Soul Circus

Derek Strange & Terry Quinn #3

by George P. Pelecanos

A young woman is brutally murdered and PIs Strange and Quinn are forced to confront their own part in the crime. Private Investigator Derek Strange and his partner, Terry Quinn, are running a PI business in the seedy underbelly of Washington DC are approached by a young man asking them to find his girlfriend who has gone missing. And so Strange and Quinn find her. Just another day? Not quite. In the grimy underworld inhabited by Strange, nothing is that simple. For Strange and Quinn's efforts have led to a young mother being brutally murdered - a devastating discovery that causes them both to question the morality by which they live. And yet at the same time they need to continue the search for another missing girl, a teenage runaway who shows up in a porn video. And who hasn't been seen since. Bleak, gritty and moving, SOUL CIRCUS superbly brings to life the devastating story of life and death in Washington's black ghettos.

Genres: Crime, Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Mystery Thriller, Detective, Noir

Paperback

First published February 3, 2003

About the author

George Pelecanos was born in Washington, D.C., in 1957. He worked as a line cook, dishwasher, bartender, and woman's shoe salesman before publishing his first novel in 1992.

Pelecanos is the author of eighteen novels set in and around Washington, D.C.: A Firing Offense, Nick's Trip, Shoedog, Down by the River Where the Dead Men Go, The Big Blowdown, King Suckerman, The Sweet Forever, Shame the Devil, Right as Rain, Hell to Pay, Soul Circus, Hard Revolution, Drama City, The Night Gardener, The Turnaround, The Way Home, The Cut, and What It Was. He has been the recipient of the Raymond Chandler award in Italy, the Falcon award in Japan, and the Grand Prix du Roman Noir in France. Hell to Pay and Soul Circus were awarded the 2003 and 2004 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes. His short fiction has appeared in Esquire, Playboy, and the collections Unusual Suspects, Best American Mystery Stories of 1997, Measures of Poison, Best American Mystery Stories of 2002, Men from Boys, and Murder at the Foul Line. He served as editor on the collections D.C. Noir and D.C. Noir 2: The Classics, as well as The Best Mystery Stories of 2008. He is an award-winning essayist who has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, GQ, Sight and Sound, Uncut, Mojo, and numerous other publications. Esquire called him "the poet laureate of the D.C. crime world." In Entertainment Weekly, Stephen King wrote that Pelecanos is "perhaps the greatest living American crime writer." Pelecanos would like to note that Mr. King used the qualifier "perhaps."

Pelecanos served as producer on the feature films Caught (Robert M. Young, 1996), Whatever, (Susan Skoog, 1998) and BlackMale (George and Mike Baluzy, 1999), and was the U.S. distributor of John Woo's cult classic, The Killer and Richard Bugajski's Interrogation. Most recently, he was a producer, writer, and story editor for the acclaimed HBO dramatic series, The Wire, winner of the Peabody Award and the AFI Award. He was nominated for an Emmy for his writing on that show. He was a writer and co-producer on the World War II miniseries The Pacific, and is currently at work as an executive producer and writer on David Simon's HBO dramatic series Treme, shot in New Orleans.

Pelecanos lives with his family in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 4 out of 5]

Derek Strange and Terry Quinn book 3: Another very well crafted look at the underbelly of American life, through the eyes of a Black private investigator(PI), of a White PI, two gang lords and their henchmen, and a woman and her child caught in the middle. George Pelecanos captures the urban underbelly with a realism and more importantly humanity that I have seldom read anywhere else, similar to his TV work on The Wire: A Dramatic Series for HBO. 8 out of 12, for all three of his books I have now read!

2012 read

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Derek Strange is hired to find evidence to keep Granville Oliver from getting the chair. Terry Quinn is helping his girlfriend find a missing girl. How will their cases intersect with a brewing turf war between two gangs?

In this Strange and Quinn outing, Pelecanos explores the gang life in Washington DC even deeper than he has in the past and Strange and Quinn are drowning in it. Strange is tracking down evidence that could keep a known gangster alive out of guilt for killing the man's father when he was a cop. Quinn's helping his girlfriend Sue Tracy find a missing girl. Dewayne Durham and Horace McKinley are heading toward a confrontation that can only end in violence. Dewayne's loser brother Mario touches a spark to a trail of gunpowder with an act of thoughtless violence that sends everything into motion.

Soul Circus has all the Pelecanos hallmarks: pop culture references, philosophical talk about the nature of guns, violence, and life in DC, and of course, Nick Stefanos. Things start getting tense once Mario finds himself in the soup and they don't let up until a couple bloody moments near the end.

The antagonists in Soul Circus are among Pelecanos' best I've read so far. Dewayne's crew and McKinley's crew are all much more developed than the heavies in most detective fiction. Monkey's feelings toward Juwan and his reluctance to harm the kid and Dewayne's feelings for his loser brother made the gangsters seem very real to me. Foreman and his code of ethics and love for his girlfriend made him surprisingly deep for a gunrunner, much more than I thought originally. Strange and Quinn were true to themselves throughout.

Strange and Quinn don't actually accomplish much in this book but the detecting is there, as is the violence. Too bad Pelecanos hasn't written more Derek Strange books since I only have one left.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Soul Circus is the third novel in the five-novel Derek Strange/Terry Quinn series. The others in order consist of Right as Rain, Hell to Pay, Hard Revolution, and What It Was. Strange has been a private detective for twenty years or so after quitting the D.C. Metro Police. He is working on gathering evidence on behalf of capital defendant Granville Oliver, a drug dealer and gang kingpin in the Washington D.C. inner city. Strange knows Oliver is the scum he is accused of being, but feels compelled to do something to help him – if only to get him life without parole rather than death – because Strange took out Oliver’s father years earlier and wonders what would have happened to Oliver if he hadn’t. Witnesses in cases like this don’t want to get involved one way or another. They don’t want to be snitches for either side and don’t see much difference.

Meanwhile, in Oliver’s absence, Horace McKinley has taken over his organization and, across the alley, his rivals are set up in Dewayne Durham’s organization. Both groups are supplied arms by a former police officer, Ulysses Foreman, who found that he could make a mint having straw buyers pick up weapons legally in Maryland and Virginia and then selling them on the black market to the inner city thugs who had an endless need for clean guns.

Dewayne Durham has an older brother, Mario, who is basically a joke from his Air Jordans which are missing the “J” to the way he walks and dresses. Mario gave a girl he had his eye on (Olivia Elliot) some “chronic,” very strong hydroponically grown marijuana, and the plan was to divide it up and sell it together, but she split with the dope and he has now been disrespected and his brother tells Mario to find the girl and make it right. Mario gets a gun from Foreman, telling him he is only borrowing it to scare someone and he is not going to use it. Mario also hires Strange and Quinn to find the girl and they take on the case, even with some doubts, because Mario looks less than harmless and the cash is good. Strange and Quinn also interview a young lady who has some information relevant to Oliver’s case, but this woman, Devra Stokes, works in a beauty salon owned by McKinley and he doesn’t want Oliver out because he is now the kingpin.

All these stories eventually intersect and Pelecanos tells one terrific crime story about the inner city of Washington D.C., creating unforgettable characters. If you haven’t read Pelecanos’ fiction, now is the time to start. Few crime fiction writers are this good at drawing characters and creating realistic atmosphere. Although the book starts out a little confusing because there are so many disparate story lines, they eventually coalesce and the story moves quite quickly and is filled with action.

[Ed · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've enjoyed reading a number of George Pelecanos' crime dramas, and this one met all of my expectations. I like his engaging prose style, and the way he handles a large cast of characters in this title. The Washington, D.C. with the Maryland and Virginia suburbs is where I live, so his setting is familiar and fun to me. I like his many car and music references, many of which I remember from the 1970s. His gritty, blue-collar characters feel real and genuine. All in all, Soul Circus was a diverting summertime read. Who could ask for more?

[Piker7977 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't bother with a synopsis for this book. Instead, get yourself caught up, if you haven't already, and read the following by Pelecanos:

Right as Rain

Hell to Pay

A Firing Offense (Not required but highly recommended!)

Nick's Trip (Not required but highly recommended!)

Down by the River Where the Dead Men Go (Not required but highly recommended!)

Okay, you there yet? Good! Because Soul Circus is such a powerful capstone, and coda, to the books above that it made me, personally, fall in love with reading all over again.

[Ellis · Rating 4 out of 5]

There I go again, ignoring foreshadowing when it's right there in front of my face. I got all excited about Strange & Stefanos working together without ever once thinking anything more than, wow, fancy that. Dan flat out told me, "I think even Pelecanos was getting tired of Quinn's shenanigans." Well, yes, of course, who wouldn't be . . . ?

Oh. I see what everyone was trying to get at. Pour one out on the curb for Terry Quinn, who couldn't stand being punked, so he came up with the stupidest plan ever & got himself killed. His death is not the dumbest in this book, even as he gets hemmed up at a stoplight while bobbing his head to Springsteen & is shot in the face by a teenager; such dubious honor must go to Mario, who is not only on the street selling fake crack at the same time the police are looking for him on a murder charge, but goes back to the same place he sold some guys said fake crack earlier in the evening. Oh, Mario. What on earth were you thinking?

B & I had a good laugh after I finished this book when he asked me, "Is this the one that ends with a shootout in a drug dealer's house?" because of course almost every Pelecanos book ends that way. But that's got to be the genius of this guy. He gives you his body of work & you can feel him poking you in the face, telling you that this is what it's like. All the books are going to end with one crew going down in a shootout at a drug dealer's house & there's another crew stepping up to fill the void in the next book. Strange is going to be there to sleuth & witness & maybe help/hinder the lives of some women & children along the way - now he's just going to have to do it sans Quinn. Count me in.

[Aditya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Soul Circus is the best entry in the fledgling Strange & Quinn series so far, but it is not devoid of the usual problems that plague Pelecanos. My biggest issue with Pelecanos had always been his insistence to sacrifice anything interesting on the altar of authenticity. There are interesting premises here - turf war between rival gangs, a high profile court case where the govt may be intimidating the defense's witnesses, a gang leader's loyalty being split between family and practicality. But the focus is never on the plot and always on the characters who couldn't stand up to basic scrutiny.

Pelecanos is only interested in those decrepit and grisly neighborhoods of Washington where illiteracy and poverty runs amok. His characters are realistic but they are two dimensional without any hint of complexity or intelligence. The lone exception is Strange who is a bit more developed but even he has to be one of the most boring protagonists in crime fiction. Most characters in Soul Circus don't have much ambition beyond staying alive long enough to drink, smoke, fuck and occasionally indulge in self destructive acts of violence. They might be realistic to a fault, but none of them are interesting to follow.

It is difficult to criticize the author too much because I am not rallying against objectively bad writing or plotting but my issues are more with the direction he takes. If Pelecanos wants to show off masculinity in all its toxic glory or the relationship between illiteracy and violence, then he had been a staggering success. But mere ideas don't make a 350 page novel. It is a nice composite of life in the most destitute parts of Washington but as a whole it seems just disappointingly ordinary. Plus there is the usual drivel of insular pop culture references that are almost impossible to follow for the broader audience, I had almost accepted it as a price of reading a Pelecanos book.

Pelecanos tries to disguise his sermon about poverty, racism and social prejudices under the veneer of crime fiction. When he hits the mark, it is just a reminder that his books would be better off without the pseudo philosophy. He simply does not have the insight needed to say something profound on the topic whereas he could actually write a good crime novel if he wants to. It is a pity he is seldom interested in doing so. Rating - 3/5.

[Ensiform · Rating 4 out of 5]

The third Derek Strange novel. Because of some guilt over the long-buried past, Strange feels obligated to get to the bottom of charges against a drug dealer (Granville Oliver, the same one arrested at the end of Hell to Pay, now facing the death penalty). One brave young woman with a small child is willing to speak up, simply because she doesn’t appreciate being threatened, and Strange tries his best to keep her safe while balancing his newfound happy family life and work. Meanwhile his hot-tempered white partner, Terry Quinn, is happy with his relationship and helping his girlfriend out with a missing girl case, unwilling to do anything that might exonerate Oliver, who is certainly a bad guy.

As usual, Pelecanos creates a grim tableau of the modern city and its culture of poverty, crime, and drugs: hard-eyed, armed young men who kill each other over a slight, and mock anyone and anything that doesn’t fit in their narrow understanding. Much of this book’s tone and background are of a piece with his earlier writing: big-breasted women who never need foreplay, men who are fixated on said breasts, big muscle cars, tape decks, gun culture, the streets of Washington, ethnic eateries. At times, again, Pelecanos’ ultra-macho writing slips into defensiveness, as when he has Strange watch a woman’s ass as she walks off “without guilt,” even though she was a friend, because “he had to,” because he “was a man,” even a happily married one. Or, in a debate about guns, he has a character who is for banning handguns in DC qualify his position with, “I’m a man. I like the way guns feel in my hand” – as if, in either of these passages, he needed to assure his readers that these characters were totally manly hetero men, man. There’s no problem with having Strange watch a woman’s ass, but I question Pelecanos’ apparent need to justify the scene, or justify a character’s political stance, without beating the reader upside the head with their manliness. But that’s just a distracting aside; Pelecanos’ gritty city streets are compelling, and he certainly knows how to throw the reader a curveball – no one is bulletproof.

[Marty Fried · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is really good so far, but it always surprises me because for some reason, whenever I start reading one, I feel like quitting. Then, it begins to draw me in, and pretty soon, I can't stop. They do a great job of putting me in the middle of this world that is far removed from my normal life, but I've been close enough in the past to recognize a lot of the reality of it. It's sad and violent, where life is cheap. Many of the characters seemed to have little choice of where they ended up, and no chance to change even when they see the need. But Derek Strange seems to be an exception in many ways. He's far from perfect, but he does what he can to help people and improve their lives, mostly young people who still have a chance.

[Larry Bassett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just finished listening to this book in the audible format after having first read it in print about 14 years ago. I have a thing about this author. He writes great books. I have no recollection of having experience this book before, but I bumped it up from four stars to five stars Because it made me feel good.

The book ends with the main character burning down a Virginia gun store that provides “legal“ guns to people in DC. The characters in his books are predominantly black, and some are criminals, and some are black criminals. But many of them have a strange positive ethic Regardless. Always interesting people living lives that are completely alien to me, and yet somehow many of them seem to be trying to make the world the better place.

Here’s a little AI information about the author:

George Pelecanos is an American author known for his crime fiction novels. He was born on February 18, 1957, in Washington, D.C. Pelecanos grew up in the D.C. area and his experiences in the city heavily influence his writing.

Pelecanos has written numerous novels and short stories, most of which are set in Washington, D.C. His works often explore themes of crime, urban life, and the impact of social and economic issues on individuals and communities. He is known for his gritty and realistic portrayals of characters and settings.

One of Pelecanos' notable achievements is his work as a writer and producer on the critically acclaimed television series "The Wire." He contributed to the show during its entire run from 2002 to 2008, bringing his expertise in crime fiction and his knowledge of the city of Washington, D.C. to the series.

Pelecanos has received several awards and nominations for his writing. In 1998, he won the Raymond Chandler Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to the crime fiction genre. His novel "The Turnaround" was a finalist for the 2008 Hammett Prize. Pelecanos' works have also been praised for their authentic dialogue and vivid depiction of urban environments.

Overall, George Pelecanos is a highly regarded author known for his compelling crime fiction novels and his ability to capture the essence of urban life, particularly in Washington, D.C. His works continue to resonate with readers who appreciate gritty and realistic storytelling.

____________
How many snippets from the first 30 pages will it take you to identify this author?

Out in the air in the 1900 block of D Street in Southeast…

He sat low on the bench, his stacked shoulders and knotted biceps filling out the ribbed white cotton T-shirt he’d bought out that catalogue he liked, International Male.

That’s right. You take all those slow-jam groups from that period, the Chi-Lites, the Stylistics, Harold Melvin, the ballad stuff that EWF was doin’, and what you got is the most beautiful period of pop music in history.

Hard young men, the malignant result of years of festering, unchecked poverty and fatherless homes, sat on their front steps.

Sure, it’s George Pelecanos: so familiar but never a carbon copy.

I like a book that takes a social position that conforms with my own. Pelecanos usually is on my side. In Soul Circus he comes down heavy against the death penalty and for handgun control. We have taken our lumps recently as the Supreme Court has struck down strong handgun prohibitions in DC. But it was 2003 when Soul Circus came out and DC still had its gun ban. But guns are everywhere in this book. There was a way to get illegal guns. And, like some say, when guns are illegal, only criminals will have guns. But it would be hard to say “More guns equal less crime” based on reading this book. Pelecanos isn’t above having a character give a social issue lecture here and there, to be the father “to teach them, by example, right from wrong.”

With the death of complex character side kick Terry Quinn, the Strange Quinn anticrime collaboration comes to an abrupt end. But up steps Nick Stefanos who reappears from earlier books to immediately fill the void as partner against crime.

[Francis · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I read Pelecanos I feel that menace.

Yeah, cause people be moving cool and loose, but their eyes are cold. And, it's a puzzle, cause it ain't easy knowing what to do. Avert those eyes and somebody's gonna see a victim, stare back and somebody's gonna feel a challenge. Its all about knowing how to show respect and knowing all the rules.

But that's tough cause the weather is hot and languid and the air is hazy. Words are sparse, like they cost somebody some money. But, meanings are clear. Your response needs to be quick and measured. Cause, tempers are lean, reflexes are fast and muscles are taut and the weather is hot. The grins are cheap and meaningless, eyes are full of menace. Keep your eyes on them, cause they gonna signal you what you need to know.

So, be prepared cause life is short. Be bold, move fast and maybe this day won't be your last. Cause it's hot, tempers are loose, guns are cheap ...like lives, here in the U.S.A.

Yeah, you can feel that menace in the air. It's definitely there.

I mean its Pelecanos, he ain't fancy, just tells it ..like he been there.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Drawing comparisons to the acclaimed series ‘The Wire’ is no more evident in a Pelecanos novel than in ‘Soul Circus’. While primarily part of the Strange and Quinn PI series, ‘Soul Circus’ places a distinct emphasis on warring gangs and the ramifications of their actions. The third instalment in the series contains a lot of heart – fitting considering the title, by which the reader identifies with each character in some manner regardless of which side of the law their morals reside. From single mothers and their fatherless children, part time thugs, hardened criminals, to law enforcement and Strange’s co-workers at the PI agency – all have a story to tell sure to sets its hooks deep into the readers imagination and heartstrings alike.

The events of ‘Soul Circus’ pick up where ‘Hell to Pay’ left off, with Granville Oliver behind bars and Strange investigating a former associated of Oliver’s, Phillip Wood, who’s acting as the prosecution’s chief witness against Oliver, to aide his clients case down from the death penalty to life imprisonment. To muddy Wood’s character, Strange seeks Devra Stokes, former girlfriend and sometimes punching bag of Wood’s to testify against his violent behaviour. With an ear to the street, Wood doesn’t make life easy for Strange and soon bullets fly and members from the Oliver and Wood camps start to fall.

On the peripheral to Strange’s involvement with Oliver is his partner and ex-cop Quinn and his case to find a 14yr old run away who’s last known appearance is in front of the camera in an illicit x-rated tape. Quinn’s well documented temper and his struggles to rein it in are fully disclosed in ‘Soul Circus’ in which the hot headedness gets the better of him more often that not. While not linked to the Oliver case, the theme of misguided intention and characters being victims of circumstance compliments the core plot nicely.

One of the great things about this series set in Washington DC’s hardened neighbourhoods is the realness of the characters and their daily struggles to maintain without being tainted by the easy money drugs and other nefarious activities on offer. The yang to this yin being perennial good-guy Derek Strange and his quest to provide every young man a chance at a better life. ‘Soul Circus’ draws a close to the trilogy in breathtaking fashion while alluding to a thread of hope for a better outcome – masterfully executed and well plotted. I look forward to reading more of Strange in ‘Hard Revolution’. 4 stars.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

The District of Columbia’s home grown Peckinpah presents another gritty, existential modern western (with a great cameo by Nick Stefanos as a drunken spirit of the city), another tragedy of poor killing poor, a dispatch from forgotten corners. The author calls this his “anti-detective novel” one where nothing gets solved at great cost. If that was his intention here it was a success for whatever comfort that brings you. Soul Circus (great title coming from a terrific piece of dialogue) is a grim, cynical finale to the Strange-Quinn trilogy in which Pelecanos does his usual trick of concluding a series on a despairing note with some lingering faint wisps of hope and defiance. I realized that this series works best as a character study of Strange as some clichés, restraint, some shortchanging of the character Quinn (maybe it’s time a black character has an underdeveloped white sidekick, and I liked his story arc overall), and the fact that that the second in the series Hell to Pay doesn’t work as anything but bridge keep this series from being the top Pelecanos can produce, with the exception of the next volume Hard Revolution which is excellent (and hopefully given some follow ups as I could read more about young Strange).

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most people know how much I love HBO's The Wire (watch it, love it, watch it again), and Pelecanos wrote for the show. I've never thought I would like hard-boiled crime fiction, but his stuff is fantastic. You find empathy for the characters, even the street-level bangers who are in a situation they just don't know how to get out of (another theme of "The Wire"). His main character, private investigator Derek Strange, is a terrific, complicated character to build a series around.

[Marguerite Hargreaves · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great crime fiction, set close to home. There are gangs, guns, drugs and more than a few bodies, plus social commentary on Virginia's easy gun laws. Pelecanos maintains tension nicely, and his characters (apparently Derek Strange is a recurring character) are complex, sometimes contradictory, people. The geographical details are just right, as far as I can tell. This is the second book by Pelecanos I've read. There'll be more.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quotes;
"Was it just me, or was that man butt-ugly?"
"Playa hater," said Quinn.
"Almost feel like pressing his money back in his hand, giving him the phone number to a good dentist."
"Last time i saw two teeth like that, they were attached to somethin' had a paddle for a tail and was chewin' on a piece of wood."

and;
The world spun crazily, and he heard himself gurgle and felt nothing but confusion. His back had been broken and so had his neck. His eyes saw nothing forever.

and finally;
He turned toward the tracks, hearing the low rumble of a freight train approaching from the south. It reached him eventually. When it did, he reached his hand out so that he almost touched the train and could feel its wind. He closed his eyes.
Now he was away from his world. Enemies and allies were easily distinguished by hats of black and white. Honor and redemption were real, not conceptual. Justice was uncomplicated by the gray of politics and money, and, if need be, achieved at the point of a gun.
Quinn knew he was out of step.

What better way to display George P. Pelecanos' gritty lyricism than by including in this short review, his own words. Pelecanos captures the mood, the time, the city and the world his characters inhabit perfectly. There is a surprise ending, which is always a pleasant surprise.
Fans of James Sallis might like this trilogy by Pelecanos, although i myself prefer Pelecanos' gritty prose to that of Sallis', who can be a bit long winded, imo.

[Brett · Rating 2 out of 5]

Guns from straw purchases, feuding street crews, violent altercations, guilty consciences - all in this Pelecanos drama. It did keep my interest, but I gave it a lower rating as I'm not that interested in the digressions about basketball, cars, and sexual acts.

[Justine Sicard · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5⭐

[Richard Knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another harrowing detective tale, this one has some long-spanning consequences that ultimately made it so that Pelecanos had to jump backward for the next two books in the Derek Strange saga, making this chronologically the last book in the five book series. Weird, I know. The characters, plot, and pacing are all top notch, and it's nice to see Nick Stefanos make a guest appearance. Overall, a great crime story. But what else do you expect from the great Pelecanos?

[Ian Mapp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most authors work is better on the page than when it transfers to the screen - either big (outmoded) or small (far more relevant and innovative, these days).

However, with George Pelecanos, I feel that its the TV where he lives. This would make a cracking short series or dare I say it, film.

The reason being.... well, there are a lot of characters - they are all well drawn individually but I found it hard to piece them together, in terms of the relationship they have with other. And ultimtely, the story.

Annoyingly, this is part of a series and I picked it at random from the library - surely there should be a clue in the blurb onthe back. So there may be some back story that I am missing that would have added value.

We have a pair of private investigators - Derek Strange and Terry Quinn who start the book trying to gather the evidence to avoid a local drug baron receiving the death penalty - which society appears to be glamouring for.

We then have two rival drug gangs at war and a missing girl - all interesting stories but I struggle to see the relevance to the PIs.

The real agenda of the book, which it does well, is to bring attention to the lax gun laws in Washington - where people can go slightly out of state and purchase firearms with no more than a cursory check. These guns end up in the hands of the gangs - who are renting them by the day. This is expertly done.

Should really have done my homework and read the other two first.

[Kellie · Rating 4 out of 5]

-(#3 of the Strange Series) Picking up where Hell to Pay left off. Pelecanos uses this book as a voice for his ideas against the death penalty and for gun control. Nick Stefanos, a character from Pelecanos other series, makes an appearance here. I enjoy Strange’s determination to save DC one kid at a time. It’s heartwarming.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you miss The Wire, you should go out and get yourself a copy of Soul Circus. It takes place in DC, not Baltimore, but you'll recognize the cast of drug kingpins, dimwitted but protected sidekicks, bad cops, informants, and street kids, all viewed through the eyes of a private investigator who knows the streets but hasn't let go of his humanity. Yet.

[Cybercrone · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really, really a lot of local hood-rat talk that I sure as blazes don't understand, and don't know anyone who does - so that didn't help. Not really much of a story at all, and one of the "heros" gets dead because he was dumb.
This seems to be a backwards series, as most series improve as they go on and the author gets comfortable with his characters. This one gets worse, every book.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining mystery reading 📚

A Another will written romantic thriller mystery in the series with will developed characters. The story line is complicated and fast moving with lots of violence leading to the unexpected conclusion. I would recommend this series to anyone who reads mysteries. Enjoy reading 🔰😇

[Brent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book-- especially if you like Derek Strange and Terry Quinn. Does a great job of highlighting race issues in DC.

[Jiří Pavlovský · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jestli se vám líbil seriál Wire (česky známé též jako Špína Baltimoru), tak je Pelecanos autor přesně pro vás. Koneckonců, taky je pod množstvím dílů téhle legendární série podepsaný… a když se pustíte do čtení, budete mít pocit, jako byste objevili novou sezónu tohohle seriálu.

Podobně jaké Wire, i tady je na pozadí nějaký příběh, ale moc se nepředře. Hlavním cílem je popsat svět nižší… a především černé… zločinecké komunity. Takových těch týpků, co se snaží něco znamenat, alespoň sami před sebou, a aby toho dosáhli, potřebují ten správný ohoz, ten správný vůz a především, tu správnou bouchačku. Zbraň je tady nejen symbolem moci, ale i postavení – nemůžete někomu mávat před očima starým krámem, který není „in“. Je celkem jedno, jestli dobře střílí nebo ne, podstatné je, aby to dobře vypadlo. Všichni jsou samozřejmě děsně macho, a opravdu nechápou, proč zpěvačce vadí chlapi, co se udělají za minutu, jak to, že jim za to není vděčná.

Kniha sice sleduje dvojici soukromých detektivů, ale ti většinu času jen jezdí autem a dohadují se o hudbě a filozofují o zbraních či rasismu. Další postavy jsou tu válčící gangy obchodníků s drogami, kteří sídlí doslova přes ulici a ustavičně musí dávat najevo, kdo má větší koule… a pak obchodník se zbraněmi, který oběma těm gangům prodává kvéry. To je asi nejzajímavější postava, protože by z podstaty věci měla být největší záporák, ale Pelecanos ho popisuje vysloveně sympaticky, jako bývalého poldu, který ví, že to, co dělá, má jen krátkou životnost, že ho někdo časem dostane, ale má opravdu rád svou přítelkyni a snaží se držet podle svých pravidel. Ale ani ostatní postavy nejsou černobílé a mají své obavy, touhy a emoce.

Je to spíš sociální drama vybudované na základě kriminálky. Celé je to hodně podehrané… a i když tam dojde k zásadním a tragickým událostem, je to hodně tlumené a nikdo navenek moc neprojevuje své emoce. Možná i kvůli té tlumenosti a malému důrazu na příběh (tady jsou asi nějaké čtyři zápletky a všechny se pohybují rychlostí tajících ledovců) patří Pelecanos mezi autory, které rozhodně ohromně respektuju, ale jejich knížky si v knihovně moc nenechávám.

[SullDaBull · Rating 4 out of 5]

Readers already familiar with George Pelecanos' work, the Nick Stefanos series, DC Quartet and the previous Strange and Quinn series (not to mention his work on The Wire) will know exactly what they're in for here.

This interweaving story of a low level drug pushing gang members, wannabe crime lords, missing witnesses told via main protagonists private investigators ex-cops Derek Strange and Terry Quinn and their attempts to wade through and unravel a tangled DC criminal mire. So far so cliched but the talent of Pelecanos however is to elevate the commonplace through his use of music references, cultural touch points, racial complex conflicts, his grasp of the language of the street, what in in lesser hands would be ruin of the mill cardboard cutout crime caricatures.

His skill in effortlessly crafting (which is by no means effortless) an interweaving cast of of complex characters where no one is painted as simply right or wrong or the choice they make and their being morals neither black nor white. Even the lesser fringe characters are fleshed out to feel that they're an integral part of not just the story but of the Washington DC world he has fashioned over several books with many well known faces from previous books also making an appearance. The book does works as a stand alone piece and it's not essential you've read any of his previous work but should you enjoy this then rest assured you'll been keen to sample some of his previous works.

[Bob Andrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strange, a former DC cop now a private investigator, agrees to work so gang leader/killer Granville Oliver can get life in prison instead of the death penalty as a matter of principle. Does he deserve death? Yes, but the principle is that government should be dissuaded from killing black people.

He’s basically a good man, as is his hot-wired, white sidekick, Terry Quinn, but they run against drug-running, gun-selling bad guys - some of whom are all bad, others have a smidgen of affection.

Pelecanos books are difficult to read. So many characters, so much sacrifice of plot and action to the verisimilitude of ghetto culture, so obscure music, movie and cultural references.

He’s a strong writer and he’s good at letting us visit the grim, unfair and cruel ghetto of Washington, D.C., where even a more-or-less moral man can only make a small ripple in the curtain of unhappiness. There’s a hint of morality, certainly an anti-gun bias, but mostly his world is dark and unredeemingly gloomy. If you like noir books, Pelecanos needs to be on your list.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pelecanos really got back to his Wire writing days with this one it felt like as he continued the Derek Strange story with a multi-faceted story involving several different cases that intersect like real life in a city normally does. The part of this one that really jumps out is how some of the violence involved isn't really tied to a "who dunnit" sort of crime, but just a quick mistake here or there in the dangerous games that go on in the gang based drug industry of Washington DC.

One thing I really like about Pelecanos' stories is how he has weaved together a whole world of DC from the 40's till the present (this one takes place around 2000) with landmarks and families that permeate throughout. At the end, Strange and Nick Stefanos, whose family was featured in some other of Pelecanos' Washington stories, strike up a partnership that I'm sure will be noted more fully in the future.

Definitely a good read for anyone that enjoys Pelecanos' or other like-writers.

[Connie Ciampanelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

The perfectly titled Soul Circus is the third of a trilogy featuring D.C. private detective, formerly cop, Derek Strange and his partner Terry Quinn, George Pelecanos, writer-producer of The Wire and Treme unsurprisingly writes a cinematic story. Gritty, harsh, and violent, Pelecanos delves into the root causes of a forgotten area that thrives on drug trafficking and ruthless gun battles. Leaving the suburbs of D.C. for its neglected neighborhoods, Pelecanos tells of the people who live there, those who revel in "the life," those who are unwillingly trapped, and the handful who manage to claw their way out.

Soul Circus is searing and overwhelming, excellently written with rat-a-tat dialogue and exceptional description of place.
Not for the faint of heart.