Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Hard Revolution (Derek Strange and Terry Quinn #4)

3.96 of 5 stars 3.96 · rating details · 1,024 ratings · 85 reviews

With HARD REVOLUTION, George Pelecanos delivers the knockout punch his admirers have long awaited. Here is the rich, dramatic, and totally engrossing story of two brothersone a rookie police officer, the other a recently returned Vietnam veteranwho come to blows in the year 1968, when DC exploded into chaos and violence. HARD REVOLUTION tells for the first time how Derek S...more

Paperback, 376 pages

Published 2005 by Orion (first published 2004)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Great books by writers of hbo's the wire

17th out of 30 books — 50 voters

The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain

Best Noir

152nd out of 308 books — 201 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 1,576)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Mar 27, 2011 Eric added it

Pelecanos was a writer/producer for best television show ever "The Wire," and most articles and reviews I've read about him stress how much more "literary" his crime novels are than his contemporaries'. I'll have to take the word of his books' blurbs for it that he's one of the best American crime novelists, but even though the two books I read by him were entertaining, they still have the same lack of subtlety and cliche (or "archetypical") characters and plots that make genre fiction genre fic...more Pelecanos was a writer/producer for best television show ever "The Wire," and most articles and reviews I've read about him stress how much more "literary" his crime novels are than his contemporaries'. I'll have to take the word of his books' blurbs for it that he's one of the best American crime novelists, but even though the two books I read by him were entertaining, they still have the same lack of subtlety and cliche (or "archetypical") characters and plots that make genre fiction genre fiction. Surprisingly enough, Wikipedia's entry on Pelecanos provided a succinct description of the problems I had with "Hell To Pay": "While these books have cemented the author's reputation as one of the best current American crime writers... they seem to be continuing the author's well received formula of witty protagonists chasing unconflicted criminals behind the backdrop of popular culture references and D.C. landmarks." The excessive pop culture references and fetishistic attention to brand names seems to be a hang-up of a lot of crime writers, something like a self-conscious bastardization of on eof the tics of old school dime novelists. It's distracting and annoying, achieving the opposite of what I imagine to be the intended effect by taking me out of the story. I liked "Hard Revolution" a little more, a period piece set against the backdrop of D.C. at the time of the '68 riots, making it ostensibly more "serious." Still, he seems to have the need to place every scrap of research about the time he found interesting in the book, no matter how clumsily or transparently it comes across within the story.
I'd wanted to read something by him for a while, and a recent rip to D.C. triggered the impulse to go ahead and do it. He is remarkably specific about the neighborhoods and streets of the city, but I wonder if D.C. residents don't get tired of that after a while, thinking "He's just showing off." I suspect it mainly impresses other novelists. Supposedly, the D.C. quartet is his best work, and maybe I'll get around to reading it one day, but these two books served to remind me why I don't read much genre fiction. I read fiction primarily for the author's prose style and imagination, and these sort of archetypes and limited plot structures work much better for me as movies and t.v. shows than literature.(less)

like 1 like · see review

Oct 16, 2012 Josh rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own, noir, read_2012

Similar in style and substance to Pelecanos’ penultimate DC Quartet, ‘Hard Revolution’ is the forth novel to feature Derek Strange. Rather than a follow-up to the last Strange and Quinn PI novel ‘Soul Circus’, ‘Hard Revolution’ takes us back to a younger Derek growing up in the late 50’s and then on to his career as a police officer timed around the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968.

The echoes of a revolution are omnipresent, racial vilification bears a similar resemblance to Ed Lacy’...more Similar in style and substance to Pelecanos’ penultimate DC Quartet, ‘Hard Revolution’ is the forth novel to feature Derek Strange. Rather than a follow-up to the last Strange and Quinn PI novel ‘Soul Circus’, ‘Hard Revolution’ takes us back to a younger Derek growing up in the late 50’s and then on to his career as a police officer timed around the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968.

The echoes of a revolution are omnipresent, racial vilification bears a similar resemblance to Ed Lacy’s ‘Room to Swing’ but on a slightly different scale (in comparison of each independent protagonist; Derek Strange to Lacy’s PI in Toussaint Moore). Pelecanos’ affinity for music of the era is well documented to establish a sense of time and place to his characters environment while the deeply researched political climate and sportscast like commentary further enhance that yesteryear feel.

The criminal elements comprise of two murders - one a hit and run, the other a horrific murder by knife, both a case of white on black hate with Derek thrust into a key point on both. Added by his poster boy partner and respected hard-man of the force Frank Vaughn, Derek battles not only to protect the streets and bring justice to those responsible for the murders but also to maintain allegiance to the law during the race riots of the late 60’s in Washington D.C.

For added value Nick Stefanos, senior and junior circa 1968 make an appearance – a nice bit of cross pollination of the Strange PI series and the Stefanos novels. I like how Pelecanos is able to bring these worlds together. It doesn’t feel forced or impedes Derek’s story in any way, a smooth and subtle blending of his works and a nice easter egg for fans.

The strength to any Pelecanos novel is the characters. In ‘Hard Revolution’ you’ll grow with Derek, see the world through his brother’s eyes, feel the pain of loss and the joy of love, and rationalise the illegal dispensing of justice by those in blue for the greater good. ‘Hard Revolution’ is a great jumping on point to the world Pelecanos has created. I recommend reading it before ‘Right as Rain’, ‘Hell to Pay’, and ‘Soul Circus’.

My reviews of ‘Hell to Pay’ and ‘Soul Circus’ can be found below:

Hell to Pay - http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Soul Circus - http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I read ‘Right as Rain’ prior to reviewing on Goodreads.
(less)

like 3 likes · see review

Apr 02, 2012 Simon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Hard Revolution By George Pelecanos

If you've never read any George Pelecanos this
prequel would be a good place to start, as
although it wasn't his first book it takes you
right back to the roots of Derek Strange and
several other regular Pelecanos characters, back
in the 60's this book which is set a few weeks
prior to the murder of Martin Luther king and in
the ensuing riots in Washington really sets up
the other novels where George pelecanos uses
many of the core caracters such as Nick Stefa...more

like · see review

Nov 12, 2010 Sarah O. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I totally loved the atmosphere and characters of this book. I think Pelecanos does a fine job of summarizing the social mood at the time. The book takes place in 1969 and Derek Strange is just starting out in the Washington D.C. police force during a time of increased racial tension. The action of the book takes place during the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Washington D.C. riots that ensued. Strange has problems of his own, though, in investigating the hit-and-run murder...more

like · see review

Sep 28, 2010 Trena rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: didn-t-bother-finishing

Wow. This is some horrible writing.

One of my book clubs wanted to read a local author so we decided to give this guy a shot. I will give him that he did his research. He clearly went down to the library and copied down all the headlines from the Washington Post and Life magazine for the relevant time periods. Then he shuffled those headlines with a map and filled in the spaces with a few words.

The first section introduces a cast of thousands, each with no character development because there isn...more

like · see review

May 12, 2010 Ice rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: thriller, favorites

This fourth book in the Derek Strange cycle (Right as Rain, Hell to Pay, and Soul Circus precede it), finally takes longtime readers of Pelecanos to an event we've been waiting for him to deal with: Washington, D.C.'s 1968 riots. I wasn't even born until a few years after the riots, but growing up in D.C., it was hard to miss the physical and psychic scars they left on the city. Once again Pelecanos brilliantly uses the pulp crime novel as a vehicle for his sociocultural history of Washington, D...more This fourth book in the Derek Strange cycle (Right as Rain, Hell to Pay, and Soul Circus precede it), finally takes longtime readers of Pelecanos to an event we've been waiting for him to deal with: Washington, D.C.'s 1968 riots. I wasn't even born until a few years after the riots, but growing up in D.C., it was hard to miss the physical and psychic scars they left on the city. Once again Pelecanos brilliantly uses the pulp crime novel as a vehicle for his sociocultural history of Washington, D.C. This is one of his best works yet, acting as a prequel to the Strange series while seamlessly taking on issues of race, what it means to be a man, duty, and the nobility of work.

The story opens with Derek Strange passing from childhood to adolescence in 1959, running around his Northeast neighborhood where white and black kids uneasily co-exist. His best friend is a Greek boy whose father owns the diner where Derek's father sweats over the grill. These seventy pages introduce almost all the dramatis personae of the main part of the book, including Derek's family (mother, father, older brother), the no-good Martini brothers, Detective Frank Vaughn and his family, and two racist gearheads named Buzz and Stu. A final character is the city itself, which is undergoing transformation as postwar integration brings demographic changes with it. There's a little heavy handedness, when Derek gets caught shoplifting and a store owner's lecture sets him on the right path, but for the most part this part is a carefully crafted kaleidoscopic tour of the people and places that will come into play nine years later.

Part Two takes place in the spring of 1968, during the weeks preceding the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King and into the riots that broke out in response. The intervening decade or so has seen Derek grow up to become a police officer (as has his best friend, Lydel Blue), doing his best to protect and serve while being called an Uncle Tom by a lot of his people. Meanwhile his slacker older brother Dennis has drifted in a haze of revolutionary rhetoric and heavy pot smoking. Dennis wants to better himself, but is hobbled by seeing oppression everywhere and a lack of inner strength, and gets caught up in the small-time plots of his unsavory drug friends. The Martini brothers went to Vietnam and only one came back, while Buzz and Stu are spinning their wheels in the same old places, albeit in new rides.

As the city simmers in the summer heat and racial tensions mount, the petty half-baked schemes of Buzz and Stu and Dennis' so-called friends start to take shape. The two Strange brothers find their lives intersecting with two armed robberies just as the city explodes in a cathartic orgy of burning and looting. Meanwhile, Det. Vaughn is combing the streets for whomever killed a young black student in a hit and run. These storylines all coalesce into a bloodbath that is punctuated by the riots. The riots are ably described, although Pelecanos' prose loses its verve and lapses into clipped reportage reads like a dry newspaper account. Still, if you've never read about the riots, this will give you a sense of the chaos and senselessness of it all. (For a more complete picture, track down a copy of Ten Blocks From the White House.)

Other subplots involve Derek's attempt to make up his mind about Carmen, his childhood sweetheart and former girlfriend, and his uneasy relationship with his liberal white partner. Of course there's all the usual Pelecanos pop-culture stuff, cars, bars, movies (The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly plays a prominent role), and especially music (there are loads of discussions of soul, R&B, Motown, Stax, Volt, as well as many props given to DC-rocker Link Wray and his Raymen). At the end of the day, this is a brilliant book, not only because of its value as a cultural portrait of the real Washington, D.C., but for its discussion of race. Derek and his partner like and respect one another, but it takes them a while to realize that even with all the best intentions, one can never know what it is to walk in another man's shoes. There's also a very strong message embedded about the dignity and value of work--in this book, doing your job well is sometimes its own reward. This is a mature novel, one that deserves to break out of the crime shelves and into general readership--great stuff.(less)

like · see review

Feb 02, 2010 Adam rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: heart-of-darkness, noir

Hard Revolution works as a prequel for Pelecanos’s Quinn-Strange books and as an important piece in his interwoven portrait of Washington D.C. that he has painted via the medium of serial fiction. The ’68 riots and their influence on the city has long been a motif in his work. This moment of rage and self destruction that has cast a decades long shadow on the black working class and their neighborhoods. Pelecanos uses a stripped down reporter style delivery (even more than usual) that still mana...more

like 3 likes · see review

Nov 24, 2012 Lisa H. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, police-procedurals, series

Every time I pick up a George Pelecanos book, I have to convince myself to get it: his stories just don't seem to translate very well to compelling book-jacket blurbs. And every time, I am so glad I did.

What Pelecanos does so beautifully is to portray the often-boring everyday routines of police officers and petty criminals who may or may not have any direct interaction, interposing their stories as the characters cross paths at seemingly random points, until he pulls those threads in to a centr...more

like · see review

Aug 21, 2009 Dan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009

my favorite of the derek strange novels by far, and the one where pelecanos pulls everything together into something really rich and surprising. truth be told, this is the first of the four novels i've read of his that approaches the scope of the wire (for which he was a screenwriter).

the story here cuts back to the late sixties, when strange was a rookie cop. as one part of an ensemble cast, strange's world opens up into a mini-universe, and the sense of what's to come (both in terms of the cha...more

like 2 likes · see review

Feb 05, 2009 Bookmarks Magazine added it · review of another edition

Pelecanos first introduced a 50-something Derek Strange in Right as Rain, Hell to Pay, and Soul Circus. Hard Revolution takes us back in time and juxtaposes Derek's childhood with his early years as a cop. Pelecanos, a hard-boiled crime writer, sets this novel, like his previous ones, in a gritty, violent, and racist Washington, D.C. He makes no excuses for the era or place, describing the city and its workings in detailed, urgent, and often offensive prose. It's not a page-turner, but rather a

...more

like · see review

Feb 03, 2013 Elaine rated it 4 of 5 stars

My boyfriend read “Hard Revolution” first. It was one of his $1.99 National Liquidator specials. He really didn’t like it all that much, but he kept insisting that I would. The author, George Pelecanos was a writer for “The Wire” (one of my all-time favorite series). So for me, that was reason enough to give his book a try.

The story takes place in Washington, DC from the 1950’s though the 60’s. Its main focus is on the racial tension of that era. The cast of characters, both black and white are...more

like · see review

Mar 26, 2013 Matt Allen rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013-reads

The final novel in Pelecanos's Strange/Quinn quartet is presented as a prequel. Like the timeline of the fourth related to the first three, I found Hard Revolution a step back.

I appreciate what Pelecanos tried to do. Something very macro--a snapshot of a real time and culture told through the micro focus of fictional heroes and villains. Very Dennis Lehane and The Given Day. Both books had a bit of distance in the narrative that didn't really work for me.

With a plot that's long to unfold, it's...more

like · see review

May 18, 2010 Ann rated it 5 of 5 stars

Hard Revolution is a prequel to the other Derek Strange books from George Pelecanos and it is a stunner. It sneaks up on you, layering carefully the nuances and daily routine for young men from various walks of life in Washington, DC in the 50's and 60's culminating in the riots following the murder of Martin Luther King. Derek and his brother Dennis grow up surrounded by the love and support of two good parents. Is it Vietnam that changes Dennis or is it the life he sees ahead as a young black...more

like · see review

Dec 30, 2007 Tobey rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime-fiction

One minute I was learning who George Pelecanos was and the next I had a copy of this book in my hand. This book gives the background story of Derek Strange, one of Pelecanos' reoccuring characters. I read it first, and now I am excited to read more and see how the character was developed before this backstory was released.

like 1 like · see review

Feb 17, 2009 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What really makes this book special is the backdrop of Washington D.C. in the late-1960's and all the upheaval that was going on at this time. One of the characters explains that no revolution is ever easy, and the results of this time are being seen in today's current environment. I loved the descriptions of the characters through the kind of music they liked and listened to and why. It was a very unique way to get to know them, but one should be familiar with the music and artists in order to...more

like · see review

Jan 06, 2011 ABC Group rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A prequel to the first three novels that introduced Derek Strange and Terry Quinn, Hard Revolution mainly takes place in 1968, just before Martin Luther King's assassination. As you can imagine, the Civil Rights movement plays a heavy role in this novel. The impact of the social/racial politics of this time arm Pelecanos with the climax he needs to build up to the Derek Strange we came to know in the first 3 novels in this series, as well as the ability to tie all 4 books together...no small fea...more

like · see review

Aug 16, 2009 Redeyedndogtired rated it 3 of 5 stars

I've been listening to John Moore sing the praises of this Greek Baltimoron for quite some time and I give the writer no dint of praise for throwing Health up on his listening list.

This book certainly did not blow my mind. The writing was solid and I can only assume that GP's ability only suffered at his attempt to make this a "big" book. Tying a thriller to historically accurate touchstones of the sixties riots in D.C.

The books is smothered in cliches. Admittedly, almost all of those cliches ar...more

like · see review

Jun 29, 2007 Robert Fegley rated it 3 of 5 stars

Good, but not his best effort.

like 1 like · see review

Aug 05, 2008 David rated it 5 of 5 stars

excellent story

like 1 like · see review

May 06, 2013 Eddy Allen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery-and-suspense

"Derek Strange is a rookie cop, the job he's dreamed of since he was a boy. His brother, Dennis, has not been as fortunate; home from the service with a disability pension and zero prospects, he is a man with good intentions but bad habits. Derek has always looked out for Dennis, but no amount of brotherly love can save him from the dangerous world of Alvin Jones, a local bottom-feeder, hustler, and stone killer who draws him into his web of violence." While the rookie cop navigates the rocky te...more

like · see review

Oct 21, 2012 Tyler Collison rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

George Pelecanos is often categorized as a crime writer. The inciting incidents in his novels are often crimes, and his protagonists are almost always motivated by justice (or revenge, but what's the difference?), but to call Pelecanos a "crime writer" is to pigeonhole him unfairly. In Hard Revolution he follows some cops around, but more than anything this novel is an emblem of a decade of civil unrest—that of MLK-era Washington, D.C.

In Revolution, Pelecanos follows factions of the ongoing raci...more George Pelecanos is often categorized as a crime writer. The inciting incidents in his novels are often crimes, and his protagonists are almost always motivated by justice (or revenge, but what's the difference?), but to call Pelecanos a "crime writer" is to pigeonhole him unfairly. In Hard Revolution he follows some cops around, but more than anything this novel is an emblem of a decade of civil unrest—that of MLK-era Washington, D.C.

In Revolution, Pelecanos follows factions of the ongoing racial disputes of the time. There's Derek Strange, a black rookie cop, given his job in a widespread diversification of the police force—this an attempt to counter the escalating aggravation amongst the city's black population: police them with "their own kind" and things will work themselves out. There's Frank Vaughn, a murder police and employer of Derek's housecleaning mother, a man who does almost nothing—from his marriage to his job—by the book. There's two lower-class white men who go on benders and then harass the most defenseless black men they can find. And, among plenty other characters, there's Alvin Jones and Kenneth Willis, two black men who are disliked by their peers for their exemplification of the white man's stereotype. Though Strange is most prevalent for his connection to just about everyone in the novel, Pelecanos does wonderfully to show just how much each character is affected by the ongoing Civil Rights movement.

The most endearing, lively quality of Hard Revolution is its themes, chief among which is the idea that people are harbingers of their own fate, that everything one does creates one's path. There are varying philosophies throughout the cast of characters—letting someone "get where they're going" on their own vs. "helping them along"—and even when the novel ends, you're left questioning whether someone can redeem themselves or if they had been married to their fate ever since some long-ago choice. In this sense, it's like the characters are living out their own Goosebumps build-your-own-ending novels, leaving you second-guessing nearly every choice they make.

It's this life and freedom of choice given to the characters—well, that and the incredibly dark, near-apocalyptic conclusion—that makes Hard Revolution so much more than a great crime novel. A must-read for fans of James Sallis and Richard Price.(less)

like · see review

Jun 26, 2011 Larry Bassett rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime, historical-fiction

If you know popular (R&R, R&B, Motown) music, George Pelecanos will tell you what year it is by the tunes and the bands and other identifying details. Part I of Hard Revolution opens in the spring of 1959. I am not one who knows the music so the date on the lead page helps me out. You can just enjoy knowing that what you read in the next 71 pages is really taking you back to 1959 in metro DC. We meet Derek Strange as a teenager. We will get to know him better later in this book and in se...more If you know popular (R&R, R&B, Motown) music, George Pelecanos will tell you what year it is by the tunes and the bands and other identifying details. Part I of Hard Revolution opens in the spring of 1959. I am not one who knows the music so the date on the lead page helps me out. You can just enjoy knowing that what you read in the next 71 pages is really taking you back to 1959 in metro DC. We meet Derek Strange as a teenager. We will get to know him better later in this book and in several other Pelecanos novels. Derek is with one of his best friends, Billy, who is white. Derek is black. Their fathers work together in a greasy spoon. You will eat at that greasy spoon a few times.

We have met a dozen or so characters. You will wonder which ones will still be alive at the end of the book. You have some idea about who the losers might be. Pelecanos always has some very bad guys and a few pretty good guys. You won’t meet any really good guys. Everyone has their weak moments and rough spots. All of the people you get to know well will be men; women are girl friends and mothers and sex objects and secretaries whom we won’t get to know very well at all.

Just when we are getting comfortable with 1959, we find ourselves jumping forward nine years. It is the spring of 1968. It is still metro DC. It is the year of the MLK assassination and the DC riots. It is still Pelecanos: sellin’ drugs, smokin’, drinkin’, fightin’, fuckin’, killin’. Derek is now grown up and a black cop. His brother Dennis is a lost soul to drugs and bad friends. He says, “I been on a wrong road, seems like forever. Hard to change directions, I guess.” President Johnson tells the country on live TV that he is going to change direction and “will not seek or accept the nomination of my party . . .” Bad guys trying to go good. But it seems there will still be more death “waist deep in the big muddy…”

Pelecanos gets you thinking about relationships – with parents, with children, with lovers. He also makes you think about retribution and vigilante justice. Most every book. But it doesn’t get old. This book was published in 2004 and deserves to be considered historical fiction. The people are fiction but the DC riots and other events of 1968 are accurately portrayed. I find it hard to stop reading a Pelecanos novel once I start. This one easily gets four stars from me.
(less)

like 1 like · see review

Jan 29, 2008 Guy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Uitgelezen: Hard Revolution (2004) van Amerikaanse misdaadschrijver George Pelecanos, wiens naam meer en meer lijkt op te duiken, zowel in binnen- als buitenland. En terecht, want deze schrijver, die in 1992 (op z’n vijfendertigste) debuteerde, is intussen uitgegroeid tot een van m’n favoriete misdaadschrijvers (samen met James Ellroy en Michael Connelly). Pelecanos is niet enkel een romanschrijver, maar ook essayist, script writer (hij schreef enkele episodes voor de geweldige HBO-serie The Wir...more Uitgelezen: Hard Revolution (2004) van Amerikaanse misdaadschrijver George Pelecanos, wiens naam meer en meer lijkt op te duiken, zowel in binnen- als buitenland. En terecht, want deze schrijver, die in 1992 (op z’n vijfendertigste) debuteerde, is intussen uitgegroeid tot een van m’n favoriete misdaadschrijvers (samen met James Ellroy en Michael Connelly). Pelecanos is niet enkel een romanschrijver, maar ook essayist, script writer (hij schreef enkele episodes voor de geweldige HBO-serie The Wire) en muziekfanaat. Zo schreef hij artikels over allerhande genres en artiesten, is hij goed bevriend met Steve Wynn, en schreef hij zelfs een tekst voor diens laatste album …Tick…Tick…Tick (”Cindy It Was Always You”). Hard Revolution is na Right As Rain, Hell To Pay en Soul Circus, het vierde deel in de Derek Strange-reeks, maar chronologisch is dit het eerste boek, het is dus een uitgestelde proloog tot de andere drie. Met de vorige drie toonde Pelecanos al dat hij minder makkelijk een misdaadschrijver pur sang genoemd kon worden. Oudere werken als The Big Blowdown en King Suckerman waren geweldige pulpromans die je erdoor kon jagen op een avond, maar de Strange-reeks, met private-eye-op-leeftijd Strange als spilfiguur waren veel te veel begaan met het socio-politieke klimaat van de Amerikaanse grootsteden om zomaar gelabeld te worden als wegwerpliteratuur. Opmerkelijk en controversiëel: Pelecanos (van Griekse afkomst, maar blank), laat zwarte hoofdpersonages opdraven, en situeert volledige romans in het zwarte milieu: zowel de criminele uitspattingen als de familiescènes. In Hard Revolution is het politieke element meer dan ooit op de voorgrond getreden. De raciale verhoudingen in Washington, D.C., zijn de rode draad doorheen het boek. In het eerste deel (de eerste 70 pagina’s) zitten we in het Washington van 1959. Tegen de achtergrond van sluimerende ongenoegen in de zwarte gemeenschap, leren we Derek Strange kennen als twaalfjarige. Z’n ouders werken in dienst van blanken, maar zijn mensen van de oude stempel, die zwijgend doen wat van hen gevraagd wordt en opmerkingen en minachting van blanken proberen te negeren. Ook prominent aanwezig: Dennis, de oudere broer van Derek Strange, een jonge adolescent met meer uitgesproken meningen, en een aantal andere jongeren, die een hofdrol spelen in het tweede deel. Dat deel speelt zich af in 1968, tijdens de aanloop naar de massa-evenementen geleid door Dr. Martin Luther King. Op die tien jaar tijd is er heel wat veranderd, al zijn de omstandigheden nog niet wat ze zouden moeten zijn: de zwarte bewegingen staan sterker dan ooit, en er vallen veel meer agressieve signalen te horen uit de zwarte gemeenschap, waar de verschillende manieren van opstand vaak gelieerd zijn aan de generaties. Interessant daarbij is hoe dit gekoppeld wordt aan muziek, en toepasselijk in dit geval: soul. Artiesten als Sam Cooke en Jackie Wilson zijn van de oude stempel, hebben net als Ray Charles een gospelachtergrond, en pasten zich aan aan het witte establishment. Net zo met Motown. Pelecanos introduceert een stoere blanke racist, maar maakt van hem wel een soul-liefhebber, en eentje die dan nog perfect de perceptie van de late 60s weet te vatten: “He liked all kinds of R&B. But when he was looking to spend money in the record stores, he kept his eye out for the label Tamla, Gordy and Motown. There was nothin’ better than the Motown sound. those blue-gum singers they had down south, Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett and them, some of their stuff was okay, but when they got to grunting and sweating they were way too niggerish for Stewart’s tastes. The Motowners, they dressed high-class, in tuxes and gowns, and wore their hair like whites. What they were singing about, you could tell it just wasn’t meant for colored. (…) Sometimes, you closed your eyes, you could even pretend they were white.” Het is inderdaad het exacte tegenstelde van de reactie bij de zwarten die protesteerden tegen segregatie: zij zagen Motown net als een uitverkoop aan de blanke, de ultieme vorm van conformisme en het verlies van de zwarte identiteit. Die muziek investeerde inderdaad ook vooral in een grote, georchestreerde sound à la Spector en z’n meidenbands, en dat ten koste van de meer “negroïde” elementen als gospel, blues en religie, waar artiesten als Otis Redding en Wilson Pickett, die constant in een staat van religieuze extase leken te verkeren, wel voor stonden. Soms gaat Pelecanos hier misschien wat te ver in, en onderschat hij zijn lezers: als hij een vriendin van Strange laat zeggen dat het jammer is dat Redding (die een tijd ervoor omkwam bij een vliegtuigongeluk) er niet meer is, dan laat hij Strange ook nog eens zeggen waar, wanneer en in welke omstandigheden het tragische voorval gebeurde. Maar het is voor een muziekfan natuurlijk wel een enorme bonus dat Pelecanos ook het verhaal van soul in de 60s erin heeft gestopt. Het is de periode dat de artiesten radicaler werden, en de legendarische albums van Sly Stone en Marvin Gaye, en de zwartste funk van James Brown in aantocht waren. Het misdaadverhaal op zich lijkt minder belangrijk te zijn, maar is er wel degelijk, al komt het traag op gang. Het gebeurt via twee gelijkaardige driehoeksrelaties, een zwart en een blank, en beide hebben een (on-)rechtstreekse band met Strange. De twee trios bereiden een overval voor, en twee keer zal dit met desastreuze gevolgen aflopen, en dan net op een dag die een zwarte zou worden voor de zwarte gemeenschap. Pelecanos slaagt er op vernuftige wijze in een balans te vinden tussen een fictie en een waargebeurd verhaal. Zeker in de slothoofdstukken, die tonen hoe de rassenrellen steeds erger uit de hand lopen, komt hij op het terrein van James Ellroy; ook stilistisch, door het ritme nog eens de hoogte in te jagen. Als kers op de taart krijgt de trouwe Pelecanosfan dan ook nog een hele hoop verwijzingen cadeau. Zo zijn er de dubbele bodems die enkel iemand die de vorige romans heeft gelezen kan begrijpen (wat geen probleem vormt voor nieuwe lezers), wordt getoond hoe de obsessies van Strange (westerns, soul, etc) gegroeid zijn, en krijgt de lezer de kans om diezelfde Strange te evalueren als die allerhande toekomstplannen maakt (of het nu gaat over de aanschaf van een hond, liefdesverklaringen, of een beroepskeuze), nét door die voorkennis over de toekomst. Het geheel leidt opnieuw tot een sterke Pelecanos, die het misschien niet zozeer moet hebben van vaart en intrige, maar dit ruimschoots compenseert door een breder fundament en uitmuntend stilisme, zoals altijd. Pelecanos is een ”misdaadschrijver” (we gaan daar even niet moeilijk over doen) die in dit taalgebeid zijn gelijke nog moet krijgen. (****1/2)(less)

like · see review

Aug 10, 2012 Ken rated it 2 of 5 stars

SLOW!!! BORING!!! Man, this book took about 2/3rds of the way through to actually get going. Lots of times spent telling me who all lived on the street, what kind of car they drove and what music they listened to. And when it did get going, he missed a lot of opportunities to build tension and suspense, and to make me care about the people this was happening to. I may try another of the author's books one day, but if it doesn't get going quicker than this one, I'll abandon it.

like · see review

Feb 10, 2008 Tim W rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Solid, ambitious police procedural, following rookie black police officer Derek Strange. Racial tension in 1960s D.C. provides the backdrop. Strange is a compelling protagonist because his race and profession are in constant tension.

This one gives Pelecanos (who does some writing for the Wire now) a chance to survey the D.C. landscape before the 1968 MLK riots changed everything. You get to visit a nice cross-section of neighborhood streets, corner stores, biker bars, filling stations, and diner...more

like · see review

Aug 04, 2008 Andrea rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: police-procedural

More than a crime novel, this book is really a study of race relations in the 1960's. It took me a while to get into the flow of the book and to keep the various characters straight, but it was definitely worth the effort. Pelecanos is a master at creating narrative tension; you know what's going to happen, you just don't know exactly how it's all going to unfold, and the joy of the book is sticking with it to find out. He does a great job capturing speech patterns and attitudes; I find myself c...more

like · see review

Sep 07, 2008 Kellie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2005-reads, mystery-thrillers, strange-series, series

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

like · see review

Feb 08, 2010 MentorPublicLibrary rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime, grace-p

Fast-paced street crime thriller. The author is amazing with his knowledge of 1960s clubs, streets, news events, musicians and songs. He must have done a lot of research. It feels like a lot of characters sometimes and jumping back and forth between them but I couldn't wait to find out what was going on with the other characters. It really kept my attention. I want to try his other books.

like · see review

Feb 24, 2013 Barbara added it

This all happened in my time, in my hometown, so it is much harder for me to read George Pelecanos than Ngaio Marsh, for example, or even Michael Connelly. But I'm drawn to his stories the same way I am drawn back to my own family, parish, job, etc. Can't stay away. There is evil in the world as well as incompetence, and the result is always alienation from ourselves and others.

like · see review

Aug 09, 2011 Kirsten rated it 4 of 5 stars

Pretty good for a crime novel. I learned a lot about the '68 DC riots and got lots of P.O.V.'s from the time and place. Sometimes there's too much detail on DC locales and the local music of the time period to be interesting to anyone but a baby boomer DC native. Otherwise, I thought the characters and situations were realistic enough to be compelling (unlike most genre novels).

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 52 53 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend it | Stats | Recent status updates

combine
Other Editions (31)

More editions...

Genres

Mystery

20 users

Mystery > Crime

8 users

Thriller

7 users

Literature > American

5 users

Mystery > Noir

4 users

Novels

2 users

Literature

2 users

Superheroes > Dc Comics

2 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About George Pelecanos

George P. Pelecanos (born 1957 in Washington, D.C.) is an American author of detective fiction set primarily in the capital of the United States, Washington, D.C. He is also a film and television producer and a television writer. He has worked extensively on the HBO series The Wire. His novels use an ensemble cast of characters, following their exploits across several generations. While there are...more

More about George Pelecanos...

Books by George Pelecanos

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Hard Revolution

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

title link	preview: Hard Revolution
avg rating	preview: Hard Revolution Goodreads rating: 3.96 (1024 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/307548.Hard_Revolution?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347325062l/307548.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/307548.Hard_Revolution?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Hard Revolution by George Pelecanos[/url]

Hard Revolution (Derek Strange and Terry Quinn #4)

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website