Pelecanos' reputation has been made writing tough action thrillers, with authentic dialogue, all notable for their equally authentic detail. Along the way he has created some memorable characters, and in "Hard Revolution" he chooses to take one of these, Derek Strange, and explore his motivations and the events that shaped him.
This story is told through those who would be most affected by, but least able to influence the momentous events of 1968. The major themes here are, unsurprisingly, racism and drugs, and their effects on the Strange family and a range of others from different backgrounds. What sets Pelecanos apart is a rare ability to write convincingly about different ethnic communities while avoiding stereotyping either the characters or their behaviour, and without slipping into sentimentality. As always, you will come to care deeply about the characters and, as always, period detail is superb, from the cars and clothes to the movies and TV programmes, but as usual with GP it is the music which is memorable - you can almost hear the Soul soundtrack of the book.
There must have been many novels written about America in the 60's, but few can have captured so accurately the feel of the times. This is not strictly an action thriller, although there is enough here to keep fans of the genre happy. Rather, it is a superb commentary on life in America in the late 60's, with much to say on the nature of Family and loyalty, justice and prejudice. Pelecanos has never been better and I cannot recommend this book highly enough
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