Hard Revolution: Summary and book reviews of Hard Revolution by George Pelecanos, plus links to an excerpt from Hard Revolution and a biography of George Pelecanos.

Derek Strange is a rookie cop, the job he's dreamed of since he was a boy. His brother, Dennis, has not been as fortunate; home from the service with a disability pension and zero prospects, he is man with good intentions but bad habits. Derek has always looked out for Dennis, but no amount of brotherly love can save him from the dangerous world of Alvin Jones, a local bottom-feeder, hustler, and stone killer who draws him into his web of violence. While the rookie cop navigates the rocky terrain of a city in turmoil, a family in crisis, and his love for a woman he has driven away, Frank Vaughn, a cop at the opposite end of his career, investigates the vicious hit and run of a young black man. Vaughn's personal life is a shambles, but he's good police; he pursues the killers with sharklike intent. Meanwhile, in Memphis, a prophet is murdered, igniting a volcanic chain of events that will leave the nation's capital burned, divided, and decimated, forever changing the lives of its working-class inhabitants.

Media Reviews

Washington Post George Pelecanos writes with intelligence and complexity, as well as with a sober recognition of the evil at large in the world.   Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, MS) - JC Patterson Pelecanos has brought forth a street-tough humanity as tangible as a drive-by shooting and as passionate as a Shakespearian tragedy…. Do yourself a favor, pick up a Pelecanos today.   Esquire Magazine Two cops struggling to do their jobs against the backdrop of a violent uprising Their paths collide in the middle of a full-fury revolution, in an electrifying climax to the most powerful book yet from George Pelecanos, the poet laureate of the D.C. crime world.   Newsweek - Malcolm Jones Pelecanos has the first-rate writer's ability to entertain you and break your heart on the same page.   USA Today - Carol Memmott Pelecanos's writing is as polished and exquisitely honed as the guns that wreak havoc in the neighborhoods where his novels are set.   Washington Post Book World - Maureen Corrigan Pelecanos writes with intelligence and complexity, as well as with a sober recognition of the evil at large in the world.   Kirkus Reviews The most conventionally ambitious of Pelecanos's sprawling studies of D.C. crime pat in its sociological determinism, harrowing in its portraits of each hopeless loser and the few ex-losers who escape.   Booklist - Bill Ott Starred Review. Pelecanos has been justly celebrated for his noir sensibility and his gritty portraits of the streets of Washington, D.C., but he hasn't been recognized for what may be his greatest achievement redefining the art of writing serial fiction   Library Journal - Craig L Shufelt As with the previous Strange works, this is a superior crime novel from one of the genre's outstanding writers.   Publishers Weekly Written in rich, observant prose, the novel is a brilliant study of a society tearing apart as racial tensions escalate after the King killing; no wonder some observers have pointed to Pelecanos as the kind of thriller writer who should be nominated for a National Book Award.

Recent Reader Reviews

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