The Man Who Came Uptown

July 1, 2018
Pelecanos (The Martini Shot, 2015, etc.) follows the trails of three nominally free agents drawn together by the matrix of the D.C. jail.Michael Hudson has been arrested and is awaiting trial for robbery. Phil Ornazian is an investigator who works for Matthew Mirapaul, his old friend and Michael's lawyer. Anna Kaplan Byrne is the prison librarian who supplies Michael with the novels that make him feel, for as long as he's reading, that "he was not locked up. He was free." The prison setting makes it clear who the good guys and the bad guys are. Then Ornazian gets Michael freed by encouraging the man who accused him not to testify, and it's not so clear anymore. Michael, supported by Doretha Hudson, the mother who speaks plainly of both her disappointment and her hope in him, seems to be making ends meet working as a dishwasher in the District Line, a local restaurant. Ornazian, who runs an occasional sideline with bail bondsman Thaddeus Ward to rob local pimps, gets a lead on a ripe new target named Gustav at the same time he's working a case of vandalism, robbery, and assault for a client of Mirapaul's who hasn't wanted to expose to the authorities his daughter's folly in advertising on Facebook the party that was crashed by the vandals. Anna finds herself running into Michael at the District Line and, more disquietingly, outside her home. She very much wants Michael to go straight. He wants to go straight himself. But Ornazian wants him to drive the getaway car for his latest hijacking, and then the one after that. How can he possibly stay clean?Using his customary knowing dialogue and stripped-down, soulful prose, Pelecanos skillfully, sensitively works the urban frontier where the problems and stresses of everyday life cross the line into the sort of criminal behavior that could tempt anyone--anyone at all.

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Starred review from July 16, 2018
Michael Hudson, the hero of this unforgettable novel of crime, redemption, and the transformative power of the written word from Edgar-finalist Pelecanos (The Double), awaits trial in a Washington, D.C., jail for armed robbery. Like many of his fellow inmates, Hudson has taken to reading as a way to pass the time. He looks forward to the books carefully chosen for him by jail librarian Anna Byrne, who leads regular book discussion groups. As Hudson devours novels, he begins to catch a glimpse of a larger world outside, one that he didn’t realize was available to him. Meanwhile, Phil Orzanian, an investigator for Hudson’s defense attorney, dissuades a witness from testifying, and Hudson is suddenly out free. Orzanian turns out to run a side business robbing drug dealers and other criminals of their ill-gotten gains, and he reminds Hudson of the debt the former inmate owes him. As the fates of Hudson, Orzanian, and Byrne collide, Pelecanos shows that doing the right thing isn’t always the easiest option. Inspired by the author’s own experience with prison literacy programs, this is the work of a master storyteller at the top of his game. Agent: Sloan Harris, ICM Partners.

July 1, 2018
Pelecanos' first novel in five years (following The Double) proves well worth the wait. There are two protagonists here and two very different but related story lines. Anna Kaplan is the mobile librarian at the Washington, D.C., jail, where she is both readers' advisor and book-club leader to inmates ranging from juveniles to those in the Fifty and Older unit. Michael Hudson is one of Anna's prot�g�s, a young African American who had never read a book before going to prison but who now wolfs down everything Anna feeds him, from Elmore Leonard to Edward P. Jones to Dinaw Mengestu's The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears. Released from prison and returning to D.C. ( going uptown in jail parlance), he dives into the pleasures of reading on the outside?getting his own library card, buying a bookshelf?but he also finds himself drawn back into the criminal life. Blackmailed by the bent investigator who engineered his release from prison, Michael is forced to serve as getaway driver for several vigilante-like strikes against drug dealers and pimps. The thriller plot is taut and suspenseful, as jolting as it is carefully nuanced, but it is Pelecanos' focus on character, on his ability to show the richness and depth of his people, as well as their often-heartbreaking yearning for something more, that gives this novel?and all his work?its special power. The fact that this time that elusive something more comes in the form of books will make this a novel to treasure for anyone who, like Michael, has been bitten by the reading bug. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

Starred review from July 1, 2018
Pelecanos' first novel in five years (following The Double) proves well worth the wait. There are two protagonists here and two very different but related story lines. Anna Kaplan is the mobile librarian at the Washington, D.C., jail, where she is both readers' advisor and book-club leader to inmates ranging from juveniles to those in the Fifty and Older unit. Michael Hudson is one of Anna's prot�g�s, a young African American who had never read a book before going to prison but who now wolfs down everything Anna feeds him, from Elmore Leonard to Edward P. Jones to Dinaw Mengestu's The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears. Released from prison and returning to D.C. ( going uptown in jail parlance), he dives into the pleasures of reading on the outside?getting his own library card, buying a bookshelf?but he also finds himself drawn back into the criminal life. Blackmailed by the bent investigator who engineered his release from prison, Michael is forced to serve as getaway driver for several vigilante-like strikes against drug dealers and pimps. The thriller plot is taut and suspenseful, as jolting as it is carefully nuanced, but it is Pelecanos' focus on character, on his ability to show the richness and depth of his people, as well as their often-heartbreaking yearning for something more, that gives this novel?and all his work?its special power. The fact that this time that elusive something more comes in the form of books will make this a novel to treasure for anyone who, like Michael, has been bitten by the reading bug. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

Starred review from September 1, 2018

A love letter to the power of reading and small acts of kindness, this novel focuses on Michael Hudson, a young man who discovers his passion for reading while awaiting sentencing on a gun charge. The charges are eventually dropped, and Michael returns to his Washington, DC, home, resolved to stay out of prison and build a better life. The private detective who helped with his case has other ideas, and the tension of the novel is whether Michael can extricate himself from the crooked path the detective is planning for him. A quick read, but not slight, this story deftly touches on issues of friendship, gentrification, human trafficking, the resurgence of white supremacy, and what it means to cross a moral line. As with all novels by Pelecanos (The Cut; Right as Rain), the characters, even the minor ones, are intriguing and could be spun off into their own novels. As a bonus, through the actions of prison librarian Anna, the book also serves to provide excellent readers' advisory on a wide variety of fiction. VERDICT For readers who enjoy mysteries for their atmosphere and social commentary, this work does not disappoint.--Julie Elliott, Indiana Univ. Lib., South Bend

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