The Turnaround [Paperback]

I recently read the detective novel "Shame the Devil" by George Pelecanos. While I generally liked it, there was something missing, something that wasn't quite right. It was good, but I felt it could have been better. I wasn't sure how it could be improved, only that I thought that there was something about the book that could stand improvement. After reading the latest offering from Pelecanos, "The Turnaround", I now know what the problem was, at least for me. "Shame the Devil" is a detective novel; Pelecanos writes a serviceable one; "The Turnaround", by contrast, is a crime novel. There's no real detective in the plot, and not much of a mystery if you're paying attention. Instead, there's a great story, and that makes all the difference. "Shame the Devil" is a good book; "The Turnaround" is one of the best books I've read in years, steeped in atmosphere and character, and a very good book.

"The Turnaround" starts with a racial incident in the early 1970s in Washington D.C., where all of Pelecanos' books are set. Apparently he also has stuck with Greek main characters, for some reason. The Pappas family, the center of the book, runs a diner in downtown, feeding the breakfast and lunch crowd. The center of the book, at the start, is the family patriarch, John. He runs the business cannily, and hopes that one day one of his sons will take over the restaurant. Instead, one of his sons is involved in a racial incident, in which there are epithets yelled, and someone gets killed. Fast forward three and a half decades, a new generation runs the store, and those who were involved in the incident are either back from prison or reminded of it somehow. They have different agendas, and want different things, and how this plays out is the main part of the book.

"The Turnaround" is steeped in three things, all of them very intrinsic to the book, and all of them very well-done. The author is clearly obsessed with music, one of these guys that can tell you who wrote a song, who first released it, who covered it, which version was popular, etc. He creates the atmosphere of the early 70s in Washington through the music, and oddly through the stereo equipment that it's played on. One of the more amusing incidents in the book occurs when one of the young men in the story relates that his friend has a stereo with "Bosay" speakers, only to be corrected by his brother, who tells him that it's pronounced "Bose". The music is a part of the longer, more modern part of the book too, with the newer artists contrasting with the older ones.

A second aspect of the book which is carefully covered, which adds to the overall story, is the operation of the diner. The author clearly knows someone who has worked in a diner; perhaps his family had one growing up. This was a big part of the sub-plot of "Shame the Devil" too, so I'm wondering if it's going to be a common thread through all of Pelecanos' books. The author spends a lot of time with his characters running the restaurant, letting the cook try new ideas for recipes and weekly specials, that sort of thing. It's an intelligent and interesting sidelight to the main plot.

Third, and lastly, the character of Washington D.C. is a considerable part of the book. This isn't the Washington that's our nation's capitol, really. None of the characters visit any of the monuments or memorials, let alone government buildings, much. The main character in "Shame the Devil" had lunch at the Supreme Court's cafeteria. Apparently this is an insider thing to do: the food there is very good, and it's open to the public. Beyond that though, none of the characters I've encountered so far are government employees in any serious fashion. There's no FBI investigation or anything like that. The city the author deals with is more crime-ridden, and at the same time more mundane, than the one we think of.

I really enjoyed "The Turnaround" in case you couldn't tell. I've already gone looking for more of Pelecanos' books. If they're anything like "Shame the Devil" instead, it's not so bad, but this was a really good book. Highly recommended.

The Turnaround is the 15th Washington DC based novel authored by George Pelecanos. Critical acclaim for his novels as well as for his writing on HBO's The Wire has been fairly easy to come by for Mr. Pelecanos. Commercial success, on the other hand has somewhat escaped him. His peers and coworkers on The Wire, Richard Price and Dennis Lehane have both experienced sales that have, to date, eluded Pelecanos. Someone that has read all three authors for any amount of time would tell you that this fact is a damn shame, for Pelecanos writes with just as much power and emotion as Price or Lehane. With The Turnaround, George Pelecanos may finally be poised to break big.

In his early novels, Pelecanos wrote mostly hard-boiled/crime/detective stories and while these books were examples of great genre writing, they were just that, focused on the genre. With each book the writing of Mr. Pelecanos has progressed. As of late, while he has used some type of crime as a jumping off point, his writing has become more focused on people and their place in society. The Turnaround continues in this sociological vein.

The Turnaround begins on a hot summer day in 1972 when three white teenagers drive into a black neighborhood and come across three young men who were born and grew up in the neighborhood. Two of the boys in the car, full of youth, testosterone, booze and weed make decisions that have dire results. Their words and actions leave Billy Cachoris shot dead. Peter Whitten makes a running escape while the third boy, Alex Pappas, is left beaten and scarred due to his indecision. The three local teens also make decisions that they will carry with them for their lifetimes. James Monroe ends up a convicted murderer, Charles Baker beats Pappas and Raymond Monroe is left with psychological baggage that he will carry with him for 35 years.

Fast forward thirty-five years and we find that Pappas has taken over his father's diner business. He is married with a teenage son of his own. He also has a recently dead son, lost to the war in Iraq. James Monroe has served his time plus some and is trying to get his life on track as a small time auto mechanic. Raymond Monroe is a physical therapist working in DC at Walter Reed. Charles Baker has been in and out of prison. He is currently out of prison and looking to improve his life, mostly by illegal means. A chance encounter on the grounds of Walter Reed brings the men back into contact with one another.

Pelecanos develops a strong background for each character. His writing is purposeful and strong yet it lets the reader decide on their view of the character. The writing is never so overbearing that it leads you to a conclusion. That is the true beauty of Pelecanos' writing, he lets the reader develop an opinion, it is never forced upon them. In the Turnaround he sets the stage for the reader to develop their opinions on each of the characters, their life choices, the work being done at Walter Reed, the war, even their musical tastes.

The magic of the writing of George Pelecanos is in his subtle yet powerful descriptions of every day events that we take for granted. Pelecanos writes like a well-trained boxer, every word is used for maximum impact and no energy is ever wasted. His choice of words always seems correct and often his descriptions of mundane every day events hit with a subtle yet powerful force that leaves the reader near tears. Pelecanos also has a rare gift for writing authentic dialogue. He does not use over the top tough guy posturing, instead he develops the characters through dialogue that one could overhear on the street in any city. In other words, his writing has an aspect of believability that is often lacking in the fiction of today.

In the end, the bulk of The Turnaround is about the randomness of life, decisions, choices and repercussions from those choices. Choices get made, and they impact one man differently from another. Some of these choices are made in haste, some are well thought out, but all have a definite end result at some point in time. What Pelecanos shows in The Turnaround is that the result of a decision does not have to have end on the date that it was made. The Turnaround illustrates that sometimes you can still make things right and correct years after a decision has been made.

Mr. Pelecanos has gained some mainstream name recognition with his work on The Wire and there is no reason why he should not join Richard Price and Dennis Lehane on the best-seller list. His writing combines the easy and accurate character development of Price with the eye for attention and detail of Lehane. Of the group of three, my money is on Pelecanos as the strongest and most entertaining storyteller.

I am a massive fan of George Pelecanos and regard his work highly but this book was perhaps his weakest.

The story begins with a racial incident that results in a death then we fast-forward 35 years to today. The participants have continued on with their lives be it prison or working.

Through the actions of one of the characters, they meet up again.

Now, I am all for the sins of the past being revisited and it is a common theme in detective/crime fiction but this novel just didn't really click with me.

The characters tended not to be very well fleshed out and certain events tended to be too pat. The ending was too perfect for my tastes as well.

Maybe I am being too critical, but the author has sent the quality benchmark in his books so high, I feel this book is a "turnaround" from that benchmark.

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