Drama City

Be prepared for an involving listen with DRAMA CITY. Narrator Chad Coleman melts invisibly into the characters populating the title precinct--a drug- and crime-ridden section of Washington, D.C. As author Pelecanos perceptively traces the cursed lives of gang members, drug addicts, and poverty-stricken ghetto-dwellers, portraying the inevitable violence and cruelty they encounter throughout their days, Coleman brings compassion to the characters. Thanks to both incisive writing and a skilled performance, DRAMA CITY will bring listeners to a gritty and disturbing part of the U.S. capital. D.J.B. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

February 21, 2005
Pelecanos's later fiction, set on the drug-saturated streets of ghetto Washington, D.C., is charged with the dark, unrelenting inevitability of Greek myth. In the author's 13th novel, "dog man" Lorenzo Brown, a street investigator for the Humane Society, has recently completed an eight-year stretch in prison for narcotics and is determined to stay clean and free. Rachel Lopez, Lorenzo's parole officer, spends her days chasing down clients and her nights getting drunk in bars and having rough sex with strangers. The ignition point for the violence that eventually engulfs these two fully realized, attractive characters—characteristics that in Pelecanos's world mark them as quite probably doomed—is a minor argument between local drug kingpins that inflates into a series of revenge killings. Pelecanos is known for his bleak, uncompromising outlook (Hard Resolution
; Hell to Pay
; The Sweet Forever
) and while the death and destruction are still here in full force, some fans may question the turnaround in his ending. Might it be an attempt to hit the megabestseller stardom that fans think he deserves? Hope and redemption are fine subjects for many novelists, but it's the stark world of violence and despair that this author really owns. Agent, Sloan Harris at ICM. 7-city author tour.

April 4, 2005
One of the finest writers in crime fiction today, Pelecanos once again delivers a moving story of life, death and survival on the streets of Washington, D.C. This time, he focuses on Lorenzo Brown, an ex-con who returns to his old neighborhood after serving eight years in prison. Doing his best to keep straight, Lorenzo prowls the streets rescuing abused animals as a Humane Society officer, but the violent actions of two rival drug gangs threaten to drag him back into his former thug life. Pelecanos knows the world he writes about—his streets, and the characters inhabiting them, throb with vivid authenticity. Unfortunately, Coleman, an articulate actor with a well-modulated voice, delivers Pelecanos's emotionally rich and descriptive prose in a dry, matter-of-fact tone. His is a competent line-by-line reading, but in the end, his detached delivery fails to capture the vitality and intimacy of the author's work. This is a shame, since the audio's abridgment, editing and incidental music are all top-notch. Simultaneous release with the Little, Brown hardcover (Forecasts, Feb. 21).