Drama City

Drama City by George Pelecanos

Lorenzo Brown has gotten his life back in order. Having recently been released from prison for drug and gang-related crimes, he's now gainfully employed as an officer for the Humane Society, walking the streets of D.C. looking for cases of animal neglect and cruelty. He loves what he does, he's good at it, and he's determined to never return to the lifestyle of his youth that led to his incarceration.

That's not going to be as easy as Lorenzo would like though. Walking the same streets now that he was back when he was selling drugs, constantly surrounded by the people and temptations of his past, Lorenzo discovers just how much willpower and internal strength it takes to truly change who they were, if it's even possible at all.

Drama City is another great example of Pelecanos's writing talent. It's a character-driven story containing characters that are well developed who feel real. Pelecanos has the ability to both showcase the character flaws of those characters he gets his readers to pull for as well as give glimpses into the humanity of the characters acting against them. It's this level of talent that is making him quickly become one of my favorite authors writing today.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆