If you want a crime thriller with a fast plot, lots of action and suspense, then this is not the novel for you. I rated it 3 for those reasons.But before you read my review, I would encourage you to read reviews by others who consider this book excellent... many more people seem to like this book than dislike it. I do not want my viewpoint to stop you from reading a book that you might enjoy.But if you want to read a book that brings to life the culture, attitudes and drama of civil rights in the US, then this book is remarkable and probably deserves a 5.It is slow-moving, with too many details (exact locations in Washington, DC; cultural descriptions especially of music, bands, entertainment and fashion; cars of the era, etc.) It could almost be said to be boring. It is almost like an autobiography of a person who records every detail, even of the tedious events of life. But what comes across here is "ordinary". It is so ordinary that it is easy to relate to every character and situation, and feel as if you were actually there.If you were born in the late 40's, as I was, and lived through the civil rights era as a Canadian (Caucasian) spectator, then you would find this book so real that it almost seemed as if you were there all over again. Every time the author describes a car in detail, it brings me back to that time period when we had similar cars. As a result, I recall what we were experiencing and can easily make connections with what is happening in the book. I had friends who learned to carry guns because of the violence and uncertainty of this era, who sat with loaded guns on the floor of their apartment during riots and who moved to Canada to get away from the problem. From the city of Windsor, I saw Detroit burn and I avoided it for years. I saw front page pictures of lynchings and riots in our newspapers and extensive television coverage.I remember the greasy spoons where you had to make sure the kitchen was in the front where it could be seen; the department stores and fashions and small neighborhood stores; the gas stations where gas was pumped for you by an attendant; and the ubiquitous appeals to buy "on time".So, if this book is just an accurate rendering of this time period, more a history than a novel, why read it?Because, even though I have read many books describing the lives of people in the ghetto, including autobiographies, I have never read anything that made me feel so accurately the mind set and emotions and dreams of black people of this time period. I have read books about MLK and Malcolm X and other black leaders of this era. I have driven the Selma to Montgomery march, standing in the quadrant where blacks were trained to be hit by billy clubs but not react in anger or violence. I have seen the balcony where MLK was assassinated. I have visited the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati and looked down from the Rankin House in Ripley to the Ohio River and seen the almost impossible escape route to that house. I have visited Uncle Tom's Cabin in Dresden. I have even attended the Homecoming weekend at Buxton, Ontario, the site of the first planned community in Ontario for fugitive slaves, where we listened to blacks interacting, trying to trace their genealogy and find relatives. These people returned to Buxton to search the archives looking for records to find where family members had been sold more than 150 years ago and extend their knowledge of their genealogies.Why am I saying this? To show that I have not been ignorant of civil rights or the feelings of blacks in my lifetime. But this book has opened my eyes in interesting ways. I have a new insight into the attitudes, goals and desires of "ordinary" blacks during the civil rights movement. I hesitate to use this word lest it be misunderstood. But I am trying to say that I have a new understanding of the majority of blacks, not the activists or the politicians or the well-educated middle class like MLK or the welfare families, but the working class blacks with stable families who wanted equality but did not need integration to achieve self-confidence. They did not need or want "whites" to make themselves feel better about themselves. They wanted equality, equal wages for equal work, the right to live where they could afford, but they did not need to have "white" friendships to feel better about themselves. They already felt good about themselves, had strong family values and good morals, and were much less "racist" than "whites". They knew that change needed to come, they could feel it developing, and they flowed with it when it happened. They were ready for it and they used their opportunities well.I will think often of this book especially when I think of black history. But I won't think about Derek Strange or George Pelacanos or probably ever read another book in this series. I have more interesting crime novels to read.For bringing history and its people vividly to life, 5.For a realistic crime plot with reliable clues that allow the reader to solve the crime before the protagonist does, for writing style, for excitement, for entertainment, 1.
Similar in style and substance to Pelecanos’ penultimate DC Quartet, ‘Hard Revolution’ is the forth novel to feature Derek Strange. Rather than a follow-up to the last Strange and Quinn PI novel ‘Soul Circus’, ‘Hard Revolution’ takes us back to a younger Derek growing up in the late 50’s and then on to his career as a police officer timed around the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968. The echoes of a revolution are omnipresent, racial vilification bears a similar resemblance to Ed Lacy’s ‘Room to Swing’ but on a slightly different scale (in comparison of each independent protagonist; Derek Strange to Lacy’s PI in Toussaint Moore). Pelecanos’ affinity for music of the era is well documented to establish a sense of time and place to his characters environment while the deeply researched political climate and sportscast like commentary further enhance that yesteryear feel. The criminal elements comprise of two murders - one a hit and run, the other a horrific murder by knife, both a case of white on black hate with Derek thrust into a key point on both. Added by his poster boy partner and respected hard-man of the force Frank Vaughn, Derek battles not only to protect the streets and bring justice to those responsible for the murders but also to maintain allegiance to the law during the race riots of the late 60’s in Washington D.C. For added value Nick Stefanos, senior and junior circa 1968 make an appearance – a nice bit of cross pollination of the Strange PI series and the Stefanos novels. I like how Pelecanos is able to bring these worlds together. It doesn’t feel forced or impedes Derek’s story in any way, a smooth and subtle blending of his works and a nice easter egg for fans. The strength to any Pelecanos novel is the characters. In ‘Hard Revolution’ you’ll grow with Derek, see the world through his brother’s eyes, feel the pain of loss and the joy of love, and rationalise the illegal dispensing of justice by those in blue for the greater good. ‘Hard Revolution’ is a great jumping on point to the world Pelecanos has created. I recommend reading it before ‘Right as Rain’, ‘Hell to Pay’, and ‘Soul Circus’. My reviews of ‘Hell to Pay’ and ‘Soul Circus’ can be found below:Hell to Pay - http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...Soul Circus - http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...I read ‘Right as Rain’ prior to reviewing on Goodreads.
What do You think about Hard Revolution (2015)?
Hard Revolution By George Pelecanos If you've never read any George Pelecanos this prequel would be a good place to start, as although it wasn't his first book it takes you right back to the roots of Derek Strange and several other regular Pelecanos characters, back in the 60's this book which is set a few weeks prior to the murder of Martin Luther king and in the ensuing riots in Washington really sets up the other novels where George pelecanos uses many of the core caracters such as Nick Stefanos who gets a brief mention here and Frank Vaughn.Either way its a great read and seems all the more timely after Obama completed MLK's dream of a Black President elect, somehow proving that the revolution would be televised and shockingly non violent unlike the world of Washington in the 60's. With its casual racism and normal attention to detail the whole sad story of destruction unfolds and all I wanted to do was finally find out how it would all end.A good book to finish the year with.
—Simon
My boyfriend read “Hard Revolution” first. It was one of his $1.99 National Liquidator specials. He really didn’t like it all that much, but he kept insisting that I would. The author, George Pelecanos was a writer for “The Wire” (one of my all-time favorite series). So for me, that was reason enough to give his book a try. The story takes place in Washington, DC from the 1950’s though the 60’s. Its main focus is on the racial tension of that era. The cast of characters, both black and white are portrayed in an excellent manner. Pelecanos (in his subtle way) seemed to be sending a message to the reader: Good and evil comes in all colors. Hard Revolution is basically a crime novel. The hero, Derek Strange is a young black rookie cop. Derek is faced every day with robberies, drug dealings, killings for revenge, killings for fun, racial issues and the list goes on....George Pelecanos does a wonderful job of telling this story. He has a great way of bringing you back in time. All through the book he describes the old western movies, the look of the cars and the sounds of the music. He even mentions the names of some old popular department stores. With a bunch of historical facts thrown in for good measure, he's got the reader right there in the 60's with him. Well Frank you were right! I did like this book. I liked it a lot! Your $1.99 special was for me a winner! I'm going to give "Hard Revolution" four stars.I've been told that there's a whole series of Derek Strange novels out there. I will definitely be checking them out.
—Elaine
Hard Revolution works as a prequel for Pelecanos’s Quinn-Strange books and as an important piece in his interwoven portrait of Washington D.C. that he has painted via the medium of serial fiction. The ’68 riots and their influence on the city has long been a motif in his work. This moment of rage and self destruction that has cast a decades long shadow on the black working class and their neighborhoods. Pelecanos uses a stripped down reporter style delivery (even more than usual) that still manages to convey emotional weight and boil over with tension. Like British author Kim Newman Pelecanos must know what’s on his characters record shelves, and the scratchy Stax singles, sappy Motown ballads, 50’s crooners, and Link Wray’s blaring odes to teenage delinquency which avoid prototypical 60’s musical references have a lot to say about the working class world his character live in as the climatic events of 60’s (Vietnam, race riots and assassinations) rip apart their world. The Strange and Quinn stories represent a more mature but more restrained Pelecanos making them a step down from his masterful D.C. Quartet (I haven’t read the finale of the trilogy yet though) but this book is as energetic and large as those combining the historical exuberance of the Big Blowdown and King Suckerman with the more chilling soul scraping of Shame the Devil, but with an added element of a celebration of humanity for all its gouges and bruises of the soul. Cinematic energy( with references/homages I believe to Taxi driver and Peckinpah’s The Getaway), with greatest pieces like a heartbreaking and edge of the seat thrilling bank robbery feels like the conclusion, but then with out a break the apocalyptic reckoning of the riots descends on the book. Hard Revolution is an important and terrific book (tie maybe with Sweet Forever for his best in my mind) in the Pelecanos’s canon.
—Adam
