Just finished this gritty crime thriller, a recommendation of Ron Mc Clure. Very readable and well told, set in the gritty back streets of Washington D. C. a drug invested, crime laden world, especially in the 1990's, the era of Marion Berry, the mayor who is the obvious model for the mayor in this book. Two buddies, the main protagonists. one Marcus Clay, ex baller, and owner of three or four urban record stores and his buddy and associate, Dimitri Karras, a cocaine addict who just manages to stay above ground. An accident leads to an innocent bystander Eddie Golden picking up a pillow case full of cash, drug money, and running off with it. Dimitri and Marcus get involved because Dimitri knows Eddie's girl friend Donna. Needless to say, the drug lords want the money back, kidnap Eddie, threaten Marcus's business and throw to crooked cop's into the mix, and you get a pretty good picture of DC. I liked the background to the story, the NCAA basketball tournament, as Marcus and his buddies idolize Len Bias, the great player from Maryland. Maryland games are always on the TV in the background, as they get together to watch the tournament in between teenagers being killed during the drug wars. We hear their excitement when Bias gets drafted by the Celtics, as things come together for all, but the book ends with Dimitri about to buy another line of coke, listening with others to the TV as the news announces that Len Bias has just died of a cocaine overdose, just a few days after the draft. A good ending I thought, a direction I figured Pelecanos was going. These two show up in the next book as well, SHAME THE DEVIL, which I have not read but the first chapter is included in this book. I doubt if Dimitri is off the stuff!
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