A Smooth and Easy Miss

The Man Who Came Uptown - George Pelecanos - (Mullholland)

There is something smooth and easy about the lived in feel of a George Pelecanos book - no matter if it's the first time you're taking a ride with him or if you've been down this road before.

The latest outing from the Emmy nominated writer and producer; The Wire and HBO's The Deuce - and bestselling author - The Man Who Came Uptown - melds a handful of characters diverse life tales and the intersections and crossing of paths. Pelecanos is a master of an easy style of describing the settings that he places his equally comfortable characters in. Once again he treads on familiar ground dropping his folks into the neighborhoods in and around Washington DC.

As he has done in past outings, Pelecanos delivers a depth to even the bit players in every scene, that will have you wondering if there is more than meets the eye to their given piece of the story. Unfortunately here, Pelecanos' writing skills outweigh the story.

The Man Who Came Uptown, has all of the makings of something great; a heady brew of the once gritty streets of DC moving through gentrification, mixed with a crime story set against the back drop of redemption, revenge and unrequited love. At times it comes off as a series of short individual stories that Pelecanos tried to weave together to form a full length novel. The ending falls short, seeming like something that was tacked on in an effort  to pull everything together.