PRAISE FOR THE TURNAROUND : "Yet another gem of urban noir....A beautifully written and thought-provoking novel of crime, friendship, aging and redemption."—Publishers Weekly (starred review) Janet Maslin , New York Times Randy Michael Signor , Chicago Sun-Times Bruce DeSilva , Associated Press
"George Pelecanos is one of the most literary of America
Bruce DeSilva - Associated Press Staff
"Pelecanos does what few, if any, American writers do: He tells the truth. Twain told the truth; Faulkner toyed with the truth; Hemingway told his version of the truth, and Chandler
Randy Michael Signor - Chicago Sun-Times
"[Pelecanos] tells a tight, suspenseful story. And he packs enough of a wallop to put THE TURNAROUND on an express bus of its own."
Janet Maslin - New York Times
George Pelecanos is one of the most literary of America's crime writers, and like most of his books, THE TURNAROUND is more than mere entertainment. This beautifully written novel, rich with carefully wrought characters, is both a fine crime story and a thoughtful exploration of race relations in the lives of ordinary Americans.Associated Press
Pelecanos does what few, if any, American writers do: He tells the truth. Twain told the truth; Faulkner toyed with the truth; Hemingway told his version of the truth, and Chandler certainly told a cold, cynical truth. Pelecanos's truth is from deep in the heart, from places where red blood cells know more than all the sweet, heady words truth usually hides behind.Chicago Sun-Times
[Pelecanos] tells a tight, suspenseful story. And he packs enough of a wallop to put THE TURNAROUND on an express bus of its own.New York Times
George Pelecanos's fine new novel continues the remarkable portrait of this city he has been producing for the past 16 years. The Turnaround is his 15th novel and probably his most accessible. The unnerving violence, often drug-related, that marked many of his earlier books is muted here. The story begins with a racially inspired murder, but in time the old hatreds give way to a quest for forgiveness. It's a mature story, told with easy mastery, and no one who cares about Washington and about excellence in American writing should miss it.
George Pelecanos, the working man's champion among genre authors, is still keeping close neighborhood watch in The Turnaround , alert to signs of the social rot and moral decay that contribute to the generational cycles of urban crime. The home truths he examines here—that bad boys, like good boys, get their values from their fathers, and that fatherless boys are easy criminal prey—are familiar themes of his gritty Washington-based novels. But he has rarely pushed these articles of faith to such painful extremes or seemed so optimistic about the chances for redemption.
As the title implies, redemption lies at the center of Pelecanos's novel as adults try to disentangle themselves from their youthful indiscretions. Some 30 years later, and still bearing the physical scars of those indiscretions, Alex Pappas halfheartedly runs a diner while dealing with the cards life has dealt him when he unexpectedly reunites with his assailants. Though there is potential for forgiveness, one of the assailants is looking to stir up trouble and bring all of them down. Dion Graham delivers a solid performance, providing a smooth-flowing narration with a deep and slightly raspy voice. His inflection and emotional projection help the more sober moments within the story. The only drawback is the similarity of his male characters' voices, which can cause confusion. A Little, Brown hardcover (Reviews, June 30). (Aug.)
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In 1972, three white teenagers drive into a solidly African American neighborhood bent on "rais[ing] a little hell." What follows is tragic: one boy is left dead, another scarred for life, and a young African American is in prison. Thirty years later, two survivors of that fated afternoon accidentally reconnect and explore accommodation. But a third party to these past events has more sinister plans. Crime figures prominently in Pelecanos's latest depiction of life in the grittier streets of Washington, DC, but the author of The Night Gardener has always been more than a writer of crime fiction. Like Richard Price (Lush Life ) and Dennis Lehane (Mystic River ), with whom Pelecanos is often compared, he writes big-hearted novels of life as it is and not as we wish it were. His characters live complicated, often harrowing lives: you care what happens to them. As always, Pelecanos combines generosity of soul with scrupulous attention to detail and an acute sensitivity to the complicated dance of friendship and antagonism between people whose faces wear different colors. A virtue of this fine novel is the author's evident love for his characters, even the lost ones. Enthusiastically recommended for all general collections. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 4/15/08.]
Once again using the ethnic neighborhoods of Washington, D.C., to explore issues of class and race, and the possibility of bridging those gulfs, Pelecanos (The Night Gardener, 2006, etc.) constructs a taut narrative in which the past exerts a seismic pull on the present. The backdrop of the story sends three white teenagers on a reckless 1972 joyride into a black neighborhood, alcohol undermining their better judgment, as they shout racial epithets that ignite retaliation. Black or white, everyone involved finds his life changed (and one ended) because of a mindless clash and its escalation. It isn't until 35 years later that Alex Pappas, who inherited the family's coffee shop from his father and hopes to pass it along to his son, is able to try to reconcile the past with the present, to discover what really happened on that night, to come to terms, to move on. Alex was the boy who had been most reluctant to participate in that fatal joyride, yet he went along rather than resisting. As a surprise visit reopens old wounds, the question is whether a boyhood mistake will continue to haunt him, or whether he can lay the ghosts of the past to rest. "Whatever you did before doesn't matter," says a character. "What matters now is how you make the turnaround." Pelecanos shows the distinction between those capable of making that turnaround and those who can't, while exploring a common humanity that goes deeper than differences of skin color and home turf. Between black and white, there are many shades of gray. Like his kindred spirits who have also written scripts for HBO's The Wire, Pelecanos deserves the sort of popular breakthrough that Richard Price and Dennis Lehane have enjoyed.
Three white teenagers, stoned, drinking, and looking for trouble, drive into an African-American neighborhood, taunt three young black men, and suffer predictable consequences. While character development could be stronger in this well-crafted, author-approved abridgment, listeners will have no difficulty following Pelecanos's gut-wrenching reflection on the results of a moment of teenaged stupidity on the participants, 35 years after the fact. Dion Graham's voice makes every moment feel portentous, every event tremble on the brink of something cataclysmic. At the same time, his smooth, rounded tones are as comforting as curling up under a down comforter on a cold night. Reminiscent of Dennis Lehane's disturbing MYSTIC RIVER, Pelecanos’s novel explores the destructive nature of bigotry, urban blight, and the aftermath of senseless violence. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
