Customer Reviews

The Night Gardener

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Detectives Gus Ramone, "Doc" Holiday, and T.C. Cook come together to solve a twenty year old mystery. In 1985 three teenagers were murdered in what was called The Palindrome Murders. Twenty years later another teenager is murdered in the same fashion, which leads the three detectives to believe the killer is on the move again.

The story takes place around the Washington, D.C. area, where the author describes the places and events in a way that makes the reader feel they, themselves, are invisible spectators within the novel.

The book is filled with the raw dialogue of opposing cultures--the tough talking homicide detectives and the street-smart criminal gang types. Although, this is primarily a man's book with lots of macho bantering, it is an exciting modern mystery that can be thoroughly enjoyed by all. It's a page-turner from beginning to end! I would definitely give this one 5 stars.

I can't call this book a thriller. It is so much more. It is, simply, the best crime novel I've read in several years. This book was my first introduction to George Pelecanos, and already I've added several more of his books to my TBR pile.

The Night Gardener begins in 1985, at the scene of a homicide committed by a serial killer known as "the night gardener"who has been targeting teenage victims. It is here that we are first introduced to three police officers: patrolmen Gus Ramone and Dan Holiday, and detective T.C. Cook. We are offered only a brief glimpse before the novel jumps to 2005. Gus Ramone, now a detective, divides his time between work and family. Dan Holiday is a cop no longer, but provides chauffeur services with security to the wealthy. T.C. Cook, now retired, is haunted by the faces of the serial killers victims, and longs to bring the killer to justice. The discovery of another homicide that bears remarkable similarities to the unsolved cases of twenty years ago brings these three men together.

Let me start my review with a warning. The dialogue in this book is extremely raw, including almost constant profanity and vulgar references. That being said, Pelecanos writes some of the best dialogue I've ever read. Personally, I wish the language could have been cleaner, but it might not have felt so authentic if that had been the case.

The Night Gardener really surprised me, in a good way. I was expecting a page-turning murder mystery which would resolve itself in a tidy black and white ending by the last page. Instead, I found a book which was almost a constant shade of gray, and which compelled me to keep reading because of the powerful questions it made me ask myself. I was especially impressed with the ending of the novel. I don't want to give anything away, so I'll simply say that for me I don't feel that it could have ended any other way.

I also appreciated that Pelecanos avoided so many of the typical plot devices that are present in so many crime novels. For once, I appreciated reading about a police officer who was a devoted husband and father, as opposed to a self-destructive hero. I was also fascinated by Pelecanos presentation of the racial tensions that are present in Washington D.C., and I appreciated that he was able to present more than one viewpoint. Pelecanos has made a fan of me with this one.

If you are looking for a crime novel with true substance, you can't do better than this. Just don't say I didn't warn you about the potty talk.

This book is classic Pellecanos: deep characterizations of both people and places, real and raw dialog and situations, and a plot with multiple tracks running through it. This is a well-worn genre, but this novel, rather than being yet another facile and slick crime novel or thriller, is a very frank and nuanced exploration of a time and place in a very real city that is alive with the forces of poverty, crime, gentrification, race and sexuality. The author employs simple, blunt language in service of a radical realism that is detailed down to the brands worn and driven, the bands listened to, and place-names of the settings. The book uses the structure of a police procedural to draw the reader in, but ultimately upends expectations and leaves one with a lot to think about that goes far beyond the murder mystery that is initially presented.

The book is easy to read through at a fast pace--I finished it in about a day, but it is far from breezy entertainment.

This was my first Pelecanos book and I really found that he knows how to create characters. Not only were the characters vivid, life like people who you could picture living in your neighborhood, but Pelecanos created great backgrounds for them as well - so you didn't just know them as they were today - but how they used to be as well as their families. As each important character unfolded, I felt I really had a clear picture of who they were, well, as clean as you can have in a murder mystery.... (just when you think you know someone...)

The story line revolves around a 20 year old murder case and the three cops who were involved. This book brings the three back to together on a current murder case that seems to have the same feel as the one from all those years ago that never was solved. While the story line was great - I found it took a long time for the three police to get together. Almost two thirds of the way through the book.

I enjoyed Gus Ramone's character and family. As a central character he made the book for me. I enjoyed his scenes with his family and his dealings with his children and the troubles at school.

The ending - without giving anything away. Is well done and I applaud Pelecanos for this writing. I was pleased to find that the book ended with a great closing that sometimes, often times, is missed in many good reads.

A great book for the fans of crime and action stories.

*Note - strong language in some parts of the book

I normally don't read murder mysteries or crime novels, as they always seem to be "cookie-cutter" to me. I picked this one up because it sounded a bit different, and I was not disappointed!

The novel opens in 1985 with the discovery of a child's body in a community garden, the latest in a string of murders. The Washington, DC, cops are on the scene to investigate, and T.C. Cook has been put in charge of the investigation. He is a hard-boiled, old-school cop, determined to solve these murders. On the scene are two rookie cops - "Doc" Holiday and Gus Ramone - who seem to rub each other the wrong way.

Flash forward to the present day, 20 years later, and the body of a teen boy is discovered in another community garden. Gus Ramone is now a homicide detective, a straight arrow, a family man. "Doc" Holiday is no longer with the police force, but wishes he was, and T.C. Cook retired without solving the one case that tormented his career.

These 3 men come together to try to solve this case - but can they? Will they? Personalities clash and past histories get in the way. This novel is not only a crime novel and a "whodunit," it is also a study on human nature. Not just on the three men mentioned, but those in the criminal world as well. Street thugs, dopers, and gangstas, crooked cops - there all here. And George Pelecanos brings them to life and introduces them to you in a way that is larger than life.

There are no easy answers in this novel, but a lot to think about when the final page is turned.

NOTE: This book does contain graphic language and violence. If that in any way bothers you, you may wish to re-consider.

In reading "The Night Gardener" I thought it would be a murder mystery or thriller, but instead it is about the human condition. To begin, a murdered child is found in a garden twenty years ago and three cops are there. Jump to now, and a similar murder has taken place, which opens wounds for the three. Their lives are changed, yet they are still haunted. We come to learn about who these men are, what made them and how they get through their own lives. George Pelecanos has written an intense story of what is like to live and survive in and on the streets of Washington D.C.

Although I knew of George P. Pelecanos before I became obsessed with The Wire (where he was a writer/producer), I hadn't really read him. He's typically categorized with Richard Price, who try as I might I just can't read (& no, I'm not really sure why). I think it was this pairing in my mind that made me wait so long to try one of Pelecanos' books, but I'm glad I got around to it.

The Night Gardener is a police procedural set in Washington, DC. There are murders (both old & new) & cops (both old & new) & perps & victim's families & the world that swirls around all of these. The story is a good one with plenty of twists & turns & some genuine surprises as well as some sadness & futility.

Pelecanos excels, however, in the nuances of relationship & the ways that this is expressed through language. What is said & what isn't said & the choices that people make or don't - this is the bright thread that runs throughout the book. I liked the characters & the way the book muses about partners & fathers without being overtly about partnering & fathering in the same way that it is a book about solving crime with that being both central & at the same time somewhat ancillary.

& maybe all of the above is what makes this book interesting. We often write about writers who transcend genre, as if all genre writing is limited & a book must become something else to transcend it. I'm not sure this is a fair assessment in most cases. Dashiel Hammett wrote books that are squarely in their genre, but that doesn't diminish them. The Night Gardener is a book about crime, but it's mostly a book about people - those who commit crime, those impacted by it, those who look for its perpetrators. Pelecanos acknowledges in some unique ways that these people all have lives & relationships that stand outside of the crime & that those elements in their lives are ultimately more important than the single event. I like that thought & I like that he writes that way & I liked this book.

George Pelecanos has written a compelling and touching book. I could visualize it and it is no surprise as, I believe, Mr. Pelecanos comes from the entertainment world.

Rich characters and fine story telling.