I just finished the book, and I’m trying to further understand the ending. Can anyone provide some explanation? There is so little online about this!
Spoilers below:
- Polk is Delia’s father
- Delia is/was married to Grimes
- The lady in the blue housecoat is Constantine’s Mother, but how is she related to all of this? Why was she in the house? Or is he seeing things because he’s about to die?
Help! Thanks!
Lately, I have been into urban crime novels.
Started with Richard Price "Lush Life", loved the elegant language and sharp dialogue, but found that there was too little happening. I could read "Clockers" one day, but am afraid it might be too slow for me.
Carried on with three books by George Pelecanos ("Right as rain", "Hell to pay", "Soul Circle"). He had the characters and scenery, dialogue was alright, but overall I found the style a bit too repetitive.
Now I followed with two books by Elmore Leonard ("Swag" and "Stick"). He's clearly a master of dialogue and the scenery was very entertaining, a bit less naturalistic than the other twos maybe. I ordered a couple more by him, but think, I may want to put something in between.
I'm open to any suggestion, it can be police procedural, can be more or less naturalistic, more or less fun, can be from the 80s or 2000s, more suspense or more humour or more etc. But important: gritty inner-city novels, hard boiled dialogue, modern noir, and writing at least solid craftsmanship.
(Others that I already know of, but don't feel right now or already know most of them: Chester Himes, Deon Meyer, Iceberg Slim, Claude Brown, and, of course, the classics like Dashiel Hammett, though this is a bit too old for what I'm looking for.)
I'll preface this by saying that I know George Pelecanos wrote for The Wire all the way through.
I was reading a book by Pelecanos published in late '97 called King Suckerman where the main antagonist is an openly homosexual black man named Wilton Cooper. Both his modus operandi and laconic manner of speaking are remarkably similar to Omar Little. He also has a much younger sexual partner in crime in the book who he becomes very protective of.
Given that the show first aired less than 5 years after this book came out, I was wondering if Wilton Cooper was one of, admittedly several, influences on Omar's writing.
Anyone else read that book and notice the similarities? Any other similarities to The Wire you found in Pelecanos books?
I'm the author of eighteen novels, the most recent of which is WHAT IT WAS, and am a writer/producer of The Wire and Treme.
Thanks, everyone. I tried to answer as many questions as I could, and they were good ones. But I've gotta go...my barber awaits. GP
Big Pelecanos fan. Hard to pick a favourite from what I've read so far. I believe it was Drama City that got me in to his work.
Shame the Devil is probably my favourite, though I love the Quinn/Strange series and The Night Gardener as well.
David Simon and George Pelecanos wrote and produced The Wire. Their latest show is about abuse and exploitation in the porn industry.
While it may not the best show for a recovering porn addict, this interview is worth a listen. The writers strongly condemn porn. I'm cautiously optimistic that this show will shift the conversation surrounding porn and wake some people up.
http://www.cbc.ca/radio/q/monday-sept-11-2017-jessie-reyez-david-simon-and-more-1.4280567/why-david-simon-and-george-pelecanos-exposed-the-porn-industry-in-the-deuce-1.4280579
