By 1968, Derek is a young cop partnered with a white guy Dennis is a pot-smoking slacker and many of their acquaintances from '59 are working dead-end jobs with an eye toward crime. The first few chapters, though, unfold in 1959, introducing major characters whose paths will entwine later: Derek who's nabbed for shoplifting but given a break that will set his life on a (more or less) law-abiding path and his older brother, Dennis their hardworking parents and some ancillary figures. This memorable tale is a prequel to those novels, set in Washington, D.C., mostly just before and during the 1968 riots sparked by the killing of Martin Luther King Jr. The author's admirers are familiar with middle-aged black PI Derek Strange, featured in several novels (Soul Circus, etc.) so strong that one critic has dubbed Pelecanos the Zola of contemporary crime fiction.
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