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A review by uosdwisrdewoh
The Sweet Forever by George Pelecanos
4.0
Another solid crime thriller by Pelecanos, the third in his D.C. Quartet series.
Ten years after the violent bicentennial events in King Suckerman, trouble comes right to the door of Marcus Clay's record store. A gangster's car speeds out of control, swerving around the Green Line Metro construction on U Street, and crashes in a fiery wreck, with a pillowcase of drug money going missing in the chaos. Pelecanos lays out the consequences with his usual sure hand. The characters--both returning and new--are drawn with nice details, and the plot never stalls or feels overly determined. And, as usual, the buildup to the climax is utterly riveting.
As in previous books, Pelecanos layers on period details, mostly for the better. It's fun to look at an almost heightened portrait of the 80s music scene, where all in one night, you have Black Flag playing a school auditorium, Echo and the Bunnymen at GWU, Chuck Brown playing go-go at the Masonic Temple (now a CVS where I occasionally buy the paper), and Gil Scott-Heron at a small club uptown. On the other hand, you've got characters quoting "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" to one another, perhaps telling the reader "IT'S THE 80s" in a way that's a bit too on the nose.
Sentimentality again crops up, especially in an impromptu speech about the coming crack epidemic where Clay actually says, "We're all to blame. 'Cause in the end, years from now when it's way too late, we're gonna see we did nothin' to stop all this. We were so busy makin' money, ignorin' the ones who needed help, lookin' out for ourselves. So busy lookin' the other way." All of this is true (and who wouldn't be moved to a speech like this faced with the prospect of Marion Barry's reelection in a city quickly going to hell?), but it feels too much like a writer placing his words in the past than an actual character speaking his mind.
To his credit, though, Pelecanos then has Clay's best friend reply, "Yeah, well, what're you gonna do?"
Which sums up Pelecanos's novels nicely. The world is going to hell. May as well see it through clear eyes and try to get along best you can.
Ten years after the violent bicentennial events in King Suckerman, trouble comes right to the door of Marcus Clay's record store. A gangster's car speeds out of control, swerving around the Green Line Metro construction on U Street, and crashes in a fiery wreck, with a pillowcase of drug money going missing in the chaos. Pelecanos lays out the consequences with his usual sure hand. The characters--both returning and new--are drawn with nice details, and the plot never stalls or feels overly determined. And, as usual, the buildup to the climax is utterly riveting.
As in previous books, Pelecanos layers on period details, mostly for the better. It's fun to look at an almost heightened portrait of the 80s music scene, where all in one night, you have Black Flag playing a school auditorium, Echo and the Bunnymen at GWU, Chuck Brown playing go-go at the Masonic Temple (now a CVS where I occasionally buy the paper), and Gil Scott-Heron at a small club uptown. On the other hand, you've got characters quoting "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" to one another, perhaps telling the reader "IT'S THE 80s" in a way that's a bit too on the nose.
Sentimentality again crops up, especially in an impromptu speech about the coming crack epidemic where Clay actually says, "We're all to blame. 'Cause in the end, years from now when it's way too late, we're gonna see we did nothin' to stop all this. We were so busy makin' money, ignorin' the ones who needed help, lookin' out for ourselves. So busy lookin' the other way." All of this is true (and who wouldn't be moved to a speech like this faced with the prospect of Marion Barry's reelection in a city quickly going to hell?), but it feels too much like a writer placing his words in the past than an actual character speaking his mind.
To his credit, though, Pelecanos then has Clay's best friend reply, "Yeah, well, what're you gonna do?"
Which sums up Pelecanos's novels nicely. The world is going to hell. May as well see it through clear eyes and try to get along best you can.