Synopses & Reviews
It was a time when cars came dressed in chrome, white girls followed the Supremes, and a man in Memphis brandished a gun. On the streets of D.C., where once people of all creeds and colors managed to live together, a tide of anger and confusion is taking young men in its wake. In his early twenties, Derek Strange is one of those men, trying to start a career as a rookie cop. But his own brother is on the other side of a divide, and around him a deadly drama is unfolding. Three white men in a Chevy Nova are going to rob a bank. A black man with a knife is going to commit a murder. And then shots ring out in Memphis...
For Derek Strange, for his family, friends, and enemies, this is the time that will make him the man he is eventually going to be. And this is the revolution that has just begun...
Review
"Beautifully written and sociologically astute." The Los Angeles Times
Review
"Written in rich, observant prose...a brilliant study of a society tearing apart...no wonder some observers have pointed to Pelecanos as the kind of thriller writer who should be nominated for a National Book Award." Publishers Weekly
Review
"Pelecanos has been justly celebrated for his noir sensibility and his gritty portraits of the streets of Washington, D.C., but he hasn't been recognized for what may be his greatest achievement: redefining the art of writing serial fiction." Booklist (Starred Review)
Review
"Fans of Derek Strange may enjoy seeing the world-weary, wised-up PI as an impressionable youth. But newcomers should turn to...Soul Circus or...The Big Blowdown for a better introduction to what this man can do. (Grade: B-)" Entertainment Weekly
Review
"[Hard Revolution] offers a blunt introduction to this enduring character, and a potent one....Mr. Pelecanos writes clean, tight, cogent prose with a heartfelt urgency....[I]t packs a serious punch." Janet Maslin, The New York Times
Review
"[N]o one who lives in this city and reads fiction and cares about the world we live in can afford not to read these books. They are reports from front lines that are only a few miles away, unblinking looks at a reality that is all around us..." Patrick Anderson, The Washington Post
Review
"Two cops struggling to do their jobs against the backdrop of a violent uprising: Their paths collide in the middle of a full-fury revolution, in an electrifying climax to the most powerful book yet from George Pelecanos..." Esquire
Review
"Pelecanos has the first-rate writer's ability to entertain you and break your heart on the same page." Malcolm Jones, Newsweek
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"Hard Revolution throbs with explicit detail to its conclusion. And though it's a foregone conclusion, its inevitability grabs the reader by the throat even as it reaches for the heart." New York Daily News
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"For Pelecanos' loyal fans, Hard Revolution will be an essential addition to the repertoire; for the uninitiated, it will serve as an introduction to one of this country's finest writers, no matter the genre." Chicago Sun-Times
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"Hard Revolution is a violent, action-packed page-turner, but at its heart, a character study....Hard Revolution is [Derek] Strange's book, and will be doubly rewarding for readers who learned to love him as a graybeard." Philadelphia Inquirer
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"[T]erse, clean prose, against a soundtrack of period music....Hard Revolution is so loaded with Aretha Franklin, Solomon Burke, Curtis Mayfield and others that a CD is being brought out to accompany the book." San Antonio Express-News
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"Hard Revolution may not shoulder the weight of its big ambitions, but its author still deserves his propers as the ultimate white soulboy storyteller." Newsday
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"Pelecanos stares unflinchingly at hard reality, and his reader cannot look away from the seamy and violent nature of his urban landscape....The result is a novel in which history doesn't just come alive, it resonates." Denver Post
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"Pelecanos, working with almost too much material at times, maintains masterful control over plot and characters. Even with the historical outcome of the plot known, he escalates tensions while softening the edges with characters' emotions." Cleveland Plain Dealer
Review
"Hard Revolution is, more than anything, a study in character development....As usual, Pelecanos is pitch-perfect." Dallas-Ft. Worth Star Telegram
Review
"Fast paced, complex and superbly researched, Hard Revolution plants the reader in the middle of a population run amok, where the major difference between the criminals and the cops is possession of a badge." BookPage
Review
"Pelecanos's description of the era in which Hard Revolution is set is simply first-rate. While it is relatively easy to get the large details right, it is the way that Pelecanos fills in the nooks and crannies of the era that lends this work its air of authenticity." BookReporter.com
Review
"Pelecanos's writing is as polished and exquisitely honed as the guns that wreak havoc in the neighborhoods where his novels are set." USA Today
Synopsis
In this epic showdown from "one of the best crime novelists alive" (Dennis Lehane), police rookie Derek Strange tries to help his brother, a Vietnam vet with a disability pension and a drug problem. But Washington, D.C., like the rest of the country, soon reels from the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Synopsis
In this epic showdown from one of the best crime novelists alive (Dennis Lehane), police officer Derek Strange hunts his brother's killer through a city erupting with rage.
Synopsis
The early history of Derek Strange, first introduced in Right As Rain, is explored here, including Strange's reasons for leaving the police force and becoming a private investigator instead. Set against the backdrop of the turbulent civil rights era culminating in the chaos following the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr. Derek becomes a rookie cop, while his older, idolized brother Dennis returns from Vietnam only to sink into a mire of drugs and crime.
About the Author
George Pelecanos is an independent-film producer, an award-winning journalist, a producer and writer on the HBO hit series The Wire, and the author of a bestselling series of novels set in and around Washington, D.C., where he lives with his wife and children.