a delight--terse, well-written with a subtext of local history and race relations in the Balto-DC area that is quite accurate. The characters are so real, they seem like well-worn shoes, both comfortable and useful. I'd read it again in a heartbeat. Pelecanos is an American master, aside from his work on Treme and The Wire...

This mystery from a writer for "The Wire" reads more like a screenplay than a novel. The street scene seems authentic and the author's opinions are OK, but the descriptions are too padded for a novel and the plot is somewhat predictable.