The Cut

Spero Lucas #1

by George P. Pelecanos

Crime fiction writer George Pelecanos introduces Spero Lucas, an anti-hero making his place in the world one battle at a time. Includes a bonus work of short fiction focusing on Spero's early life.

Spero Lucas has a new line of work. Since he returned home to Washington, D.C. after serving in Iraq, he has been doing special investigations for a defense attorney. He's good at it, and he has carved out a niche: recovering stolen property, no questions asked. His cut is forty percent.
A high-profile crime boss who has heard of Lucas's specialty hires him to find out who has been stealing from his operation. It's the biggest job Spero has ever been offered, and he quickly gets a sense of what's going on. But before he can close in on what's been taken, he tangles with a world of men whose amorality and violence leave him reeling. Is any cut worth your family, your lover, your life?
The first in a series of thrillers featuring Spero Lucas, The Cut is the latest confirmation of why George Pelecanos is "perhaps America's greatest living crime writer." (Stephen King)

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

292 pages, Hardcover

First published August 29, 2011

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

[Orsodimondo · Rating 4 out of 5]

LE STRADE DI CASA


Set a Washington della serie “DC Noir” sceneggiata da Pelecanos.

In questo romanzo Pelecanos introduce il personaggio di Spero Lucas, veterano dell’Iraq e investigatore privato senza licenza, destinato a essere protagonista di altre storie. In US è già stata pubblicata la seconda, ma non credo che la leggerò, preferisco Pelecanos quando si cimenta in storie singole, senza prequel sequel spin-off crossover drama-format eccetera.



Ancora e sempre Washington, set prediletto di Pelecanos, città che conosce meglio delle sue tasche.

Ancora toponomastica e itinerari descritti nei dettagli e attenzione ai cambiamenti urbanistici…

Ancora attenzione all’abbigliamento, molte marche citate, con buona ragione: perché l’abito fa il monaco, e le marche, o la loro assenza, aggiungono personalità e spessore a un personaggio.



Ancora una volta il titolo tradotto in italiano è puro delirio e non ha nulla a che vedere con quello originale: nel caso specifico, “The Cut”.

Ancora un’incredibile conoscenza delle dinamiche della sua trama, del suo substrato, una profonda spessa conoscenza della ‘strada’.
Non è difficile capire che tra le fonti, gli esperti e consulenti coinvolti nella stesura di una trama, ci siano avvocati, poliziotti, magistrati, giudici, detective privati, ma anche gangster, criminali ritirati a vita privata o tuttora in attività, detenuti, guardie carcerarie, ecc.



Pelecanos ha fatto molto mestieri, e si sente nelle sue storie, che sono più ricche e stratificate e credibili anche per la sua multiforme esperienza.

Pelecanos descrive i suoi personaggi, ma evita di nominare il colore della pelle, lascia che siano dettagli e dialogo a definire l’appartenenza etnica.

Fatto insolito per Pelecanos: questa volta ci sono cliché, neppure pochi (il protagonista sciupafemmine, la violenza…). Ritengo che sia il dazio da pagare alla serialità.


David Simon e George Pelecanos, i due autori televisivi che preferisco

[Baba · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another succulent slice of Washington DC pie by George Pelecanos. A 'grey area' investigator is hired to recover stolen packages and ends up caught in the crossfires of a number of petty and bigger crime conspiracies. More great crime capering by this, one of The Wire writers. Four Stars, 8 out of 12 modern urban crime fiction jam.

2013 read

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

When an imprisoned drug dealer hires Spero Lucas to find out who's been stealing his product, Spero takes the case. Can Spero recover the stolen weed and collect his forty percent?

The Cut is a breezy crime tale that reads as smoothly as an Elmore Leonard. Pelecanos makes Washington DC as much of a character as Leonard does with Detroit and Miami. Spero Lucas is a compelling lead, an ex-marine who works as an investigator. The drug case he's taken quickly spirals out of control. However, the case wasn't as interesting to me as Spero himself.

Spero's a complicated man and no one understands him but his woman. Or maybe I'm thinking of someone else. At any rate, I liked the idea of an Iraq war veteran who's having trouble adjusting to normal life. His tastes in food and Jamaican music further endeared him to me. The guys he goes up against are pretty well drawn as well, particularly the Holley family. Pelecanos' bad guys have relatively reasonable motivations and come off as real people rather than caricatures.

One thing I really liked was that Spero's brother is an English teacher and has his students read crime books, like Richard Stark's The Hunter and Unknown Man #89 by Elmore Leonard. That's a class I would have loved taking back in the day. Spero listening to Ernest Ranglin and King Tubby also sweetened the deal the for me.

That's about all I have to say. If I had to complain about something, it would be that I wanted the book to be about twice as long. I'll be reading more Pelecanos in the near future.

Also posted at Shelf Inflicted

[Kemper · Rating 4 out of 5]

After several stand-alone literary crime novels and working on television shows like The Wire and Treme, it looks like George Pelecanos is getting back into series mode, and he’s created a helluva main character who I hope we will be seeing in many, many books to come.

Spero Lucas is a young veteran of the Iraq war who now works as an investigator for a defense attorney, but Spero also moonlights in recovering stolen property for 40% of the value. A big time pot dealer is awaiting trial in jail, and he asks Spero to look into the theft of several valuable packages of marijuana. While he has a few reservations about working for the dealer, Spero takes the gig and gets mixed up with some dangerous people. Of course, Spero’s time in Iraq taught him a thing or two about dealing with dangerous people.

The set-up for this seems like it could have been the basis for a cheesy action movie starring someone like Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, but Pelecanos has crafted a realistic and complex character in Spero. His time in Iraq has left him impatient, unwilling to sit through college classes or to work for anyone but himself. He wants to live his life now, and on his own terms, but he’s also a careful man who handles his affairs with the discipline of a soldier. Having fought for his own life in the desert has also left him more than willing to lethally deal with any threats with a minimum of guilt. Spero isn’t a mad dog or a guy looking to be a bad ass, but if the situation arises, he won’t lose a minute’s sleep if he has to kill someone.

Like all Pelecanos characters, Spero is also a product of his environment. The adopted son of a Greek family, he has deep ties and roots in that community as well as long personal history in Washington D.C. Spero wandering around D.C. while trying to work out who stole the pot while meeting up with a varied cast of characters reminded me a bit of how Lawrence Block’s Matt Scudder roams around New York and weaves his personal life into the case he’s working.

Pelecanos also worked a nice hat tip into some old school crime writers in this one. Spero’s adopted brother is an inner city English teacher who uses crime novels by Elmore Leonard and Richard Stark (a/k/a Donald Westlake) in his classes, and there’s a couple of funny and interesting scenes where he’s talking about those books to his students.

If you’re looking for a realistic and gritty crime story with an interesting character, grab a copy of The Cut and enjoy the ride.

[James Thane · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Cut introduces Spero Lucas, a new protagonist from George Pelecanos, the creator of such venerable characters as Derek Strange and Nick Stefanos. And as much as I've enjoyed those other characters, I can't wait to read more books featuring this one.

Spero Lucas is in his late twenties, an ex-Marine recently returned home to Washington, D.C. from the war in Iraq. He grew up in a racially mixed household where his Greek-American parents adopted three of their four children. He's devoted to the memory of his late father, who was clearly the strongest influence in his life; he visits his mother regularly and is close to his brother, Leo, a school teacher. His relations with his other two siblings are strained.

Like many other young people who spent much of their twenties in the military service, Spero is anxious to make up for lost time, and he has an eye for attractive women, even though he still may have some things to learn about relating to them. He remains fit and strong and is an avid cyclist and kayaker.

Lucas has no desire to be confined to an office and prefers working for himself. He's now an investigator, working principally for a defense attorney, but he takes on the occasional job recovering stolen property. His cut is forty-percent of whatever he recovers, which makes him a bargain relative to the legendary Travis McGee who always took fifty percent.

As the book opens, an imprisoned drug dealer hires Spero to recover three marijuana shipments that have been stolen from the D.C. crew that he runs from his cell. The crew cleverly Fed-Exes the dope to addresses where then know that the occupants will be away for the day. They then track the shipments on their smart phones and swoop in to pick them off the porches minutes after Fed Ex drops them off.

However, someone's managed to beat the crew to three deliveries within a matter of weeks, and the drug lord wants the thieves tracked down and the dope recovered. Lucas has no moral qualms about people who smoke weed--he smokes the occasional joint himself--and so takes the job. Given the value of the shipments involved, it could mean a huge payday for him.

Naturally, Lucas is now plunged into a world of seedy, amoral drug dealers, and before long, what seemed like a relatively simple investigation has become a complicated and very dangerous morass. A number of innocent parties get caught in the crossfire, and there's a very real chance that Spero's first major case may also be his last.

As usual, Pelecanos is at his best describing the D.C. environs that he knows and loves so well. There are, as always, a large number of musical references, most of them even more obscure than usual. (Or perhaps it just seems so to this reader who doesn't listen to much reggae. Happily, though, I am up to speed on The Hold Steady.) The dialogue is pitch perfect; the characters are all well-developed and the story carries you right along. I've been a huge fan of Pelecanos for years and, as I suggested above, I'm really looking forward to reading more of Spero Lucas.

[Dest · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I expected something more literary, so I was disappointed by the stock characters and all the paragraphs full of boring (to me) details. Honestly, why name every street Spero takes to get from location to location? Does anyone doubt that you know the names of streets in Washington, Mr. Pelecanos? And why name every brand of every piece of clothing worn? Why name every musician Spero listens to? All of this came off as so much name dropping to me, as clunky as a paid product placement. If you took out all of these annoying, pointless details the book would've been a lot shorter and probably better.

The mystery itself wasn't bad. It surrounded a supposedly non-violent marijuana dealer who wanted Spero Lucas, a late-twenties war vet and unlicensed investigator, to track down some lost packages. During his investigation, which he conducts largely by iPhone (as we're told again and again--why not just say phone?), Spero exercises a lot, hangs out with other veterans, and beds beautiful women in a decent but emotionally empty way.

I liked the stuff about Spero being adopted by a Greek couple and being raised Greek along with other adopted siblings. The scenes with Spero and his family actually explored some interesting relationships and had a little character development. For the most part, though, Spero is your typical mass market hero: tough, troubled, and the only female characters in his world are his mother and the hot women he sleeps with.

[Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shortly after returning home following a stint in the U.S. Marines, Spero Lucas took up working as a freelance investigator. Occasionally picking up work for a prominent defence attorney in Washington D.C, Lucas helped to clear a case involving the son of an imprisoned drug dealer. Impressed with his work, said drug dealer offers Lucas another job: investigate several thefts of high priced product.

I've been recommended novels by George Pelecanos in the past but the sheer volume of novels sitting on my to-read shelf kept the author on the outside looking in. At a used book sale a few months back, I spotted The Cut taking up space on the mystery table. Recognizing the name, I grabbed it, paid the small amount requested, and let it collect dust on my bookcase. I finally picked it up on Saturday night and before I knew it, I was one hundred pages deep.

Spero Lucas is a great protagonist. He’s under thirty and new at the detective game, so he’s not exactly a seasoned player. With his military training, he can more than handle himself when things get physical, but he’s not experienced enough to always be able to predict the actions of those he’s investigating, which makes him fallible. Luckily for Spero, his enemies aren't the brightest crayons in the box, so Pelecanos keeps things interesting with both sides fumbling about.

As Spero noted when referring to an Elmore Leonard novel, Leonard has ‘good, clean writing’, a trait Pelecanos also shares. Many scenes are dialogue heavy - not huge chunks of monologuing text, mind you - but short, swift conversations that can be funny (casual banter among characters) yet informative enough to move the story along at a brisk pace. Pelecanos’ prose is the type that leads to lightning fast reads, something you could kill in an afternoon.

The Cut is one of the quickest reads I've had the pleasure of checking out this year. I’ll definitely be picking up more Pelecanos novels sooner rather than later.

[Melki · Rating 3 out of 5]

I normally love anything Pelecanos writes, but this one was a disappointment.
The plot was fine. Spero Lucas is hired to investigate the disappearance of some drug shipments.
Chaos and a body count ensue.

BUT, I'm either getting much smarter or George is getting more predictable. (Yeah, I'll have to go with the second theory too...) The book held few surprises for me, and I could smell it a mile away when someone was about to get a bullet in the brain.

On the plus side, all the good stuff I've learned to expect from a Pelecanos novel was there - snappy, yet believable dialogue, fast pacing, cool buds for the main character to hang with...

BUT, what's up with all the clothing talk? Every male character's attire was described in detail!
Why do I care that some guy is wearing "an oversize T-shirt with cutoff sleeves and work pants"? Or "a wide-striped shirt, open collar, jeans with a thick brown belt, and side-zip boots".
What is this? Sex and the City for guys? I could not STOP noticing this, and it drove me NUTS!

ALSO, I was not overly fond of Spero, and I'm sorry George decided to build a series around this character. He's too young and WAY too cocky, for my taste. Perhaps someone should throw some mud on his "fitted Boss summer shirt with vertical blue and white stripes". That oughta take him down a peg or two!

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a couple or a few or however many dramatic novels with a bit of a crime edge George Pelecanos is returning to the more formulaic detective type form of his earlier novels. The main character is a young Iraq War veteran who does some freelance investigative work for defense attorneys and also makes a bit of money by finding things for people. In the case of this book he is looking to find quite a bit of marijuana that has been stolen from a local weed kingpin. Like in most of Pelecanos's work that he's been involved in the lines of good and bad, right and wrong and all of that jazz are blurred in a way that adds a realism to the book. For readers of his earlier works this book is pretty much standard fare, a Greek protagonist living in DC who has very eclectic musical tastes (although this is one of the first of his novels I've read that doesn't make any kind of shout out to the Dischord bands, oh well) who is at heart a really decent guy who you could see yourself not being disgusted with if you met him someplace but who doesn't always do the right thing.

I have so little to say in reviews lately. Are you bored yet? This isn't a great book but it's good and if want something kind of light to read that won't insult your intelligence this will be a really good choice when it is released this summer. The plot gets a little silly towards the end but I think this new character of Pelecanos will make for an entertaining and worthwhile series of forthcoming books.

The book is much better than this review.

[Lobstergirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the plot and general drift of this (drug dealers, narcotics thefts, cops gone bad), but the protagonist Spero Lucas, a PI, is so unbearably macho. Sooooo manly. Ripped, Iraq War vet, horny all the time. "He wanted a woman," we're told on two different occasions. Yuck. Not that he's horny. He wants a woman. You know, that thing that's like a blow-up doll except it's made from living cells and sometimes thinks and speaks? When a living blow-up doll isn't available he performs punishing sets of crunches, or takes his kayak out onto the Potomac and paddles upstream for 900 miles to quell the horniness.

The women in this book are either sainted mothers, or super hot blow-up dolls who are instantly ready for sex, even if they just met Lucas three minutes ago. "They kissed standing up in her living room. Her mouth was made for it." (Hopefully her mouth is also well suited for eating and breathing.) Or they're your friend's mom but that won't stop you from evaluating their body parts, as your mind drifts to the weapons used in Fallujah: "Rosemary was a good-time redhead in her late fifties, fifty pounds bad for her heart, with a gone-to-hell belly and the straight-out missiles that some women get in their middle age."

There's also way too much penis wisecrackery. "You know, when I was tellin you that story in there....I think I got an erection," a retired cop tells Lucas, meaning he misses the job. "Voice activated...you can keep one hand on the wheel and the other on your johnson," Lucas tells his sidekick. "I know you like to multitask."

Lucas is a native Washingtonian and Pelecanos takes us into multitudinous neighborhoods east of Rock Creek Park, into Southeast, Anacostia, Silver Spring. I had one eye on Google Maps, the other in the book as Lucas traveled block by block from home (Emerson and Piney Branch Rd.) to diners and gin joints to cemeteries to ramblers on Veirs Mill Road in Rockville, to light industrial areas, and then excitingly, to St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral at 36th and Garfield (although a stone-cold killer, Lucas attends church with his sainted mother), and Gawler's funeral home!

Pelecanos doesn't always tell you which characters are white and which are black. There are three adopted children of four in Spero's family; two white, two black. It took awhile before I figured it all out. The lingo doesn't necessarily help because sometimes the white characters speak black vernacular. You might have to rely on the character's shoes and how blousy his outfit is to guess his race. I found this to be the case with Louisa May Alcott too.

[Monique · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5*

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just okay. Not a page-turner as I expected. Didn't particularly care for Spero Lucas, the investigator, or the outcome of the case. Read like a script at times. I'm a fan of The Wire-- like many people-- so this was disappointing.

[Mark Stevens · Rating 4 out of 5]

With Elmore Leonard gone, who is the heir to the throne? I nominate George Pelecanos. Urban, tough, cool, gritty, smooth, and real. Real? You know, that sense when you're reading fiction and the characters and situations pop out and grab you. Their point of view is rock solid. Leonard's early works are among my favorites--"52 Pick-Up," "Unknown Man No. 89," "The Switch," "City Primeval"--and to me "The Cut" echoes those early stories to a T. In fact, Spero Lucas' brother Leonidas is teaching "Unknown Man No. 89" is his high school English class (not on any reading list I remember from any English class I ever attended) and while that might be a hackneyed shout-out in some novels, it works beautifully here.

"The Cut" is violent in spots. Spero is ex-Marine Corps. He's worked as an investigator for an attorney who defended homicide and high-profile drug cases. Spero is "still trying to navigate his own path." He's unsure of one day to the next. I've seen other comparisons between Spero Lucas and Jack Reacher, but Spero's much more uncertain--and understands this about himself. Yes, Spero Lucas has his way with the ladies but I enjoyed the ride and found the finish of the plot tight and taut.

In his reductionist approach to writing scenes, Elmore Leonard's prose always came across as understated and not trying too hard. Now 20 novels in (plus a whole bunch of writing for television), I think Pelecanos is right there, ready to take the torch for the best writers of mean, lean prose.

I had the pleasure of "reading" this on Audio CD. Dion Graham's late-night bluesy voice drew me in from the first few lines.

[Lou · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my second go at a Pelecanos novel, there is a lot of praise for his work and positive comments on the cover. Still though, and the same i felt the last time I read one of his novels, it seems the storytelling is missing that extra something. The writing is good and some nice dialogue and dilemmas included in the story. The main protagonist was a likeable character I would like to read more of. It is the main case that he was on the pursuit of that became slightly boring, the rest of the story was more interesting, the daily trappings, the down to earth characters and street life all realistic enjoyable reading. This story seemed just like a filler novel to add to the host that's been put out there. I liked the characters he's created and the mentoring the main protagonist was giving to the youth but just the main story was needing an extra umph. I am still optimistic on his other novels to read particularly his new one 'What it Was'.

[robin friedman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Cut Above Crime Fiction

George Pelecanos (b. 1957) writes crime fiction set in Washington, D.C. His novel "The Cut" (2011) features a character named Spero Lucas, 29, a veteran of the Iraq War. Lucas works as an investigator for a high-powered criminal defense lawyer and takes cases for himself as an investigator on the side. In Pelecanos' novel, Lucas gets a job from a jailed marijuana dealer who is being defended separately by the lawyer for whom he works. Lucas' assignment is to recover the proceeds of marijuana that has been deposited for pick-up on the doorsteps of homes in D.C. that the bad guys know are likely to be unoccupied and unobserved during the day. Lucas demands a cut of 40 percent of the value of what he recovers. The investigation and quickly spins out of control resulting in violence and the involvement of innocent people. It also takes Lucas into the high reaches of the D.C. marijuana trade.

The plot is involved but is developed well and the story moves quickly. The appeal of this book lies more in its depictions of Washington, D.C. and in its characterizations than in its story.

Pelecanos has an extraordinary eye for detail in his native city where I have lived myself for many years. He describes tellingly the city streets, neighborhoods, houses, small businesses, churches and schools. Most of the descriptions are set in upper northwest D.C. near the Georgia Avenue corridor, including the adjacent community of Silver Spring, Maryland. This is an area I know well. I was moved to see it freshly through Pelecanos' eyes. The book also describes other parts of the area including DuPont Circle, Judiciary Square, the seedy New York Avenue Strip, and portions of Prince Georges County. These places are artfully captured in Pelecanos' writing. The sense of place, not only in descriptions and in cataloging but in understanding the factors that make a place memorable in the writing drives this novel along.

The book also is a character study of Spero Lucas and of many secondary figures. Much of the book revolves around family as Lucas has been adopted and raised by a Greek couple whom he loves deeply. Lucas is still devastated by the death of his father some years earlier. He is attached to his mother and to his brother, Leo, also adopted. Leo is black while Spero is white. Family issues also are important to some of the villains in the story, a father and son who have no understanding or respect for one another.

The book shows Lucas as suffering from the impact of the violence in which he participated fully in Iraq. He is intelligent, if not educated, and reads a great deal. He is not sure what he wants to do with his life beyond falling in with the violent street life involving his investigations and earning good money. He shows no hesitation or remorse in resorting to violence. Lucas seems remarkably appealing to women but unable to become emotionally close. He has a religious temperament and his prayers involve giving thanks for the gift of life. As with the descriptions of places, Pelecanos offers detailed descriptions of Lucas in the manner of his dress, his long aimless rides in his car and bicycle, his taste in food, and his music. These descriptions add to the realism and force of the story.

The book reads quickly but rewards reflection. In its depiction of the lonely, Iraq veteran at loose ends and in its portrayal of Washington, D.C. streets, the book rises beyond the level of genre crime fiction.

Robin Friedman

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

George Pelacanos introduces us to a new series hero in The Cut. Spero Lucas is an Iraqi War veteran currently working as an unlicensed investigator for a criminal defense attorney in his hometown of Washington, DC. The adopted child of a Greek-American family, Lucas grew up in a blended family with his two brothers and sister. A savvy man, Spero has seen a lot in his 29 years. Back from the Middle East, he hustled to make a living taking odd jobs doing security, limousine driving and bouncing before working as an investigator, but it's his other job that brings in the money and affords him the lifestyle he enjoys: he retrieves things for people for a 40% cut.

The Cut follows the usual Pelecanos formula, this time a detective procedural very heavy on local flavor and convincing dialogue and a fast-moving story that leads to the inevitable violent resolution surrounded by the life issues we all deal with, but what separated this one from the pack for me was I found Lucas to be Pelecanos' toughest, and most noir, hero to date. That's good, but it's also bad because I'm tired of the clichéd "superhero" bedding every woman he encounters as he works his way toward solving the crime and, unfortunately, Lucas seems to bed every woman he encounters as he works his way toward solving the crime. I'm hoping that trait gets played down in future stories, but I'm doubtful because, as Spero himself says, "I've always been aggressive."

A person can't do the things Spero does without the police showing up at some point, either before or after the fact, but that's a minor complaint and I'm willing to suspend disbelief when it comes to that in The Cut because this is an introductory story. All in all, The Cut is a good story and a good introduction into a new series from one of the best crime writers working today. Whether you're new to George Pelecanos or a lifelong fan, I don't think you'll be disappointed with The Cut.

[Steve · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. It's OK. It's also frustrating, because Pelecanos is a real good writer. I just got through reading an excellent short story by him in USA Noir, titled "The Confidential Informant." Not an imaginative title, true, but the quality of the writing moves that story beyond genre, and could easily have appeared in your better literary journals. It's tone reminded me of Hemingway's "The Killers." Given a small canvas, Pelecanos can paint a hard masterpiece.

His novels (and I've read several now), are often flabbier affairs. Too often they seem to fall into a pattern of an intermittent story interrupted by nostalgic lists of what-to-read, what-movies-to-watch, what-cool-music-to-listen-to, and where to eat in DC. From what I know of some of these, they are all excellent recommendations. But operating within the structure of a novel, a short novel at that, it just seems like a lazy formula.

The Cut, it seems to me, is more of the same. Spero Lucas, an Iraq War veteran, is an updated version of previous Pelecanos main guys. As is usually the case, the dialogue is great, street description GPS complete, violence that is often shocking and sudden, and bad guys that are a complex mix of stupid, lucky, and brutal. They're as close to Leonard's bad guy creations as it gets, and that is a complement. In other words, there's always something worthwhile to read in a GP novel, but for me it's usually reduced to several excellent moments, but not the novel as a whole. The Cut is more of the same. Drug dealing, betrayals, murder, some good sex, etc. You've read it before.

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

George Pelecanos' new fictional character is Spero Lucas, a sort of P.I. who does material recoveries for a 40% fee or cut, if you will. Think Travis McGee. Young Spero is an ex-Marine back from hard combat seen in Iraq, and he still has some emotional issues to iron out. The usual GP cars, guns, music, landmarks, streets, and family are included in The Cut. I especially liked Spero's brother Leo who teaches English at Cardoza High School. I wish I'd had an English teacher covering books authored by Richard Stark and Elmore Leonard. For the first book in a projected mystery series, this one succeeds quite well. Spero will grow into his protagonist role, and will grow on fellow GP fans, as well. Great stuff and enjoyed very much.

[Larry Bassett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished reading this book for the second time in a little more than a year. As often the case, I don’t remember the book. This second time I experienced the book in the audible format. I have read the first two books of this new series with this new character. I listen to them backwards, the second book 1st and the first book 2nd. I can easily say that I liked the first book better. For some reason, it seemed to me that the character in the first book was much more palatable to me Than the character I experienced in the second book. Maybe it is just that he is getting better at rationalizing how he lives his life. Like in the war, he kills people now that he is back home in the DC area and working as a investigator for a defense attorney and picking up side work.

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She was dark haired, fully curved, and effortlessly attractive.

Woman as sex object on page eight. Must be George Pelecanos. In spite of that, Pelecanos is the only author I have a complete set for and buy the books as they come out. As I start this new book, published in August 2011, I wonder if I am beginning to wear out on George P. When I lived in metro DC he was the only crime writer I read. He used to be my walk on the dark side. Recently I have been reading quite a few mystery and crime authors and George is slipping in my personal popularity poll.

Spero Lucas is a new guy for Pelecanos. He recovers stolen property for 40%. That is, his cut (get it?) is 40% of the value of the recovered property. The Pelecanos trademarks of cars and music are not as colorful as in the past; fewer descriptions of car engines and interiors; no humming the tunes of his past. But the DC streets and women are holding their own.

Spero is a common Mr. P character: he was a Marine; his background and methods are not totally lawful; he is one of those good bad guys. But there is drug dealing and drug related executions. No college boys here. But wait, Spero says he had a couple of semesters of college but later, given an opportunity to say more about that, he says he went to the University of Baghdad. I hope Pelecanos is not just repeating his familiar script with a new character. There is some encouraging change.

Overall, this book was a selection of old hits from previous Pelecanos book. Not quite as over the top with his music and cars as in previous books with Nick Stefanos and Derek Strange. Nostalgia pleasant familiarity earns this book an extra star although I am not sure that replays should be reinforced. But I give it four stars with a promise to be tougher next time; I have read all of the Pelecanos books and almost everyone gets four stars. But I am looking for something different than women characters as sex objects. It is a good sign, I think, that one of the women in this book rebels at being relegated to being a sex object:

“I wasn’t looking for a commitment,” said Constance. “Just some courtesy.”

I already have the most recent Pelecanos book What It Was and am hoping for that strong woman.

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In an interview with Erik Spanberg of the Christian Science Monitor, George Pelecanos discussed what inspired The Cut, how he stays current on street slang, and selling women’s shoes. Following are excerpts from that conversation. On how the novel began: I’m happy with it. I did what I wanted to do. You want to get where your intent was in the beginning. With this one, I wanted to write a straight-up crime novel that was contemporary in the sense that in the background there are things that are going on here in my city. Talking about the plight of the veterans coming back home and what they’re going to do. It sort of came about from just meeting people out here. I had met a few guys who were veterans and working as private investigators for criminal attorneys in D.C. There was a pattern there. These guys were good at their jobs. They didn’t have any fear, they went into parts of the city that a lot of people didn’t want to go into, and they were jacked up to do it. They had no desire to pursue desk jobs or go into the corporate world or anything like that. They were suited for this.

[Mohammed Abdikhader Firdhiye · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spero Lucas is pretty different as a lead in this kind of series at 29 years he is young. Felt weird reading about him when the norm is 40-50 years old men in this genre. Pelecanos had it easier making me relate to him since we are the exact same age. I liked Lucas despite he is immature in his realationships but that i found to be belieavable. He is somewhat amoral and i liked how realisticly it was that he isnt some PI hero when you know his backround. It will be interesting to see if he grows as a character in the other books.

Pelecanos was good at writing the urban setting as usual in his DC books i have read. I always enjoy reading him writing about people in a melting box of different colors,cultures.

The weakness of this novel and why i dont rate as high as his other books was the small time criminals, the crime story wasnt as well written as for example in Derek Strange books. The setting, Lucas deserved better,more interesting crime story.

[Matthew · Rating 1 out of 5]

Burned through this one. Not because it was awesome, but because the writing is so simple, the plot so basic. this is no Travis McGee, and Pelacanos is no MacDonald. Maybe he thought he had to talk down to suit the genre? I kinda thought since The Wire is so good, this would blow me away with a hyper realistic take on the hard boiled crime book. I found there to be a lot of clumsy moralizing, some very simply drawn characters, and a penchant for naming every clothing brand ever. I was really disappointed.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

It seems Pelecanos takes a dash of MacDonald's Travis McGee, a little bit of Crais, then adds pinches of Leonard and Stark / Westlake (those authors are actually name-dropped in the story) with his introduction of new series character Spero Lucas. It was a decent enough start, and it has potential for a long run with the investigator both fairly young in age and career.

[Lee Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first Pelecanos. Great writing, nice grit, interesting character doing the ole Travis McGee career.

[Stephen Goldenberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Felt the need for a light escapist read plus it’s a long time since I’ve read any George Pelicans. I must be getting too old for his tough guy anti-hero crime novels because I found The Cut only moderately entertaining. Spero Lucas, the Iraq vet turned private investigator, is a bit too good to be true. He’s macho tough and violent but with a sensitive and intelligent side to him and, of course, every beautiful young woman quickly leaps into bed with him. Also, got bored with the shootouts.
On the plus side, Pelicans is good at capturing aspects of the different Washington DC communities and Spero’s family background is interesting and touching.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a lot of Derek Strange to Pelecanos' new series PI Spero Lucas. From his appreciation of music, clothing, and the finer sex to the deep seeding yearning to make the world a better place. What separates Lucas from Strange is obvious, age, it felt as though Pelecanos wasn't done with Strange and wanted an avenue to continue the character through a younger modernised rendition. For those who love Derek Strange (as I do) this is fantastic. I enjoyed drawing parallels between the two but also liked the differing characteristics (most notably, Strange is settled whereas Lucas is still trying to find his place).

Like any Pelecanos novel there is a fair degree of inner city violence reminiscent of the finer scenes of the Wire. In 'The Cut' the cause is derived from a small time marijuana smuggling ring which exports its product by using FedEx to deliver packages to unoccupied houses, members of the ring collect the packages before the home owners arrive - little risk, big reward. That is, until members of the faction get greedy and try to undermine the head of the operation. From there, corrupt cops - both present and past, hired killers, school kids, and Spero Lucas become involved. Throw in a couple of hardened war vets from Iraq and Pelecanos has created the proverbial presser cooker.

It was nice to discover the genre fans easter egg in reference to Stark and Leonard novels thanks to Spero's brother Leo who teaches English at Cardoza High School. I wish those novels formed part of my high school curriculum english profile. Leo, himself is an interesting character, and one who will no doubt place a role as the series progresses (perhaps from the perspective of victim - I just get that sort of impression).

As the initial instalment of the Spero Lucas series, Pelecanos has established a solid foundation both from the protagonists personal level and professional. Lucas' lifestyle and mannerisms are well defined, his circle of contacts and domestic situation are provided and explained, with a notch under his belt, Pelecanos can now focus on throwing Lucas into more high octane urban violence. I look forward to what comes next. 3.5 stars

[Ellis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not going to lie, it was hard for me to root for Spero Lucas when it seemed like he was going to get Ernest killed, all because he had to go after Rooster. Who doesn't expect the precocious film-loving youth to get offed in books like these? Come to think of it, I was worried about all his combat buddies when they were working with him, so I suppose kudos go to Pelecanos for writing characters for whom I can clutch my pearls. Kudos also for a fabulous little twist ending that put the extra star on my review. I see a lot more Pelecanos in my future.

[Tim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Glad I read "The Double" which is the second of this series first. Otherwise, I may have passed as this is not as engaging because its hard to have empathy for drug dealers. 5 of 10 stars

[G.A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lucas gettò la borsa nella parte posteriore della jeep e la nascose con una coperta. Nelle vene il sangue gli pulsava, carico di elettricità. La sensazione gli era familiare, ed era quella giusta.

[Delcene Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

An original, pithy bad guys vs bad guys book set in Washington DC.

I’m starting to understand the street slang / colloquialisms.

I’m getting my gangsta lingo on!

‘Under the wheel’ does mean driving a car and an ‘Oxford’ is a shirt. I’m not sure what differentiates an Oxford from another shirt though. Maybe I’ll figure that out when I read his next book. Which I’m guaranteed to do.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes moves slowly. Sometimes tense. I like the character of Spero Lucas. An interesting background and family history. Others have said this first book of the series lays the foundation. I liked it well enough to stay with it and will read others in the series, too.