Two by Mr. Pelecanos:
>A FIRING OFFENSE (1992): His first, and the first of
the three Nick
>Stefanos books. It's interesting reading these after
the later books and
>seeing how Nick's life ties in to SHAME THE DEVIL and
the others. Mr.
>Pelecanos is getting better and better, of course,
but that's not to >say
>this isn't good.
I actually enjoyed this more than the later books, at least
the ones I've read so far. I like them all, but the first
person voice, the details of life on the sales floor (I've
found it infinitely more helpful than consumer reports, in a
"know thy enemy" sense), and the "drifting" feel of the whole
thing really set it apart. The "mystery" plot is a little
thin (it's actually a pretty good plot, it just takes up a
fairly small portion of the book), but the characterization
and the feel of the whole thing blew me away. (Doesn't hurt
that part of it is set in Wrightsville Beach, NC, where I've
spent a few drunk lazy summer nights of my own. And I love
the bits where Johnny and Nick are hopping the trains. I put
some Tom Waits on, read this, and forgot I was a white
professional female from the suburbs who has abused very few
substances and feels uneasy even *walking* on train
tracks
('cause it's against the law you know). Now that's good
writing.
I even passed this one on to my brother, who never reads
mysteries (well, depending on your view of whether Terry
Pratchett's "Watch" books count) - who has since gone on to a
job in electronics sales, not exactly sure what that
implies.
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