Rating: 
Summary: George can do it all
Review: I read "Right as Rain" two years ago, then read "Hell to Pay" and went on to "Soul Circus." Mr Pelecanos is just what others proclaim him to be: a favorite read. Here, in "Hard Revolution," he takes us back in the day to when Derek Strange, connoiseur of R&B, rock and blues, a wealth of information on sports, and an Orwellian 'hard man,' began. As a young boy he is, like all of us, influenced by well meaning but nevertheless flawed people, but Derek is able to love those flawed people and learn from their virtues as well as their flaws. He doesn't give up on the message because the messenger has clay feet. He looked up to his older brother for years but even as a youngster he sees his brother making bad choices. When years later Dennis is murdered, Derek is a Police Officer taking it on the chin from white racists as well as 'his own people,' some of whom have pegged him as an 'Uncle Tom.' But he promises to right his brother being wronged, even if by doing so he must give up some of his accomplishments. Doing what he has to do may be mutually exclusive to the life he now leads. Passion and the tension bubble and boil. Yet Pelecanos is able to do what few others have done in the novel genre: he shows the beauty of the race, either race, along with individual flaws. Because these are heady conflicts that we fought then in 1968 and now 35 years later. And a man or woman on the other side of the racial divide can be silenced with an albeit appropriate criticism of a brother, or of a sister's criticism of a caucasian man. Yet Pelecanos has his hero apologizing when his partner points out 'he only had to ask' about an issue that Derek 'thought he knew it all.'There are African American men who are Homeric, yet flawed, and there are Caucasian men who are Neanderthals, but Homeric. Excellent book. A book Pelecanos had to write to make sense of his assortment of characters 30 years later. (Man, how does he dredge up those songs from the early '60's? It's like a trip down Route 66 in your '57 Chevy with the top down and three on the tree.) 5 stars. Larry Scantlebury
Rating:
Summary: A great crime novel wonderfully set in a historical context
Review: I'm a huge Pelecanos fan and this book further solidifies my admiration for this exceptional writer. I can't imagine that any reader who enjoys crime fiction wouldn't love this book. It brings two major components that make it so outstanding - a well spun crime story and a context of historical significance. The crime story involves the prequel for one of Pelecanos' main characters in some of his earlier work, Derek Strange, and lets us know how he came to be the private detective he is in those books. In this story, Derek is a pioneering young black police officer in Washington, D.C. in 1968 before and after Martin Luther King's killing and the subsequent civil unrest. He winds up working two big cases with a veteran detective, one involving Derek's brother. He works the other case also with his young white partner. There are many racial currents in this book and, in my opinion, the author handles these very well and completely without any phoniness. There are good and bad black guys, white guys, Greeks, Jews, etc. The story lines are intriguing and the word pictures the author paints put the reader right in the scene. I'd rate this book right up with The Big Blowdown as one of Pelecanos' best efforts (A Firing Offense is my favorite). Both of these fine books have an earlier historical setting that he uses to great advantage. So, I'd say if you haven't read any of Pelecanos' work, this book would be a fine place to start. And, I'll bet that if you start, you'll enjoy much more of his work.
Rating:
Summary: A good place to start
Review: If you are new to Pelecanos books, 'Hard Revolution' is a perfect place to start. Series hero Derek Strange gets more depth, and characterization in this 'prequel to the three earlier volumes in this series. Pelecanos transcends the mystery/thriller genre with each succeeding outing. The writing is masterful, as good as the best American writers working today in any genre. This should come with a warning label: 'May cause loss of sleep because it is impossible to put down.' I also recomend "A Tourist in the Yucatan"
Rating:
Summary: deep look at life in the ghetto circa late 1960s
Review: In 1968 Derek Strange joins the DC Metro Police Department even as his two best pals from his childhood, the Dominic and Angelo Martini accuse him of selling out to the man. While his soul brothers make a living with stealing and scoring with easy women, Derek struggles to stay on the legal high road while unrest grows in the black community. Avoiding being an Uncle Tom yet doing what he feels is right becomes even more difficult for Derek when his older brother Naval Reservist Dennis is addicted to drugs while encouraged by homicidal Alvin Jones and his cousin Kenneth Willis. As the Reverend King leads peaceful civil disobedience rallies that eventually lead to his assassination and rioting in the cities, Derek has doubts that he chose the right path almost a decade ago when as a teen he decided to go straight. This prequel is an interesting deep looks at life in the ghetto especially on African-Americans before and after the King assassination. The story line is incredible when it showcases the criminal element planning and conducting robberies with the civil rights movement in the backdrop. Though the days before that fatal moment in Memphis seem disassociated with the King murder, the aftermath is brilliantly described as crime becomes the norm and anarchy rules whether it is a killing machine like Alvin or a straight shooter like Derek Strange. This is a fabulous work that brings home a bygone era through a sociology lens in which George Pelecanos is at his best painting the characters living in the traumatic landscape. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: excellent
Review: In HARD REVOLUTION, George Pelecanos takes Derek Strange (hero of his three previous books) back in time to age 13, and then up through his early 20s to 1968. Much of the book involves the choices that Derek and his older brother Dennis make, and by extension, choices that face young economically disadvantaged men in the inner cities. Derek, after being caught shoplifting, vows to stay on the straight and narrow and eventually becomes a cop. Dennis, who does have good intentions, falls in with two friends planning a crime spree.
Pelecanos is often categorized as merely a "crime" writer, but let's give him more credit than that. Who else is writing with such clear-eyed intensity about the difficulty that black and white have understanding each other? This theme is explored further in RIGHT AS RAIN and the other Derek Strange novels. Derek's father works under a white boss at a diner...the two men have a long relationship but are still awkward with each other. Derek finds that his white partner, despite his liberalism, doesn't really understand the experience of being a young black man.
Derek commits a violent act in HARD REVOLUTION, during the climactic riots after the Martin Luther King assassination. This act, which resonates in the earlier Strange novels, prompts him to find a more meaningful way to be a part of his community and really changes his entire life. Pelecanos has come to own DC the way Connelly and Crais owns LA and Parker owns Boston....Highly recommended, but try RIGHT AS RAIN first.
Rating:
Summary: Back to the 60's with Derek Strange
Review: Much as "The Big Blowdown" took us back into the past of another set of Pelecanos' characters, "Hard Revolution" introduces us to the Sixties in the company of Derek Strange. Though not as searing as some of the DC-based crime novels in his body of work so far, "Hard Revolution" is a strong novel you won't want to miss--especially if you've read the other Derek Strange novels.
Rating:
Summary: Back to the 60's with Derek Strange
Review: Much as "The Big Blowdown" took us back into the past of another set of Pelecanos' characters, "Hard Revolution" introduces us to the Sixties in the company of Derek Strange. Though not as searing as some of the DC-based crime novels in his body of work so far, "Hard Revolution" is a strong novel you won't want to miss--especially if you've read the other Derek Strange novels.
Rating:
Summary: The Music...
Review: Probably not another novel anywhere that features Link Wray and the Raymen playing bars in Washington, D.C. in 1959...
Rating:
Summary: hard times in Black America
Review: Rebeccasreads recommends HARD REVOLUTION as a sobering, atmospheric & engrossing read of life from an African-American family's perspective during a distant time, when life was different. HARD REVOLUTION is exactly that, with a hair-raising ending that'll have you on the edge of your seat!
Rating:
Summary: Pelecanos gets better with each outing
Review: The writing is the best I have read in the crime genre in years, and the characters are drawn perfectly. Each new addition to his resume seems to add something amazing, surprising and interesting. Pelecanos is not only the best writer in the genre, he is probably one of the best American authors working today - period. Everything is fresh, and the story crackles with action on each page. For sheer entertainment value it is unbeatable. The plot is tight, the background realistic and the pace never slows. Not a boring passage in 400 pages.
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