レビュー要約

• 都市犯罪小説としての緊張感と、人生をやり直せるかという主題が評価されている。暴力の後に残る痛みを、人物同士の距離感から描く点が印象に残る。

レビュー

• Superb writing

  I'd never heard of George Pelacanos until I read a review in a newspaper which rated it one of the thrillers of the year. And I have to say that critic was absolutely right. Pelacanos seems to have a cult following but is still very low profile. In fact I found an old pile of his books buried in the corner of Waterstones! Can't understand why. The Turnaround is a very simple but very evocative tale of a childhood incident and the repercussions years later. Sounds cliched but in fact it's totally original and the story wraps itself around you like a cold, dark night in Washington DC.

• Tremendous book

  Wow, what a book. I didn't want it to end and I want to about these characters hopefully in future books. Pelecanos is at the top of his game. Every new book is a cause for celebration. I tried to read this book slowly but that never works with my favorite authors. I have read all of his books, enjoyed his writing on "The Wire" and looked forward to getting this book...and now I am done. WAHHHHH. He certainly understands so much about the nature of urban problems. I loved this book because it was ultimately about redemption, forgiveness, the stupidity of youth, and the balance of joy and pain. On a personal note, it was kind of spooky for me to read because I remember 1972 so clearly growing up in NYC. I was 19. He captured the mood of the times. I loved it that he included the Stones in the book. I did see the Stones at Madison Square Garden with Stevie Wonder in 1972. I remember that we had to send in postcards to be part of a lottery in order to be able to buy tickets. I believe "Exile" came with postcards in the album. I too sat and read the liner notes and studied the art while listening to the album. Pelecanos even described my situation at home. My mom died of breast cancer and my dad remarried and everything became hard for me. How can an author write so well that the reader relives their youth? Yet he does it and does it well. Then he segues to the present and the reader is now relating to the same character years later because the reader is also older. Another freaky moment is that his characters were the brothers Alex and Matthew and I have two art students who are brothers with the same names. Thank you Mr. Pelecanos. Not only did you write an amazing story with fantastic story arcs, believable characters who bring compassion to the reader, you hit some very personal nerves in this reader. Thank you. If I were the new president I would want you on my committee regarding urban matters. You really understand the problems and why they happen. Great book.

• Four Stars

  A

• Strong story with very few weaknesses

  I liked The Turnaround. It wasn't an effective mystery, but I don't think it was meant primarily as a mystery, and it succeeded pretty well as a tale of suspense. I cared about the characters and I wanted to see how things would turn out for them. I especially appreciated the lack of stereotypically idiotic plot points that would have been in a book like this if a lesser author had written it. In dumb novels, smart, successful people do incredibly dumb things and will do even dumber things to cover them up, and it is trivially easy to take advantage of them. That does happen, but not normally. Successful people often earned their success by not being stupid and impulsive, and they have resources available to them that the would-be predator generally does not. Contrast this with Tripwire , which is full of such plot contrivances. My only real complaint is that the characters are a little too simple. They're good or evil, or just plain dumb. There are shades of gray, but the author's moral view is a little too obvious and it gets in the way of making the characters real and complex. Still, it's not terrible in this regard, and it's well worth reading.

• Have I been here before?

  While I read this quickly and with enjoyment..there was an element of deja-vu. Denis Lehane's Mystic River seemed to have left more than a tide mark on the narrative structure used here..but otherwise it was a characteristically effective Pelecanos novel. Well plotted with the usual devices of popular music used as an aspect to create both context and character.

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