Right as Rain (Derek Strange & Terry Quinn #1) in The Wire

May 09, 2009 Thomas Johnson rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The best aspect of Right as Rain is its sense of gritty reality. Pelecanos knows the Maryland/D.C. area, and as someone who's lived in it my whole life I appreciated his detailed depiction of the city, while providing me with insight into a drug culture which is easily observable, but which I have never experienced up-close. Much of the novel's authentic feel comes from Pelecanos' depiction the devastating ripple effects of such a culture, or from showing the vast disparity between the wealthy t The best aspect of Right as Rain is its sense of gritty reality. Pelecanos knows the Maryland/D.C. area, and as someone who's lived in it my whole life I appreciated his detailed depiction of the city, while providing me with insight into a drug culture which is easily observable, but which I have never experienced up-close. Much of the novel's authentic feel comes from Pelecanos' depiction the devastating ripple effects of such a culture, or from showing the vast disparity between the wealthy titans at the top of the drug chain and the impoverished "runners" at the botton.

However, while the illicit business hierarchy Pelecanos is simultaneously fascinating and horrifying, the novel's emotional center rests on the relationship between Derek Strange and Terry Quinn, which acts as a sort of microcosm for race relations in DC. Both characters are aware of their having been born into a culture in which race colors one's perceptions of other people even when one would rather deny it, as Quinn tries to.

Quinn's struggle to understand his reasons for shooting a black police officer, and overcome his own prejudices was the most compelling part of the novel, for me, because Pelecanos portrayed the matter with great nuance and baldness. Likewise, Strange's attempts to help Quinn come to grips with his actions while struggling himself to understand the full scope of those actions made his character sympathetic, in spite of his immense phobia of commitment.

Because Pelecanos' writing, while terse, contained so much nuance in the area of race relations, my only real disappointment in the book was a scene in which Pelecanos seems to preach to the audience, through Strange, about a two-pronged solution to fixing DC's problems: drug legalization and a national ban on handguns. I don't begrudge Pelecanos for expressing or endorsing those ideas in the book -- expressing one's ideas is, after all, part of fiction's purpose. I was simply disappointed that he allowed for no dialogue between Strange and Quinn on the issues, instead having Strange portray all pro-gun control proponents and drug-legalization opponents as cowards or idiots. As Pelecanos had allowed his characters to express differing views on other social issues throughout the novel, though one view clearly comes out on top, I was frustrated that he presented these debates in such a one-dimensional manner.

Nevertheless, Right as Rain is overall an absorbing, masterfully suspenseful mystery which speaks to real personal battles and greater social issues. I recommend it, and look forward to reading more Pelecanos in the future. ...more

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Jun 12, 2008 Chad rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, detective, mystery

This is my first Pelecanos book, and I am impressed. I first picked up "Drama City" on a whim after seeing a character in "The Wire" reading it...not until further research did I realize that Pelecanos wrote for "The Wire." So now I have a few titles, and I'm glad I started with this one, as it begins the series involving Strange and Quinn. Looking forward to catching up on some of his novels and checking out some of the films he's worked on, especially the possibility of this book becoming a fi ...more

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