Enjoyed "The Big Blowdown" so moved on to this 70's set second in the series immediately. Especially attracted by "Pelecanos's usual meticulous details of pop life..." (Publisher's Weekly). This was my era and George is of my generation, or in the ball-park of it at least. Well - "Clay nodded, then found his head moving to the gravelly Bill Lordan vocals, Trower's blues guitar working against a thick slab of bass." The problem here is that it is the bassist, James Dewer, who sings; Bill Lordan is simply the drummer. So? Meticulous, or just of the same age but creating a different universe? Will this irritation spoil the book - I doubt it. But I'll ignore the meticulous detail of the background because my faith in it's validity has been dented.

Fun book with a few too many wasted details. Pelecanos does the 70s up perfectly but spends a bit too much time on things that never end up mattering in my opinion.

Perhaps, now that I'm learning this is in fact part of a larger series, these details and character arcs come back in or source from other books... ( )

Another cracker from George Pelecanos - for me a modern day Steinbeck. ( )

Steengoede grootstads-noir. ( )

KING SUCKERMAN kicks off my favorite trilogy of George Pelecanos novels. It also reintroduces Dimitri Karras, who we met as a child in THE BIG BLOWDOWN. ( )