Rachel he not only takes care of that, but has finally written a fully developed female character. She's not without her own issues, as alcoholism and anonymous sex threaten to lead her somewhere dark.

The story basically follows Lorenzo and Rachel around their daily rounds, providing a glimpse at the daily struggles they face simply to get along in the world. Like many of Pelecanos' characters, Lorenzo discovers satisfaction and pride in hard work, as he has to deal with both the nasty people who mistreat animals, and the mockery of the corner boys, who call him soft. He knows he's still as tough as they come, but he's also built the self-respect to realize that he doesn't need to prove anything to anyone. Meanwhile, Rachel has her own hard work, trying to keep her offenders on the straight path and a lid on her self-destructive behavior. Of course, since this is Pelecanos, they also get tangled up in an escalating beef between drug gangs, one of which is led by Lorenzo's old friend Nigel. There are plenty of subplots along the way, including an ugly look at the dog-fighting underworld, the fascinating details of Lorenzo's job, Rachel's Narcotics Anonymous meetings, and Lorenzo's wooing of a single mother.

One of the running themes is how environment shapes behavior, and the mistreatment of animals is used as a metaphor for the those who grow up with no opportunities in life and no options. There's a great part where a young gangster daydreams wistfully about seeing Paris, but his upbringing and environment have hamstrung him so that he has no idea how one goes about buying a plane ticket or getting a passport. Ultimately, like many crime books, the overriding theme is one of redemption, especially Lorenzo's. He's done things in the past he's not proud of, and when confronted with the choice between street ethics and civilian ethics, which path will he take? There are the usual Pelecanos tidbits, music references, car references, a cameo by Derek Strange and one or two other characters recognizable to long time Pelecanos readers. Nothing in this book is a surprise, but all the elements are so assuredly put together that one can't help but be sucked under. Definitely Pelecanos at his best.

DRAMA CITY is not your traditional mystery, nor is it exactly noir, although the subject matter is definitely dark. It does have an original lead character, an ex-drug trafficker named Lorenzo Brown who takes a job as an investigator for the Humane Society when he gets out of jail.

The other lead character is Lorenzo's parole agent, Rachel Lopez. She's an alcoholic who spends her nights trolling hotel bars, looking for a man she can dominate.

The minor characters, a half dozen or so gang members, are almost as provocative as Lorenzo and Rachel. The action starts when DeEric Green, one of Nigel Johnson's henchmen, confronts Jujubee, one of Deacon Taylor's pushers, selling drugs on what he thinks is Nigel's corner. It's not Nigel's corner, and this starts a minor drug war. Deacon Taylor sends Melvin Lee and Rico Miller to tail DeEric Green and his partner, Michael Butler. Lorenzo Brown also clashes with Lee and Miller when he is sent to try to salvage some animals at a pit bull fight staged by various gang members.

Rico Miller is a psychopath and he sets out to get revenge when DeEric Green disses his partner Melvin Lee, who is like a father to him. All of this sounds like rather traditional gangland lore, but Pelecanos really shines when he details the back stories of the various characters. Even Miller is sympathetic. His nickname, "Creep," was given to him by his own mother. There's also an anecdote about a Christmas ornament that is especially poignant. Pelecanos uses "bling" as an example of just how dismal these drug dealers' lives are. Rico Miller and the other pushers own/rent fancy cars, but their idea of fun is to play video games and smoke "blunts." Nigel Johnson, a boyhood friend of Lorenzo's, apologizes for getting him involved in the drug trade, when all Lorenzo wanted to do was run track. He admits that his sales pitch about family was a just a sham. We worry about Lorenzo throughout the novel. For one thing, he still has some guns he keeps beneath the floorboards in his apartment. We wonder if redemption is really possible for him or if the poison is all consuming.

Drama City is set in Washington D.C. Having made a wrong turn into the ghetto district once, I can vouch for the distressing conditions Pelecanos describes. It is certainly an appropriate setting for a novel about poverty and how easy it is for young black men and women to fall prey to The Monster.

At one point Washington, D.C. was affixed with the nickname "Dodge City" due to the violence, vice and death that plagued --- and continues to plague --- the upstanding majority of that troubled city. George Pelecanos is a native of Washington, D.C., and reading one of his fine detective novels is akin to taking a guided tour of the most dangerous places on its meanest streets. Pelecanos doesn't take you around on a bus; it's a walking tour that doesn't miss a thing.

DRAMA CITY is a bit of a departure for Pelecanos. It is a stand-alone novel, outside of the Derek Strange/Terry Quinn mythos, although both of these gentlemen make brief cameo appearances. DRAMA CITY is a crime novel, yes, but it is more of a character study, one that is an edge-of-the-seat read from first page to last. Pelecanos introduces us to Lorenzo Brown and Rachel Lopez, two D.C. residents whose lives and fortunes cross and intertwine over the course of a few days.

Brown is a former gangbanger, a straight-up street soldier whose job resulted in a prison sentence. He is back in the Humane Society and earning the grudging respect of those who would look down on him for holding a "public" job. Brown, in turn, is acquiring a respect for himself and what he does, something that helps him resist the lure of the easy but dangerous money of his old life. Lopez is Brown's parole officer, someone who truly wants to see him do well and who is actually involved in the lives of her cases. Lopez, however, is leading a double life. During the day she is a respected parole officer, but at night she gives herself up to alcohol and the lure of random, anonymous sex, with her nights gradually taking control of her days.

Brown and Lopez find themselves being pulled into the middle of a territorial dispute between rival drug gangs, one of which Brown was formerly a member. Brown's past is on a collision course with his present, while Lopez is caught in the crossfire.

Pelecanos layers his narrative with realistic grit and grime, as well as shine. The characters who populate DRAMA CITY are frighteningly real, but Pelecanos does not create one-dimensional characters. He pulls the curtain back and reveals the social laboratory behind the creation of the societal monsters in our midst. Pelecanos also shows the toll that is wreaked upon the law-abiding, the straights, the people who go to work, come home, and stay behind their shuttered windows and locked doors until morning when they begin again. Ultimately, however, DRAMA CITY draws a sharp and deadly contrast between the ease of doing evil and the difficulty of doing good.

DRAMA CITY is a stark, dark read that eschews simplistic characterizations. The story, and its characters, will get under your skin and stay there. Highly recommended.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

Layers. After having read Pelecanos's entire catalogue of work, layers, those subtle nuances of character, plot, and setting are to be expected. His latest novel, DRAMA CITY, a more apt nickname for Washington, D.C. than the media-exploited "Dodge City" that never gained favor with the residents, is another layered gem in Pelecanos's oeuvre. We have dogs as metaphor. Animals so shaped by their environment, how they're treated, their relationship to their handlers, that they become what is ordained on them. Much the same as the young street boys that resort to thugism because drug dealers and such are the closest they'll ever come to family. The dog metaphor works wonderfully, after all, that often spoken phrase "dog-eat-dog" is used in reference to people.

In DRAMA CITY we have the parallel stories of two tortured but good souls in "dog police"/ex-con, Lorenzo Brown, and conflicted probation officer, Rachel Lopez. As usual, Pelecanos juxtaposes the good with the bad in both characters, rendering them human, and for the reader, all the more likable. We ride shotgun as Brown tries to stay on the straight and narrow, work his Humane Society policing gig, even as the climate of violence around him rises. We're skin-close to Lopez as she attempts to fade away the dark splotches of her life with the ointment of her dedicated, and positive, daily work doing probation detail. Those familiar with Pelecanos's work (and all should be) recognize the cloud of doom hovering above both these characters. As stated before, it is a dog-eat-dog existence on the mean streets, and too often the rabid, unfettered dog comes out on top.

A small misunderstanding between rival drug crews starts the ball rolling, and as the momentum of that ball escalates, the sound of it clacking against the pins will leave everyone in its wake, touched, affected, and changed. Pelecanos has the poetry of the streets down perfectly here, yet again. The rhythm of his words is distinctive, powerful, and emotionally charged. The pages turn quickly, the mind even quicker as we are granted that fly-on-the-wall access of these oftentimes somber events. I've read everything Pelecanos has contributed, and look forward to more great work from this "poet laureate of the crime world." Not one wrong note from him, ever. Pelecanos is as sure as that last breath and that April 15 deadline with Uncle You-know-who. Genius. Highly recommended.

Don't get me wrong, I love George Pelecanos' book, writing style, characters, etc., but I was a little disappointed by this one. Maybe part of my frustration was that I didn't find any of the characters particularly engaging. Lorenzo Brown, the ex-con animal control officer, and his parole officer, Rachel Lopez, are Pelecanos' new protagonists of the book. I thought they were only loosely sketched out, and they didn't end up seeming as "human" or sympathetic as some of his other characters in previous works. Because of that, I was somewhat bored with the novel's pacing; it seems to plod along more than most of Pelecanos' other books.

I won't go over the plot or main characters in great detail, as many of the previous reviewers have already done so at great length. The reader is presented with an almost inevitable outcome for the book -- doom. But that's clearly appropriate for Pelecanos' modern noir style. The book is written in Pelecanos' gritty, street-smart style, and his knowledge and portrayal of DC is as good as ever. He certainly can't be criticized on those accounts.

Having criticized the book, I should note that it was an enjoyable read (significantly better than most modern crime fiction on the market) and I fully intend to read Mr. Pelecanos' future efforts. I'd recommend the book to any die-hard fans of Pelecanos or modern crime / noir fiction. Casual readers might be better advised to read some of Pelecanos' other books first in order to truly see how engaging of a writer he can be. I think if I'd simply liked the protagonists a bit more, I'd have rated this one higher; as is, I just didn't care about them enough.

I have read all of his books and he seems to me to be getting better and better.

Drama City deals with the lives of three protagonists who have their personal demons and are trying to either forget them, live with them or ignore them.

I find that Pelecanos' dialogue is top notch and possibly the best that I know of. He reminds me of Elmore Leonard from the mid-1980's.

Highly recommended.

Having been a cop in DC I can say that George Pelecanos has come closest to conveying what it's like to live and work there. In the audio version, J.D. Jackson has the narration dead center accurate. My only gripe is, as with 99.99% (Joseph L. Cooke, you are not included) of all author's is they get the guns wrong and it's distracting. (spoiler) When one of the characters 'racks the slide' on a .45, there is no need to pull back the hammer. It's already been done by the slide. Also, the lower assembly of the pistol is the frame, the upper assembly is the slide.

I'm glad the author treated the dogs correctly. Pits and Rotties are wonderful pets and it's crummy owners that ruin some of breed.

Overall, the book is a good fast read and is highly recommended.

This is a small masterpiece from my favorite and, as far as I know, America's finest crime writer. My only complaint about it is that it's not as long as Pelecanos' typical book. Maybe he's stretched too thin working on HBO's The Wire or some other project; but, doggone it, I wish he'd author up more work for my enjoyment.

And, "doggone it" is the right phrase relative to this book because the main character is an animal control officer and an ex con. The author has a terrific knack for producing characters who have everyday kinds of jobs - bartender, cook, electronics salesman and here the "dog man". He weaves these jobs into the fabric of the character and enriches the story with the ways they carry out their work duties and their outside work adventures. This is a great story - rich characters, suspense, revenge, redemption. I just wish it were longer. If you don't read it, it's your loss. If Pelecanos doesn't write another book soon, it's my loss because I've already read all his others.

Where does he get the dialogue from? OK. I'll get to that in a moment. This is perhaps the best Pelecanos I have read. I picked up my first one, "Right as Rain" and wrote a review in late March of 2002. My feelings remain the same. Pelecanos, better that Lehane, better than Lee Burke, is able to immerse himself in the impoverished, where hope is smothered in despair and inspiration is watching the Lifetime Channel where a story with third rate actors may be worse than the one you're living.

Meet Lorenzo Brown, a teenage enforcer for a street gang until he's busted for his third felony and does eight years of hard time. Or as George P. might put it, he does 8 on a dime. Lorenzo Brown, the dogman, is the most interesting character I have met in a couple of years. He desperately wants to stay straight. He knows his next trip to the joint will kill him, and he's too old to run in the game now. But there's more. There's his humility and gratitude. He is, OK, don't laugh, Dismas, the good thief.

He takes care of his dog, Jasmine, and as he walks around the grey neighborhoods of Washington DC, he cleans up after his dog. And the neighborhood tough 'gangstas' laugh at him and toss jibes at him. Funny thing is, he's still as tough as a nail and just as fearless as he was when he was 15. He just knows the seduction of the game is just that, a seduction.

Juxtaposed against that is Rachel Lopez. Whew. She is the real deal. She's his PO, whom he has to report to to drop a specimen once in awhile, who reports on his rehabilitation. Trouble with Rachel is that she's losing it to the streets, men and alcohol, drifting away from the mother ship a little further each night.

Lorenzo the criminal trying to go straight, inadvertantly, has become the mentor to the Probation Officer.

How the two of them help each other is the story. Oh, there's a gang war, police are involved, there are some secondary and tertiary plots, some nice references to other characters in other books, but the long and the short of it is is that it's a story solely about retribution and redemption, in that order.

The dialogue is exceptional. It's as if you are at the street corner listening to the brothers talk about the man, a fly on the wall of life. A very hard life where a mistake at the age of 10 might strangle you at 16.

You must read this one. 5 stars. Larry Scantlebury