Hard Revolution: A Novel (Pelecanos, George) - Hardcover

Pelecanos, George P.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0316608971 ISBN 13: 9780316608978

Publisher: Little Brown & Co, 2004

Synopsis

Two brothers--rookie police officer Derek Strange, and his older brother, Dennis, a troubled Vietnam veteran--become caught up in the riots that engulfed Washington, D.C., in the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., as Derek hunts for his brother's killer, vicious local drug dealer Alvin Jones, through the streets of a troubled city. 75,000 first printing

About this title

Review:

Hard Revolution is the novel George P Pelecanos was always going to write sooner or later, the book in which his fascination with the casual choices that shape human life was going to interact fully with his interest in racial politics.

Young Black cop Derek Strange has plenty of problems in the Washington of 1968--his elder brother Dennis keeps dangerous company and smokes too much dope, yet judges Derek harshly for his membership of a mostly white force radicals see as an army of occupation. Other men are making worse choices--Dominic, whom both Stranges knew when young, comes back from Vietnam with a habit of obedience and drifts into violent crime. And just around the corner is the death of Martin Luther King and the riots that follow it--riots that change the lives of Washington's whites and blacks forever.

Pelecanos has always been an intelligent writer whose thrillers are not just about crime, but have a pronounced sense of how it fits into the way individuals negotiate all of their interactions with a broader community. His books simply get better--and his sense of the musical soundtrack to people's lives gets ever more acute as well. --Roz Kaveney

Review:

'[Hard Revolution] is Dickensian in structure... Pelecanos's writing is direct and effective, with much period detail about cars and music, and he has a wonderful way with vernacular. The scenes of mob violence are minutely documented and the waste is appalling but, just as in Dickens, love finally conquers all.' (Toby Clements DAILY TELEGRAPH)

'An Ellroy-esque powderkeg waiting for a spark to set it off, Hard Revolution slowboils its dense storyline , interweaving mulitiple characters heading for a violent showdown, until you either care deeply for or loathe them, ensuring that its denouement leaves you shattered. A fascinating historical saga and crime potboiler combined, Pelecanos' 12th novel is a brutal tour de force.' (JACK magazine)

'In Hard Revolution George Pelecanos breaks new ground with a long, expansive novel which sets the strories of Derek Strange and his family against the momentous events surrounding the assassination of Martin Luther King in the summer of 1968.' (WATERSTONE'S BOOKS QUARTERLY)

'It's [Pelecanos'] ability, better than any writer up to and including Nick Hornby, to bring his characters to life through their obsessions, desires and needs, that makes Pelecanos's writing jump off the page. He writes about real people in real situations, and the hard choices they must make every day. And, as in Hard Revolution, when he does it well, it's a tender and beautiful thing.' (WORD Magazine)

'Pelecanos writes clean, tight, cogent prose with a heartfelt urgency.' (THE SCOTSMAN)

'Has George Pelecanos's hour finally arrived? For years, aficionados of tough, richly characterised thrillers have put Pelecanos securely in the No 1 slot. It's not difficult to see why: many writers excel at the well-turned acerbic thriller but few are able to combine tough dialogue and bloodletting with an ambitious picture of a society - and that's what Pelecanos achieves, time and time again.' (Barry Forshaw SUNDAY EXPRESS)

'This is a wonderful powerful novel that deserves to win an oscar.' (TIME OUT)

'Hard Revolution is a wonderfully atmospheric, highly intelligent novel; and no one today - not even Elmore Leonard - writes better dialogue.' (Marcel Berlins THE TIMES)

'...a sophisticated, unflinching novel. 4 stars *' (Nick Hasted UNCUT magazine)

'An epic novel about one man's journey into the fires of revolution, this is a book that also reeks of soul music and ethnic diversity as Pelecanos lovingly creates the lost world in which he grew up. Beneath the paving stones and the mayhem and crime lies a strange poetry that is unique to Pelecanos. Impressive.' (Maxim Jabubowski THE GUARDIAN)

About this edition

• Publisher: Little Brown & Co
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0316608971
• ISBN 13: 9780316608978
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 376