George Pelecanos - Drama City (2005)
Reviewed by David J. Montgomery
Author George Pelecanos is an enigma, an educated man who writes with the rhythm of the streets; a white man who writes about black characters with insight, authenticity and empathy. Although he lives in Suburban Maryland, the District of Columbia is his emotional and artistic home. An acclaimed novelist, he has also dedicated himself in recent years to writing for television.
From the beginning of his publishing career, starting with 1992’s A Firing Offense, Pelecanos has distinguished himself as an original in the crime fiction genre, bringing a fresh voice, keen insight and compulsively readable style to bear on thirteen books, the latest of which is Drama City, out this month from publisher Little, Brown.
As with all of his works, Pelecanos’ latest is set in Washington, D.C., America’s seat of power and influence. This is not the Washington of the influential, though, the marble and majesty that tourists flock to see. Rather it’s the enclaves of the poor and working class, the back alleys and side streets where crime is rampant, the streets are mean and the living is anything but easy.
In short, Pelecanos writes about real life, not as Hollywood or the publicity machines portray it, but as it is actually lived by people every day. His stories aren’t “ripped from the headlines,” as one popular television program likes to boast; his characters would be lucky to get a paragraph on page four of the Metro section.
Pelecanos’ books have been grouped into three loose series so far, with Drama City the possible start of a fourth. His recent works (Right as Rain, Hell to Pay, Soul Circus and Hard Revolution) featured a biracial team of private investigators pursuing the cases of the city’s downtrodden and forgotten. Tense and exciting stories, they nonetheless maintained the tradition of sharp social commentary the author began early in his career.
The past couple of years he has also been working in a different arena, taking on writing and producing duties for HBO’s Baltimore-based crime series, The Wire. Regarded by many critics and viewers as the best-written show on television and a superb exemplar of the genre, Pelecanos has utilized his considerable gifts for plotting, character and dialogue to good effect in that medium as well.
Drama City is something of a departure for the author, featuring a strong woman as one of the book’s two protagonists, the first time Pelecanos has essayed such a prominent female character. Rachel Lopez is a probation officer, a hard woman with a drinking problem, who nevertheless shows compassion and empathy for the ex-cons she is charged with minding.
Lorenzo Brown, one of Lopez’s clients, is trying to leave his drug-ridden past behind him, pouring himself into this job as an animal control officer. He is a strong and convincing character, and his interactions with Lopez are beautifully written and nuanced.
With a smaller scope than some of his previous books, Drama City works on a more personal level. Its tale of the troubled lives of ordinary people is moving and effective. Watching these basically good people trying their best to succeed in a difficult environment makes for a very compelling story.
Readers who are already fans of Pelecanos will find this to be yet another entertaining novel in what is developing into a remarkable career. Those who have not yet had the chance to read his books are in store for an excellent, accessible introduction to the work of one of America’s finest novelists.
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