Chris Flynn has always chosen his own path so despite a good family life he ends up in juvenile detention.
Much of the book takes place in Pine Ridge, the detention centre where Chris meets friends and enemies, all from different backgrounds.
Upon his release his father Thomas employs him and his friend Ben in his flooring business but the duo face a moral dilemma when they find a bag of cash....
There is a real depth to the characters here, Chris and his fellow reformed delinquents all have a real feeling to them but it's the relationship between Father & Son that's the axis of the story.
The pace slows terribly in the middle of the book but the heat gets turned up when the bad guys appear leading to the emergence of an unlikely hero in the fantastic finale.
It's easy to see why so much praise is heaped on Pelecanos because the quality of the writing is at the top end of the crime fiction genre and although I did find myself losing interest about half way through, the whole feel of the book compelled me to continue and I'm very glad I did.
Ric's Rating: 73%
I love this guy's work. His stuff is "quieter" than lots of the thriller writers out there, but "quieter" in a good way. Nice to see him getting a punt on here, Ricky. Good work.
ReplyDeleteThanks Michael,
ReplyDeleteYes the tone was a welcome change although he could have spiced the middle section up a bit. It took too long for the baddies to appear, other than that it's great stuff.