PELECANOS'S novel Hard Revolution features Washington DC African American detective Derek Strange. The first part of the book is set in 1959 against the historical backdrop of Mack Parker's lynching in Mississippi.
The second is set in 1968 in the days leading up to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. The great strength of the novel is Pelecanos's knowledge of place, history and culture. The action is set in Washington DC on the streets where Pelecanos was raised and he gives chapter and verse on those local neighbourhoods.
Throughout there is a conscious engagement with African American history and there are numerous pop culture references.
But does Pelecanos know his characters as well as the geographical, historical and cultural spaces that they inhabit? Pelecanos, a white author, takes on the highly charged task of representing different ethnicities.
Too often, Pelecanos seems to be writing less about Strange and more about strangers.
Hard Revolution by George Pelecanos is published in hardback by Orion priced £12.99.
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