The Man Who Came Uptown

Starred review from July 16, 2018
Michael Hudson, the hero of this unforgettable novel of crime, redemption, and the transformative power of the written word from Edgar-finalist Pelecanos (The Double), awaits trial in a Washington, D.C., jail for armed robbery. Like many of his fellow inmates, Hudson has taken to reading as a way to pass the time. He looks forward to the books carefully chosen for him by jail librarian Anna Byrne, who leads regular book discussion groups. As Hudson devours novels, he begins to catch a glimpse of a larger world outside, one that he didn’t realize was available to him. Meanwhile, Phil Orzanian, an investigator for Hudson’s defense attorney, dissuades a witness from testifying, and Hudson is suddenly out free. Orzanian turns out to run a side business robbing drug dealers and other criminals of their ill-gotten gains, and he reminds Hudson of the debt the former inmate owes him. As the fates of Hudson, Orzanian, and Byrne collide, Pelecanos shows that doing the right thing isn’t always the easiest option. Inspired by the author’s own experience with prison literacy programs, this is the work of a master storyteller at the top of his game. Agent: Sloan Harris, ICM Partners.

Author Pelecanos writes and narrator James Shippy delivers a story of well-intentioned men behaving badly. Honorable but slightly shady PI Phil Ornazian tampers with a witness in order to have Michael Hudson released from prison. Hudson ends up caught between his desire to go straight and the pressure to pay back Ornazian for helping him. Surprisingly, this is also a story about the power of books to engage, inspire, and transform. All of this is set in Pelecanos's Washington, DC. Shippy deftly differentiates the characters--black and white, male and female--although his voicing of Ornazian's wife's English working-class accent is jolting. He carefully enunciates each word of the narrative with a steady, even-paced cadence, sometimes emphasizing the significance of certain phrases with strategic pauses. Pelecanos fans will appreciate this listen. E.Q. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine