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Drama City
by George Pelecanos


8.0

based on 12 reviews
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based on 1 vote
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The Night Gardener

The lucky 13th novel for crime novelist Pelecanos (who also writes for HBO's "The Wire") is set in Washington D.C., where ex-con Lorenzo Brown is trying to stay clean in his new profession as a Humane Society officer, but finds it difficult when a war between local drug gangs threatens to engulf him while his parole officer has troubles of her own.

Little Brown and Company, 304 pages
03/22/2005
$24.95

ISBN: 0316608211

Fiction
General Literature & Fiction
Mystery & Thrillers

All reviews are classified as one of five grades: Outstanding (4 points), Favorable (3), Mixed (2), Unfavorable (1) and Terrible (0). To calculate the Metascore, we divide total points achieved by the total points possible (i.e., 4 x the number of reviews), with the resulting percentage (multiplied by 100) being the Metascore. Learn more...

Booklist Bill Ott

Though set on the same streets as Pelecanos' earlier books, this novel works on a smaller scale, lingering on the everyday, "the smiling faces and sad, all kinds of faces in between." It's not a view we see much in genre fiction, making it all the more welcome. [15 Feb 2005, p.1037]

Chicago Sun-Times Gary Dretzka

He's a writer of enormous talent, whose work we've come to anticipate with great excitement. So far, Pelecanos has given us no reason to expect anything less than a terrific ride.

Chicago Tribune Dick Adler

Drama City has the natural shape of a good movie. But it's also a thoroughly satisfying read, making us hope that Brown and Lopez will make another appearance. [3 Apr 2005, p.C3]

The Globe And Mail [Toronto] Margaret Cannon

Pelecanos is great at character studies and cranking the suspense. Drama City , set in the seedier areas of Washington, D.C., has both, plus a terrific plot. If you liked Hard Revolution , you will love this one. [2 Apr 2005, p.D11]

The New York Times Janet Maslin

There is a fierce inevitability to the way George Pelecanos's new book unfolds. Drama City is unleashed, not simply set in motion.

The Guardian Maxim Jakubowski

Pelecanos's view of life has always been bleak and this is no exception, but he displays such a ferocious understanding of street reality and an empathy for America's downtrodden that his books transcend their pulp origins.

Entertainment Weekly Daniel Fierman

But it works, for exactly the same reason "The Wire" — the fantastic HBO series Pelecanos is a producer on — works, by turning the day-to-day struggles of working people in American cities into a melancholy, rich poetry.

Kirkus Reviews

The dog-eat-dog metaphor, borrowed perhaps from the film "Amores Perros," provides a brutal, tender new way for Pelecanos to get at his great subject: the miraculous survival of lilies among the toxic weeds of the Nation's Capital. [15 Jan 2005, p.79]

Library Journal Craig Shufelt

Pelecanos's writing is intelligent and engaging, and the characters of Lorenzo and Rachel are well formed and all too believable. [15 March 2005, p.76]

Publishers Weekly

Hope and redemption are fine subjects for many novelists, but it's the stark world of violence and despair that this author really owns.

San Francisco Chronicle David Lazarus

He could have just as easily called it "Melodrama City"... Drama City grows surprisingly squishy. Pelecanos is showing his softer side here.

Washington Post Guy Johnson

Stereotypes rob a book of its vitality and mystery and, more dangerously, they are divisive, misleading readers with faulty images of people and cultures beyond their ken. Pelecanos has written a book in which the characters are lost without translation.

The average user rating for this book is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 1 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

neil s gave it an8:
first but definately not the last Pelicanos book i've read. couldn't put the damned thing down! read in about 5 hours straight. this could be one of my more costly discoveries!!

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Drama City by George Pelecanos

Drama City
by George Pelecanos