George P Pelecanos

On a hot summer afternoon in 1972, three teenagers drove into an unfamiliar neighborhood and six lives were altered forever. Thirty-five years later, one survivor of that day reaches out to another, opening a door that could lead to salvation. But another survivor is now out of prison looking for reparation in any form he can find it. The Turnaround takes us on a journey from the rock-and-roll streets of the 1970s to the changing neighborhoods

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Michael Hudson spends the long days in prison devouring books given to him by the prison's librarian, a young woman named Anna who develops a soft spot for her best student. Anna keeps passing Michael books until one day he disappears, suddenly released after a private detective manipulated a witness in Michael's trial. Outside, Michael encounters a Washington, D.C. that has changed a lot during his time locked up. Once shady storefronts are now trendy...

After returning home from serving in Iraq, Spero Lucas makes a living doing special investigations for a defense attorney and catches the attention of a high-profile crime boss who offers Lucas a high paying job he can't refuse.

Two brothers--rookie police officer Derek Strange, and his older brother, Dennis, a troubled Vietnam veteran--become caught up in the riots engulfing Washington, D.C., in the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Whether they're cops or conmen, savage killers or creative types, gangsters or God-fearing citizens, George Pelecanos' characters are always engaged in a fight for their lives. They fight to advance or simply to survive; they fight against odds, againstenemies, even against themselves. In this, his first collection of stories, the acclaimed novelist introduces readers to a vivid and eclectic cast of combatants. A seasoned claims investigator tracks...

"Washington, D.C., 1972. Derek Strange has left the police department and set up shop as a private investigator. His former partner, Frank "Hound Dog" Vaughn, is still on the force. When a young woman comes to Strange asking for his help recovering a cheap ring she claims has sentimental value, the case leads him onto Vaughn's turf, where a local drug addict's been murdered, shot point-blank in his apartment. Soon both men are on the trail of a ruthless...

With the fall of the Barksdale empire, and the ascent of a new young drug king in Baltimore, McNulty, Bunk and the rest of the detail continue to "follow the money" up the political ladder amidst a hotly contested mayoral campaign. Prez witnesses first-hand the role of inner-city education in the formation of youth as four students, Michael, Namond, Randy and Dukie, face dangerous decisions and adolescent angst in a city rife with the temptations...