A review by moreadsbooks
Drama City by George Pelecanos

3.0

While a familiar man walks his familiar dog by a familiar sign at the beginning of this book, it isn't about any recurring characters, which actually happens to be quite refreshing. I like Derek Strange & all that, but Lorenzo Brown can more than hang on his own without any help from more familiar D.C. guys. There are all the usual suspects of the drug trade; the murderous boss, the less murderous boss, the scary psycho teenager with the dead eyes, the Most Promising Young Guy who will undoubtedly be tragically gunned down. My only qualm is with Rachel Lopez. There's certainly a sense that she drinks to excess & sleeps with strangers because of the concurrent deaths of her parents, but I wanted her character to have a little more meat to it. Now I'm wishing for another whole book about Lorenzo Brown, but I'm hoping I can make do without disappointment by reading Shoedog, which, c'mon, has got to be about the man Shoedog. If it isn't, I'm going to be a sad little reader.