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`Pared down and light on its feet... writes like a dream... shocks and entertains right up to the bloody finale.' --Joanna Hines, Guardian
Book Description
A stand-alone thriller by an acclaimed writer on The Wire: now a Serpent's Tail Classic with a new foreword by Mark Lawson
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A lean, violent, piece of pulp fiction from the Master,
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This review is from: Shoedog (Paperback)
Shoedog tells the tale of Constantine, a denim-clad drifter straight out of a road movie. He's recruited for a heist, along with an ill-matched group of losers, crooks and working men.If this sounds familiar, it's because it is. The "thieves fall out after a job" story has been done to death, but here Pelecanos offers a twist: what if you get away with the money clean, but then turn to make things right? The story is told through Constantine's eyes, and it's a well-told one: if you have'nt read him before, this is a good place to start. Violent, with great characters, and an excellent sense of place - not just his usual descriptions of Washington DC, but other places like New Zealand - I don't know if he's really been there (I have) but you feel as if he (and his character) have definitely visited. One of the best crime books I've read this year.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good read, but not as good as other work.,
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This review is from: Shoedog (Paperback)
Shoedog is written in the typical fast paced Pelecanos way. Most of his books you finish on the day you start reading them. This one as well. In some of his other work however, for example in 'Hell to Pay', the author also succeeds in building real characters, personalities that stay with you long after the quick read is over. Not so with Shoedog. No depth, a rather superficial plot: it leaves a rather flimsy impression.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Gritty, violent pulp fiction,
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This review is from: Shoedog (Serpent's Tail Classics) (Paperback)
A gritty, violent pulp fiction about a loner-drifter who gets involved in a liquor store heist that doesn't go according to plan from one of the writing team of TV hit, The Wire: Complete HBO Season 1-5 [DVD] [2002].
If you ever find yourself as a character in a work of fiction, it's probably best to avoid hitchhikers. The chances are it's going to turn out very badly for either the driver or the hitchhiker - or both. Constantine is a denim-clad, Marlboro-smoking, drifter and loner with a strong sense of right and wrong who has just returned from a period of travelling around the world and is heading south back home in the US when he is picked up by a man named Polk, driving a muscle car. So what could possibly go wrong? Shoedog is one of the earlier works of George Pelecanos, first published in 1994 and now re-released as part of Serpent's Tail's Classics series, together with a new introduction by Mark Lawson and a new afterword by Pelecanos himself. Certainly it has all the essential ingredients of a classic piece of US crime writing. It's gritty and violent and is set in a world of fast cars, seedy bars and loser-criminals. When Polk tells Constantine that he has to make a short stop in Washington DC, coincidentally where Constantine was brought up, it's no surprise to find that the two become involved in a planned liquor store heist. The criminal gang seem to be more willing than I might have thought to bring the stranger, Constantine, into their confidence giving him a role as one of the two drivers, along with the eponymous Shoedog, a shoe shop salesman named Randolph, with whom Constantine also bonds quickly. For obvious reasons, I don't want to say much more about the plot, but suffice to say that things don't always go as planned. While Constantine's character has both depth and back story, the rest of the players in this story are much less vividly drawn and, apart from the entertaining Shoedog, are pretty cliche stereotypes. But this isn't about characterisation, it's about plot and action. And Pelecanos is adept at developing the style of the book as the story gains pace towards its conclusion. As you might expect from a writer that was to become involved with The Wire, he is particularly attuned to authentic dialogue of the streets. He also gives constant references to the soul funk music that is played in the various bars and cars along the way. It's not the most original of plots, but it's well written and paced and there are some nice twists along the way. As an example of `pulp fiction', then it's certainly a very good one, although I'm not sure that it stands out enough to be called a Classic of its type. But it's the journey rather than the plot destination that makes this an entertaining read.
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