A quick, engrossing read. Character development could have been better, but the story was a good one and kept my attention. ( )

DC cops. Very good so far. Surprisingly moving.
Finished.
And continued to be one of the most human cop/detective novels I've ever read. Really, very good writing, story, and characters. ( )

Reading this book was very much like reading an episode of The Wire. ( )

This was a terrific book. I haven't read anything by him in quite awhile. The story centers around a cop, Ramone, who is trying to find a serial killer of children. The killer's MO is similar to a cold case form 1985. Ramone works with Cook, a retired cop and Dan (Doc) Holiday, a resigned cop who used to be Ramone's partner. The interplay among the 3 of them is so engaging. What I love most about Pelecanos' work is his intimate knowledge of the Dc area. In one paragraph he mentions the neighborhood of Suitland and how dangerous it is. Since I grew up in Suitland, I know he is deeply familiar with that area and all of PG county and DC. ( )

The prologue to George Pelicanos’ [The Night Gardener] opens on a crime scene where a serial killer has left a new body. Unlike most police procedurals, the event is not seen through the eyes of a grizzled veteran trying to match wits with a killer of superhuman intelligence and instinct. Instead, Pelicanos puts you in two rookie’s shoes, uniforms pulling security. Standing at the crime scene tape, hoping not to screw up, we are privy to their hopes and their frailties as the dream of detective’s gold shields. The book then shifts to the same two men, twenty years on – one has achieved that gold shield, while the other has shamefully lost his job and is working as a chauffeur. They are brought together again when a new body is discovered in a public garden, killed in the same manner as the still unsolved serial murders from their rookie days.

Pelicanos’ fame in crime fiction comes mostly from his days writing for the wildly popular HBO series “The Wire.” The novel, like the series, focuses as much on the personal lives of the investigators as it does the crime itself. The book is at its best with the murder as a backdrop, distinguishing it from the rest of the genre’s offerings. But it suffers when Pelicanos tries to force drama into the narrative using his own film-trained imagination rather than sticking to what would be accurate details in a procedural. It’s tiring to keep reading police stories where the cops ignore the law and violate basic rights, and everything works out just fine.

Pelicanos almost survives his movie urges, making the book a slightly better than average police procedural. There’s no need to invent drama in these stories with improbable plot twists and cops ignoring the rules. The drama is inherent, especially when the good guys have to color in the lines to get their jobs done.

Bottom Line: Slightly better than the typical police procedural.

3 ½ bones!!!!! ( )