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lilkatesbooknook's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
sandin954's review against another edition
4.0
This book expertly mixed lots of violence, drugs, music, movies, basketball, and other pop culture references from the 1970s in with both over the top characters and others that were extremely realistic.
dantastic's review against another edition
4.0
It's 1976 and everyone's talking about King Suckerman, the new blaxploitation flick that's in the theaters. When Marcus Clay and Dimitri Karras wind up with a pile of cash after a drug deal gone wrong, everyone's after their hides, including a thug named Wilton Cooper and his gang, and an Italian named Tony Spags, who wants his money and his girl, who's shacking up with Karras. Can Clay and Karras give the money back without getting killed?
Here we are, the second book in George Pelecanos' DC Quartet. Pelecanos weaves a tale worthy of Elmore Leonard, set around our nations capital around the time a film called King Suckerman has everyone's attention. Pelecanos continues to develop the Washington DC of the Pelecanosverse, as Kemper calls it.
It's a pretty straightforward crime tale about ill-gotten gains and murder. What makes it so good is Pelecanos' writing, specifically how well he develops his characters. You've got Cooper, Claggett, and the Thomas brothers, the killers of the piece, Spags and Tate, the lowlifes in over their heads, and Clay and Karras, the regular guys caught up in things. With the exception of the Thomas brothers, the characters are all well drawn and fairly realistic. Cooper was so slick I almost wanted him to live through everything. The action is pretty intense when it happens and the dialogue is almost as smooth as Elmore Leonard's in his prime.
Interesting side note, I bought Eldorado Red by Donald Goines at the same time I bought this. Imagine my surprise when Goines makes a cameo appearance in the tale.
Much like The Cut, I can't really find anything to complain about with King Suckerman. Pelecanos is quickly climbing the ranks of my favorite crime writers.
Also posted at Shelf Inflicted
Here we are, the second book in George Pelecanos' DC Quartet. Pelecanos weaves a tale worthy of Elmore Leonard, set around our nations capital around the time a film called King Suckerman has everyone's attention. Pelecanos continues to develop the Washington DC of the Pelecanosverse, as Kemper calls it.
It's a pretty straightforward crime tale about ill-gotten gains and murder. What makes it so good is Pelecanos' writing, specifically how well he develops his characters. You've got Cooper, Claggett, and the Thomas brothers, the killers of the piece, Spags and Tate, the lowlifes in over their heads, and Clay and Karras, the regular guys caught up in things. With the exception of the Thomas brothers, the characters are all well drawn and fairly realistic. Cooper was so slick I almost wanted him to live through everything. The action is pretty intense when it happens and the dialogue is almost as smooth as Elmore Leonard's in his prime.
Interesting side note, I bought Eldorado Red by Donald Goines at the same time I bought this. Imagine my surprise when Goines makes a cameo appearance in the tale.
Much like The Cut, I can't really find anything to complain about with King Suckerman. Pelecanos is quickly climbing the ranks of my favorite crime writers.
Also posted at Shelf Inflicted
uosdwisrdewoh's review against another edition
4.0
George Pelecanos was about to give up on writing when he decided start a book in his spare time, almost as a lark. These beginnings show, for good and for ill, in King Suckerman, the novel he ended up completing. Whereas in many of Pelecanos's books, he takes a single act of violence and carefully examines its meanings and repercussions, here there's a senseless, gruesome murder in the first few pages, and the book continues apace, with many stomach-turning bits of violence following. Perhaps it's simply the setting--Suckerman takes place in the '70s, when Washington, DC, was quickly becoming a much scarier place. Or perhaps it's Pelecanos paying homage to the Blaxploitation genre that infuses both the plot and the milieu of the narrative.
In keeping with its casual composition, some of the characters seem more sketched out than in his previous book The Big Blowdown. Here Pelecanos has found the crime writer's tool of extremely eccentric antagonists, with one character bordering on grotesque. When old characters from The Big Blowdown start to pop up, it's jarring, as if a character from an old black-and-white wartime drama strolled onto the screen during Shaft.
All that said, the rock solid prose almost never falters, and the buildup to the climax is miss-your-subway-stop good. There's still a sentimental streak to his writing, but it, like so much about Pelecanos's novels, is growing on me.
In keeping with its casual composition, some of the characters seem more sketched out than in his previous book The Big Blowdown. Here Pelecanos has found the crime writer's tool of extremely eccentric antagonists, with one character bordering on grotesque. When old characters from The Big Blowdown start to pop up, it's jarring, as if a character from an old black-and-white wartime drama strolled onto the screen during Shaft.
All that said, the rock solid prose almost never falters, and the buildup to the climax is miss-your-subway-stop good. There's still a sentimental streak to his writing, but it, like so much about Pelecanos's novels, is growing on me.
cmasson17's review against another edition
4.0
Few writers capture time and place as well as Pelacanos. The fashion, the music, the food and the mood of DC in the summer of '76 are so ingrained in this book, that you are transported. The racial tension and social mores of the time fuel the violent plot as do his excellent characterizations.
jakewritesbooks's review against another edition
4.0
A neat crime read. This was my first Pelecanos and all the platitudes about his ability to write quality dialogue are deserved. He also does a good job of describing action scenes without being too over-the-top or unnecessarily graphic. A little too saturated with 70s references, otherwise a very good read.
heyhawk's review against another edition
4.0
4.5
The crime noir spree continues, as does Pelecanos's hit rate for me. This is very nearly as good as The Sweet Forever, the novel that shares many of these characters 10 years older. This one is set around the Bicentennial celebration in 1976 DC. It reads like a less creepy version of a 90s Tarantino movie.
The crime noir spree continues, as does Pelecanos's hit rate for me. This is very nearly as good as The Sweet Forever, the novel that shares many of these characters 10 years older. This one is set around the Bicentennial celebration in 1976 DC. It reads like a less creepy version of a 90s Tarantino movie.
arisbookcorner's review against another edition
1.0
Felt fully immersed in the '70s, still hate Pelecanos' depiction of women. Barely remember reading this one but I remember finishing it feeling unsatisfied.
francomega's review
3.0
Book 2 of the DC Quartet jumps from the 50s to the 70s, specifically the bicentennial of 76. Another tale from the underside of the city with nice helpings of drugs, violence, and sex, not to mention a lot of music and basketball (a little too much music for my taste; never big on the non-punk 70s). It's all about the characters though as Pelecanos gives the whole cast of players depth and believability.
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