Hell To Pay
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Pelecanos' new book, Hell To Pay, demonstrates that, as a key player in the film production company that creates the quirky movies of the Coen Brothers, he can give that duo a run for their money when it comes to bizarrely fractured narratives and idiosyncratic dialogue. This exhilarating piece marks another appearance for private investigators Derek Strange and Terry Quinn, who tread the meaner streets of Washington in the course of their dangerous work.
An apparently senseless death rocks the capital, and Strange finds himself personally involved in a bitter hunt for the killers. As he closes in, Derek finds the very tenets that guide his existence on the line, and only he can resolve a conflict that involves lacerating self-examination. Strange's wrestling with his personal problems is handled by Pelecanos with all the psychological acuity we expect from him, and the set-pieces are dispatched with the panache that is the author's hallmark:
Potter swung the gun so quickly that it lost its shape in the light. He slashed it across the brow of the man, the blow knocking the cap off his head. The man's hand went to his face, blood seeping through his fingers immediately and he stumbled back against the wall. Potter flipped the gun in the air and caught it on the half turn, so that he held it by the barrel. He moved forward...--Barry Forshaw --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
Set in darkest, downtown Washington, Hell to Pay begins with Quinn and Strange dealing with the usual detritus of the world's most violent city - a bent cop and a missing teenage-girl-turned-hooker - but then a senseless death on a sunny afternoon shakes even Derek Strange's existence. A victim shot down by bullets meant for another; a tragic accident that strikes just too close to home. Strange's grief is all-consuming and he swears to track down and destroy the killers - ghetto style. But as he throws himself deeper and deeper into the hunt, he has to ask questions of himself and his world that he would rather not.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Workmanlike thriller,
By
This review is from: Hell To Pay (Paperback)
This is a good read - no more , no less. I find this author less than inspiring as his characters are very cliched and his plots predictable. I don't find his writing style makes up for these shortcomings but most other reviewers don't seem to share my opinion. He spends too much time writing about music (design the soundtrack first and write a story around it?), his moralising on racial issues is superfluous and a touch condescending and his use of slang is over the top.(By all means use it in dialog but readers don't HAVE to know just how HIP George P. is !)
This is the second in a trilogy with PI Derek Strange and his aide, Terry Quinn, and is a slight improvement on it's predecessor "Right as Rain" as there's some attempt to give more insight into their characters. Pelecanos does't use dialog enough to make this characterisation anything more than superficial but there is plenty of action as the tale unfolds. Both heros have their own cases to work out and pacing is quite good. The ending is well thought out and leads nicely onto the final book in the series. In my opinion the trilogy itself is better than the sum of it's parts. Each story is a stand-alone in it's own right but really you should probably read all three to get the total effect
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another gem from the finest of contemporary US crime writers,
By A Customer
This review is from: Hell To Pay (Hardcover)
The second in the Strange/Quinn series is every bit as good as its predecessor, though this time Pelecanos allows his two storylines to diverge. Here Terry Quinn, the volatile Irish ex-cop, and black P.I. Derek Strange are driven to investigate separate crimes - both of them doing for their own selfish reasons as much as for the victims of the crimes themslves. Quinn's investigation is (as you'd expect)liberally spiced with nerve-racking descriptions of physical violence. To my mind Strange is the more interesting character, a deeply moral man struggling to do right and to set a good example to the inner-city kids on the football team he and Quinn coach. The sense of horror he feel at the climax of his story, as he finds himself unwilling witness to a showdown of his engineering, is a stunning piece of writing.This series is proving every bit as powerful as Pelecanos' earlier D.C. Quartet and, while I still long for the return of alcoholic P.I. Nick Stefanos, you have to admire the man for knowing when to leave his characters be. Pelecanos' powers show no sign of diminishing and, as the recent republication of the "lost" novel Shoedog proves, he is pretty much incapable of writing a dud book. His one weakness is that his female characters are not as fully realised as his male protagonists, but this is a book about men involved in violent situations and about male friendships. If you have any interest in US crime writing then this is as good a place as any to introduce yourself to the Peckinpah of crime fiction.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
It Takes Time to Pay Off,
By Sam "samueltyler" (Reading, Berkshire) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Hell To Pay (Paperback)
The Urban landscape of America's cities is not a pretty one. Drugs are rife and arrive in an unstoppable tide. Some people try to stand above it like Terry Strange a man brought up in the roughest parts of Washington, but trying his best to stay straight as a PI. George P. Pelecanos uses the language of the street to paint his descriptions. It's clear that he knows what goes on in the grimy parts of the city and uses it to infuse a crime novel with character. In places this `Hell to Pay' almost feels like a novelisation of `The Wire' (a show Pelecanos was part of), but lacks the energy that the show possesses.
I find Pelecanos' books like the jazz records that Strange listens to. Having read one or two I started to realise the nuances that play through them. `Hell to Pay' is not a book that jumps straight into the action, or even the main story. It is not until the half way point that a true narrative comes in. The start of the book is all about setting up the story and adding character; this will appear to some people more than others. I found it a little slow, but having read a couple of his books the style is really starting to grow on me. Strange and Quinn are two great characters with as many issues as the people they are investigating and Pelecanos manages to balance their work and home life just right. With an explosive finale the book is certainly worth a read, but you may have to struggle through the first half to get there.
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