A Firing Offense (A Five Star Title) (Paperback)

by George P. Pelecanos (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Thirtysomething Nick Stefanos, up-from-the-sales-floor ad manager at a Washington, D.C., electronics chain, has quit smoking and considerably reduced his drug intake but still drinks pretty heavily. When the grandfather of Jimmy Broda, a stockboy Nick has befriended, asks him to help find the missing boy, Nick reluctantly agrees. Jimmy has been hanging out with skinheads and Nick begins plumbing that world after he's fired from his job. With time and severance pay on his hands he follows Jimmy's trail to the resorts of the Carolina Outer Banks, moving back to Washington to unravel a plot that involves drugs, violence and murder. Besides offering an inside look at electronics retailing, dreary skinheads, a nostalgic list of late baby-boomers' pop songs and quite a lot of drinking (including a solo binge by Nick that feels gratuitous), Pelacanos also delivers a blazing, climactic shoot-out. Nick's weltschmerz is saved from excess by the cool, controlled prose and the realistic, rather bleak resolution.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews
Meet Nick Stefanos, hard-drinking, heavy-metal-loving D.C. appliance salesman who talks so much like a private eye that stockboy Jimmy Broda's grandfather insists that he find the missing boy, who was fired after he stopped showing up for work--and who was last seen with novice druggie Eddie ``Redman'' Shultz and dangerously experienced Kim Lazarus. Despite Nick's marathon sessions with drink, drugs, and women, the seamiest stuff goes down on the retail floor of Nutty Nathan's, a milieu that Pelecanos limns with such tell-all relish that it's obvious Jimmy's troubles stem from his job--and it's a shame (though no surprise) that, by the time this loosely plotted tale has run its course, Nick has left retail for the comparatively wholesome world of the professional shamus. Nick's as robust as his mystery is anemic. This debut is promising--but better wait for Pelecanos to throw better stuff. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Serpent's Tail (September 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1852427159
• ISBN-13: 978-1852427153
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #253,803 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I liked it, but..., August 21, 2000

By	Erik J. Larsen (st. paul, mn) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I liked it because it was a good snapshot of a man trying to get away from his past and start a new life. However, I only need to read about a few beers and drinks and drugs and I get the idea... after a while it gets pretty boring reading the laundry list of drink and drugs Nick is going through. Even at only 216 pages it could have been trimmed down. He definitely has to learn how to portray women in general and his love interests specifically. It was almost like he added them later to create tension, but didn't flesh them out at all.

Otherwise, I though it was a well written, suspenseful mystery with a few twists. I would buy it at a discount (which I did), but don't pay full price.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Better Pelecanos To Be Found Elsewhere, July 1, 2001

By	Untouchable (Sydney, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Although the first of the Nick Stefano books, I read this one after the other two (Nick's Trip and Down By the River Where the Dead Men Go), and it's probably a good thing I did too. I probably never would have continued on through the series if I had have read this one first. It is easily the weakest of the Stefano books. It lacks direction for a good 90% of the book and only really starts to hot up for the finale and the reveals. Like the other books, Nick Stefano and his friends indulge in mind-blowing quantities of both alcohol and marijuana. Unfortunately, the focus was mostly on these excesses rather than trying to solve the problem at hand, which was to find a former co-worker who appeared to have been kidnapped.

For completeness sake, by all means read this book, but really, it isn't necessary before going on to the next in the series, Nick's Trip, which I felt was a more enjoyable and entertaining story.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars DEFINITELY A "GUY'S" AUTHOR, May 22, 2003

By	Nancy Martin (Pennsylvania (orig. NY)) - See all my reviews

When I started reading Pelecanos, it began with "Right As Rain" after seeing him at a book signing in Philadelphia a few years ago. After that reading experience, I knew I had to read some more of his books so I turned to his Nick Stefanos' series. Someone suggested I read them in chronological order as opposed to the order in which he wrote them. Based on that recommendation, I began with The Big Blowdown, which takes place in the 1930's and 1940's. I thought this book was phenomenal. Chronologically, the next three books were King Suckerman, which takes place in 1976, The Sweet Forever, which takes place in 1986 and A Firing Offense which takes place in the early 1990's -- all of which I've now read.

But here is my problem...does Pelecanos write these books only to attract a male audience? I've gotten this feeling with each of these books since there's always some inside male jokes, references to sport's figures and trivia that only guys would know, gratuitous and gritty sex and over the top drinking and drug binges. All of the characters are trying to be so cooler than cool. They don't just leave a tip....they "drop a twenty on a fifteen dollar tab." The first time Pelecanos writes this, it's clever...by the fifth or sixth time, it's old already.

I'm sure this will incite Pelecanos' fans but I mean this sincerely when I say that "I am a fan." I just wish he wouldn't be so exclusive of the opposite sex when he writes. I can understand that he's probably a real man's man -- the kind of guy other guys want to hang out with. But I want to join the party and I get the feeling with these last three books I've read that it's an "all boy's club" and I'm not invited.

Other reviewers have said that The Firing Offense is one of the weaker books in the series. I thought the story was strong and definitely sets the scene for Nick Stefanos' entry into the private eye industry. He gets the bug after he's asked by a young man's grandfather to help him find his grandson who is missing. Since the boy, Jimmy Pence, was just canned by Nutty Nathan's, it seems like a good match that the grandfather has asked for Nick's help as Nick is the advertising director at the same company.

This book will find Nick going back to one of the stores and selling TV's and microwaves from the sales floor with his old friend Johnny McGinnes. They will then travel south together in search of Jimmy until a light goes off in Nick's head leading him to figure out what's been going on behind the scenes at this electronics' company.

So I'm not giving up on Pelecanos....I guess I'm a glutton for punishment. Next up for me is Nick's Trip, which takes place in the later 1990's, until I finally get to Shame The Devil, taking place in 1998. A book friend of mine, who's a huge Pelecanos fan (a guy of course), says that this one will bring me to tears. I'd like to see Pelecanos be able to do that to me. It would prove that there's not all hardness behind that pen of his.