The Big Blowdown

In the quartet of novels about life in Washington DC of which The Big Blowdown is chronologically the first, George Pelecanos intelligently breaks down the thin barriers between the noir thriller and the character-driven novel of embattled masculinity. In the 1930s, Pete Karras and Joey Recevo are friends, backing each other up in street fights round the projects. Both go to war and come back changed; Joey is capable of buying into the criminal subculture and cutting adrift from community and Pete, almost fatally, isn't. He ends up betrayed and crippled and, more than ever, obsessed with doing the right thing himself and making Joey do right again... The observation here of small immigrant subcultures, and different kinds of honour, and the getting of wisdom about things as disparate as a good sharp knife for cooking and killing and the purer sorts of jazz, is stunning. He knows what people are doing whether they are Greek cooks learning about African-American food or cops chasing a serial killer. Above all, though, this is a novel about flawed people making bad choices and worse ones; Pelecanos's sense of place and period is always in the service of his subtle grasp of psychology and his passionate moral commitment. --Roz Kaveney

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Entertaining but strangely inept, more like a screenplay than a novel. - Rated
Much of what the other reviewers say is correct, but I can't quite agree with the praise for Pelecanos' cultural references etc. The period exposition is hugely clunky, almost like he used "cut and paste" to insert TV, movie and music references in order to establish the time. Entirely nonsensical passages where characters simply reference the names and casts of movies through-out the novel, it's unnatural within the flow of the tale and seems weak.

The endless repetition of sentences with regards to the characters smoking habits is also bizarre. Hardly a single page passes without Karras "putting fire to a cigarette" or Recevo "blowing into his packet so a cigarette popped out" -- dozens and dozens of times. It's more like Pelecanos is expanding a screenplay than writing a novel.

I was slightly amazed at the unabashed way he telegraphed the finale, too. It was so patently expressed for maybe seventy pages before it happened and so cheesily prepared for ["tell him I love him!" "Tell her there's a letter in my locker . . ."] that I felt certain it was a ploy -- but it wasn't, it was really that simple. I know this is a hallmark of the film genre Pelecanos is aping, but within a novel such heavy-handed sentimentality reads fairly crass.

So it's a good noir anyway, but expect to feel slightly played.

Pelecanos delivers again - Rated
George Pelecanos is one of the finest crime writers around. I agree with a previous reviewer that he combines classic noir style with a real insight into the dynamics of a multi-cultural society. I loved this book. The characterisation is fantastic, the pace is relentless and the plot intelligent. The Big Blowdown brings classic crime writing bang up-to-date.

James Ellroy meets Raymond Chandler's Greek cousin! - Rated
Simply superb - the best novel I've read in years.

This is like early Ellroy, before he went virtually unreadably staccato - pure noir, wisecracking, big city street life, with a bit of Greek and DC to make it refreshingly different.

This is the first Pelecanos I've read, and I'm now going to devour his other books - on the basis of the Big Blowdown, I won't be disappointed.

Powerful and Dark. Utterly Brilliant - Rated
I never thought I would find another author to rival James Ellroy - but I've found the only real contender.

This novel starts slowly then interleaves several character-driven stories leading to an unforgetable climax. Pelecanos clearly loves his tarnished characters and they inhabit a brilliantly realised, seedy Washington of the 1940's.

This is the sort of noir where you can smell the cigarette smoke and taste the bourbon. I read it in two days and I've just ordered all his other novels.

Superlatives galour!

simply brilliant - Rated
pelecanos captures the atmosphere of post war washington and portrays the characters against an emerging social structure. The hero is a typical "noir" character, with understated violent tendencies, coupled with a strong belief in what is "right". Typically flawed, the hero, Karris, takes us on a journey through his brief life from childhood, in a poor, immigrant neighbourhood, culminating in his inevitable destiny. Suviving superbly described horrors in the pacific theatre of the 2nd world war, Pelecanos conveys, via Karris, the problems faced by the non "american" population of washington as they attempt to forge a new working life in the USA, after the war. The plot is sufficiently diverse without becoming confusing, and I found myself sympathising with the characters and their dilemmas. I have read Mosley, Burke etc and found this to be the most refreshing novel in a long time. Bring on the rest of the DC Quartet.