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Title: Hard Revolution: A Novel by George Pelecanos ISBN: 0-316-60897-1 Publisher: Little, Brown Pub. Date: March, 2004 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.53 (17 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Fans of Pelecanos will be amply rewarded
Comment: With the publication of his latest book HARD REVOLUTION, George Pelecanos has written an even dozen novels. Yet he is not as well known as some of his less prodigious and, alas, less talented brethren. Perhaps HARD REVOLUTION will change that.
Pelecanos's Washington, D.C. is not that of the edifices and facades of government; rather, he walks the streets that aren't mentioned in any guidebooks. His last three novels --- RIGHT AS RAIN, HELL TO PAY and SOUL CIRCUS --- have centered on an ex-D.C. police officer named Derek Strange who runs Strange Investigations, a private detective agency. HARD REVOLUTION is a prequel to this series looking at Strange's life as a child in the late 1950s and his experiences as a rookie policeman in 1968 when social upheaval on several different levels was reaching its boiling point. Looking at this Strange will give readers a lot of insight into the character that they have come to know.
Those who come to HARD REVOLUTION with expectations of a straight crime novel will be disappointed; those who read it without expectations will be amply rewarded. We first meet Strange as a twelve-year-old, shortly before the occurrence of a pivotal moment that sets him on the course for his future as a Washington, D.C. policeman. What's also clear is that Strange's parents are his strongest and longest lasting influence. They are hardworking people whose moral compass is a beacon for Strange and a burden that Dennis, his less-fortunate older brother, is unable to live up to. Pelecanos uses almost the first quarter of the book to introduce Strange, his family and a cast of supporting characters. Some readers may find that these chapters drag in spots, but they are extremely well written and ultimately are critical to what is to follow.
Pelecanos then jumps ahead to spring 1968, when the nation is torn apart by the Vietnam War and racial issues. Strange, now a rookie policeman, is dealing with issues on a number of fronts. As a black police officer, he has few friends in the urban community, subsisting primarily on the camaraderie of a few of his fellow officers, the pride of his family and the erstwhile love of a woman to whom he is unable to commit. Strange also is concerned for his brother Dennis, whose companions include a sociopath named Alvin Jones who swims like a shark through the sea of urban D.C.
Strange also meets a veteran police officer named Frank Vaughn, a deeply flawed man who is at the same time a good cop. When a young black man is killed in what appears to be a deliberate hit-and-run accident, Vaughn's quiet sense of outrage cannot let the matter rest, even though he is hardly a politically correct civil rights advocate. Vaughn's determination to bring the perpetrators to justice crosses paths with Strange's quiet determination to do well in the middle of riot-torn D.C. during an armed bank robbery. When events ultimately bring Strange to pursue vengeance, Vaughn is there to show him how the job gets done. The result is a conclusion that will leave neither man quite the same.
Pelecanos's description of the era in which HARD REVOLUTION is set is simply first-rate. While it is relatively easy to get the large details right, it is the way that Pelecanos fills in the nooks and crannies of the era that lends this work its air of authenticity. Pelecanos is particularly dead-on with respect to the local D.C. music scene during the era --- I had forgotten how influential the musicians in the D.C. and Virginia areas had been during the late 1950s --- as well as the national television scene. That Darius Strange, father to Derek and Dennis, is a huge fan of television westerns is a nice touch.
One of the most interesting aspects of HARD REVOLUTION is the introduction of Vaughn. One would hope that Pelecanos's future plans include another novel with Vaughn as at least a secondary character, if not the primary protagonist. However, Pelecanos's extensive bibliography should keep everyone busy until that particular issue is addressed.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
Rating: 4
Summary: Social issues, day to day life, and hard crime
Comment: George Pelecanos is one of those writers you start reading and then in spite of having to take out the garbage, or check the parking meter, or pop a prescription pill, you can't put the book down. What he does is hook you by making his characters so fleshed out, so well drawn, so real, that it's all you can do to stop--even if your wife, husband, girlfriend, or boyfriend is yelling at you because they need something immediately.
Hard Revolution, set in the late 50s, then the late 60s around Pelecanos' neck of the woods, Washington DC, seamlessly fuses a tale of social issues, day to day life of the working class, and hard crime. It does this by focusing on, as noted, the characters. Pelecanos does this a whole lot better than a slew of other writers working today. It's the characters that drive the situations they're in--whether they create the situations, or are forced into them, or stumble upon them.
Derek and Dennis Strange, brothers, are anything but two peas in a pod. The sons of a solid black working class couple, they live their lives the way they see fit. Dennis drifts--by the time the main action gets underway--1968--he's a VietNam vet and is directionless. This prompts him to move in drug circles, with those a lot nastier and more violent than he is. After getting caught by the proprietor of the store he tried to steal from when a kid, Derek gets his life straight and becomes one of the first black cops on the DC force.
No Pelecanos novel would exist without Greek characters and they're here too. But more than that are three lowlife white guys (Buzz and Dominic are two of the names, instantly giving you a sense of the time) whose actions ignite the black-white tension that forms the crux of the novel. Martin Luther King figures prominently here, so Pelecanos has made this far more than a crime novel--although crime itself is present, thanks to both the white and the black guys who just have to get what they want right away, whether it's the murder of an innocent black teenager, or the theft of a piece of jewelry.
One of the author's trademarks is definitely in evidence here as well--the music of the time. While this can even be slightly annoying (over and over, he quotes the name of the song and of the artist who sang it, listened to by a number of characters), eventually you really sink into the feel of the street in 60s DC, the atmosphere of the time, the rhythm of day to day life.
And in fact it's the description of this day to day life at which Pelecanos excels, and because of which this is such a compelling read. It's not so much the minutiae that he describes, but the way the characters respond to very select details of their lives as they're lived that gives this novel its meat and flavor both. When crime does erupt, it's sudden and violent and inevitable and intense, and at the same time it's what you KNOW will happen because it's what the character who's committed it HAS to do.
This is a great, immensely satisfying novel that is a solid addition to the Pelecanos canon. Highly recommended.
Rating: 5
Summary: Strange, The Early Years
Comment: HARD REVOLUTION is another stunning book by Pelecanos, taking us back to the turbulent year of 1968, after first making a brief stop in 1959. Pelecanos is an acquired taste because when he tells his story he holds nothing back no matter how distasteful the acts may be. Modern hardboiled at it's nastiest but brilliant in capturing the mood of the people and the time.
Before HARD REVOLUTION came the Derek Strange trilogy of RIGHT AS RAIN, HELL TO PAY and SOUL CIRCUS. Set in present day Washington D.C., they featured the black private detective struggling to earn a buck while making every effort to ensure the children from his neighbourhood had a chance to make something of themselves rather than being drawn into the gang lifestyle. Now we are taken back in time, first to 1959 and then to 1968 to meet the young Derek Strange.
Unrest simmers close to the surface as everyone senses that there is a social change in the air. This part of the story is paced by constant updates about the approaching rally in Memphis that Martin Luther King JR is due to speak at. So apart from the fictional tension built up by the actions of Pelecanos' characters, there is also the added tension that comes from knowing the true events that about to take place.
This is not what I would term your usual crime novel because there is no clear single plot. Rather, it travels along many paths and gives an insightful commentary about social unrest in a tumultuous period of modern history. Murders take place, murders are solved, but they are more or less incidental to the story which is more a focus on the characters and the period of time in which they lived. It's a powerful book that deals with sensitive issues in a hard-nosed way.
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