Shoedog (Serpent's Tail Classics) [Paperback]

`Pared down and light on its feet... writes like a dream... shocks and entertains right up to the bloody finale.' --Joanna Hines, Guardian

A stand-alone thriller by an acclaimed writer on The Wire: now a Serpent's Tail Classic with a new foreword by Mark Lawson

Constantine is a drifter with a lot of miles behind him, a lot more ahead and plenty of jobs in between that never showed up on anyone's books. Back in his home town, he hitches a ride on a bright spring morning with a little man named Polk. There's one stop Polk needs to make, and it changes Constantine's life forever. Like the kind of cars they don't make anymore and the kind of songs they don't sing, Shoedog has the style, rhythm and muscle of a classic.

WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY MARK LAWSON AND A NEW AFTERWORD BY GEORGE PELECANOS 'THE COOLEST WRITER IN AMERICA' GQ Constantine is a drifter with a lot of miles behind him, a lot more ahead and plenty of jobs in between that never showed up on anyone's books. Back in his home town, he hitches a ride on a bright spring morning with a man names Polk. There's one stop Polk needs to make, and it changes Constantine's life forever. Like the kind of cars they don't make anymore and the kind of songs they don't sing, Shoedog has the style, rhythm and muscle of a classic. 'Pelecanos is a straight shooter; no wastage, words made to count' Guardian 'For some time George Pelecanos has been the best-kept secret in crime fiction, maybe all fiction. His stories have always been powerful tales of character and survival that grip the mind and the heart' Michael Connelly 'A gritty story of redeption and revenge that is utterly gripping from beginning to end' Maxim

George Pelecanos was born in Washington, D.C. in 1957. He worked as a line cook, dishwasher, bartender, and woman's shoe salesman before publishing his first novel in 1992. He has since written fourteen crime novels set in and around Washington, D.C. and was a writer, producer and story editor on the acclaimed TV series The Wire. He lives with his wife and three children in Maryland.