Customer Reviews

Hell to Pay

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I really enjoyed this second novel in the Derek Strange series. HELL TO PAY is an action novel from beginning to end with a great deal of substance in between. I didn't read any of the Derek Strange books in order. I read this novel after reading SOUL CIRCUS. I found out how Terry Quinn got that scar on his face from his run in with a seemingly larger than life pimp named Worldwide. The character Terry seems a lot more developed in this novel than in SOUL CIRCUS. This novel develops both characters personal lives such that they actually seem more like three dimensional characters. I've yet to read HARD REVOLUTION to find out the connection between Granville Oliver's father and Strange. Granville Oliver is the fictional drug kingpin introduced towards the end of this novel who figures more prominently in SOUL CIRCUS. I found this novel a joy to read it's a serial novel but newcomers to the series can pick up any of the Derek Strange novels and start from any point in the series.

I'm not a big fan of crime fiction, but I had read some good reviews on this story in some Men's magazine and figured I'd pick it up. Thankfully I had the sense to borrow it form the library instead of purchasing it.

"Hell to Pay" was insanely boring. This would be the perfect novel to turn into a Steven Segall movie because it is already lacking a plot. Pelecanos jumps around way too much, and at too many times when he should be fleshing out the story more or adding some more action, which "Hell" is seriously devoid of. It seems like he used this book as a chance to describe the seedier side of Washington and to mention all of the urban hip-hop artists he knows rather than trying to tell an entertaining story.

One of today's finest writers of crime fiction is George Pelecanos. He has previously written the "Washington quartet"-- a group of books, actually historical mysteries, that took place over a number of years and shared characters. His latest series concerns PIs Derek Strange and Terry Quinn. Strange started Strange Investigations and hired Quinn, a retired police officer. I considered the first book in the series, RIGHT AS RAIN, to be one of the best books of last year.
Several separate plots are occurring simultaneously. Strange and Quinn are hired to recover a fourteen year old girl working as a prostitute for Worldwide Wilson, a hardened operative. One of the problems is that the girl does not want to go home. Another plot concerns three homicidal young men who want to knock off a man who owes them money. The man is an uncle to one of the boys playing on Strange's youth football team that he coaches. When the boy becomes involved, Strange and Quinn want vengeance.
HELL TO PAY is another sterling example of what makes George Pelecanos one of the best. He is a master of characters and dialogue. They reflect the highly realistic milieu of the nation's capital where this series takes place. He successfully balances these superb characterizations with a truly riveting plot. The book is also just the right size. Other practitioners of the crime fiction art would do very well to read and learn from this very, very fine writer. One of the best of the year.

If you are feeling down and are looking for a book to pick you up, this is NOT the one. It is a grim and depressing story about the harsh realities of inner city life. Sex, drugs and racism are all a part of this story. Pelecanos portrays two characters, Quinn and Strange, who are trying to do the right thing in a place where right and wrong do not seem to matter much. Both characters are complex and flawed, and amongst the most interesting in all of crime fiction.

The book is well written, and expertly plotted. The conclusion may not satisfy you, but it is memorable if not haunting. Hell to Pay is a top-notch crime novel and I highly recommend it.

There are very few authors who have that result after having read one of their books. He hits the winners list. The story dragged. The switching of viewpoints can be wonderful if done properly. This wasn't one of them. I kept feeling like slapping the main characters and saying "OH just get on with it." The feel of the book was disjointed before I started to skip parts due to sheer boredom. What really suprised me was skipping didn't hurt the feel one bit. The disjointed rating stayed the same. Somehow I don't think that can be classified as good writing. The characters didn't save the day and involve me enough to make me want to read.

I felt like slapping the author when I had to skip what became boring recitations of all the songs he knows. I pray it is all he knows. I would hate to think there is more in store for us. There is a LOT of difference in listening to music, finding it in a movie sound track and reading about it. Save it for the movie if it ever makes it. Read Vachss for how it is suppose to be done and spare us Please.

The story just didn't hold together well enough to avoid me starting the old skip this. Even with all the skipping I did I found I didn't lose much. That says a lot.

I looked at his new one and ran far far away to writers I know I enjoy.

George Pelecanos is deservedly earning a loyal following of folks who like his urban Washington-based stories of crime, drugs, and residents who are sick of it yet can't escape. Pelecanos obviously has a love-hate relationship with his hometown. Yet after reading his books I fear most folks wouldn't want to get near it.

'Hell to Pay' is standard Pelecanos material. His characterizations are uniformly excellent, the prose is intelligent yet accessible, and he really captures the 'feel' of the urban ghettos in and around Washington. In this book we have a couple of private investigators, both former cops, involved with coping with brutal crimes close to their hearts. Both wrestle with the temptation of revenge. The reader has to wait until the last pages to know if these guys turn into vigilantes or manage to keep their own heads above the law.

Yet 'Hell to Pay' is not a perfect read. While very enjoyable I found the plot to be surprisingly ... unengaging, or at least much of it fairly predictable. Maybe I am just too much of a fan of George Pelecanos and I expect too much, or his style has become simply too familiar? Regardless, 'Hell to Pay' is still a very good book.

Bottom line: not a classic, but a fine example of contemporary American crime fiction.

George Pelecanos drags the reader into the heart of Washington D.C. and changes a "statistic" into a real, living, breathing child with a future that is torn from him, his life callously ended when some young men try to even up a score with a gun.
The young boy was a football player on Derek Strange's team, a team aimed at giving at risk kids some goals and guidelines and encouragement to step beyond their perceived boundaries. Pelecanos creates a "noir" novel, complete with the music and language and thoughts of all those involved. It is gritty, tense and edgey, with a slight glimmer of hope and a future.

This audio book, like many of those by "Brilliance Audio" is difficult to listen to...especially while driving. I listen to a book a week, and the only ones I've encountered with bad quality are by this company. The sound quality is bad, and the dialect impossible to understand. Buy the book, skip the audio.

It took me a while to get on the George Pelecanos bandwagon, but with "Hell to Pay" I am in the fan club.

He is a writer of substance in the Michael Connelly, Robert Crais, Dennis Lehane, Lee Child, James W. Hall category.

"Hell to Pay" is the second Derek Strange/Terry Quinn novel. It is set in the murkier regions of Washington. The malaise of the Washington the media does not cover is addressed and exposed.

A terrific cat and mouse that produces surprising allies. Every guess you will make will turn out wrong.

The soundtrack from WPGC reverberates throughout the book, and the pop culture references are everywhere.

A spectacular series, not to be missed.

I've lived in DC for 20 years, my family is from here, and Pelecanos is only the second author I've come across who writes about the DC that I know and recognize (the other is Edward Jones, check out his story collection "Lost in the City" if you can find it). In his tenth book, middle-aged PI Derek Strange and younger white ex-cop Terry Quinn return for their second tour of DC's mean streets following Right as Rain.

If the theme of that last book was racism, this one's is hopelessness. The two main stories revolve around teenagers who have lost any sense of hope and whose existence has spiraled into ugliness from which they are incapable of breaking free. One of these stories follows three boys as they peddle hydro (pot), boost cars, bet o dogfights, listen to tunes, eat fast food, and eventually commit murder. The trio are emblematic of many kids who grow up in the ghetto, with no fathers, no guidance, and ultimately no hope. All they have is their street rep and a resignation that they will die young. When they murder someone close to Strange, he races to identify and track them down before the police do. The other story revolves around a nasty pimp (as if there's any other kind) who specializes in teenage talent, and what happens when Quinn helps a prostitution support group try and extract one of the girls and take her home.

The antidote to this theme of hopelessness is Strange and Quinn's coaching a neighborhood Pee-Wee football team where they try to teach the boys the right way to live and to see that life holds possibilities for them. Of course, as in all Pelecanos' books, there's a running dark tone that lets the reader know there are few happy endings in this world. Mixed in with the two "cases" are the duo's personal struggles, the main one being Strange's attempt to come to terms with his relationship with his office managed Janine and her son. Quinn, meanwhile, struggles with his own inner rage and embarks on a new relationship. As in the previous book Strange and Quinn make a nice odd couple as they verbally spar with one another about race, although Pelecanos has subtly made them more comfortable with each other.

If you've enjoyed Pelecanos' previous books, you're likely to enjoy this one as well. It's a definite step up from Right as Rain, and full of all the usual Pelecanos details about music, cars, and sports.