I am reading some of the early George Pelecanos having read most of his more recent work. It is interesting to see his progression as a writer. Shoedog was published in 1994 behind A Firing Offense A Five Star Title and Nick’s Trip by George Pelecanos. I usually like to work in a Pelecanos novel periodically just to avoid the possibility of a dull streak. Pelecanos is not dull! In fact, I am giving Shoedog an extra star because it got my heart rate up in a couple of intense situations. I was right there with all the guns. Pretty good for a 200 page book early in the career of a writer who just gets better. Of course, I am a fan so if you are not, maybe you want to subtract that extra star!Surprisingly the book does not begin in Metro DC. It does start on the shore of Maryland and progresses south into a flashback to a four year hitch with the Marines in North Carolina followed by some time in South Carolina and then a road trip via Baton Rouge to Los Angeles. Then off to New Zealand, then Thailand. Then France via Brussels, then to Amsterdam. Then via Italy to Greece. Are you still with me? Then NYC and back to Annapolis, Maryland. Remember Maryland? That’s where we started 17 years and 28 pages ago. We’ve had a whirlwind world tour complete with adventure, alcohol, drugs and sex, Pelecanos staples. Did I mention that the name of the main character is Constantine? Not Nick, but it does have that Pelecanos Greek aura. The “Beat” makes an appearance as well. But more on that later. Now the story begins.As chapter 4 begins we are back in familiar Pelecanos territory: the Capital Beltway, to Georgia Avenue through Silver Spring into Washington, DC and the “old neighborhood.” You knew we had to get there, right? Right. Constantine calls Katherine, the girl he left behind, now married with children, and they meet in a smoky bar, have a couple of drinks and go upstairs to his room. “So that was over now too,” he says to himself after she leaves. The chapter ends.George’s self-evaluation: In response to “Do you set goals?”: GP’s goal is to be a better writer, to continually improve. He now knows how to construct a mystery or thriller, now the challenge is to be a better writer. And more: GP also does not outline, it is more fun when you don’t know where it’s going. He doesn’t use researchers, does it himself, that is the fun part of writing a book. And even more: GP says you can waste 30 minutes trying to come up with a name so now he picks them out of the death notices in the paper…. the first name from one and the last name from another. Source: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...Shoedog? Of course, Shoedog! Why am I surprised that a character turns up with that nickname? But not until a quarter of the way through the book? He is going to be a central figure, right? But a shoe salesman who does armed robbery on the side? And, what do you think? Constantine and Shoedog (otherwise known as Randolph) get into talk of music and cars one of the first times they meet. They are smoking of course. This is Pelecanos, after all. So now we have the two main characters bonding.Plenty of Pelecanite things: cops at bars, Ain’t no thing, Big tips $8 on $33. The highest tip I have ever seen in GP is here: “Constantine left $30 on $19, pushed away from the bar.” There was also a scene in a porno shop, a location that I don’t think GP used again in his career.There is the common GP walk down memory lane – to the old sandlot, elementary school and home place that still housed his father whom he had not seen in 17 years – and did not see this time through except to see his silhouetted head by the blue light of a television late at night.If you can’t figure it out, Pelecanos will help you identify the bad guys. Good guys (Constantine) urinate; bad guys (Gorman) piss – there is plenty of both (another Pelecanos trademark) with all the drinking that is done. Gorman is also a cheapskate tipper and huffs glue. Bad guy. Of course, some people say that his Good Guys are just Bad Guys with a few redeeming qualities. I’d say that is about right.Probably my most significant criticism of Pelecanos is that he rarely has any women characters who are very well developed, and they are quite often a sex object. Pelecanos just doesn’t do women. Too bad.
Along with Dennis Lehane and Richard Price, Pelecanos is one of the three kings of literary crime novels. Personally, I'd add Ireland's Ken Bruen to the list as well. All of these authors pen books where the plots take a backseat to the characters and the verisimilitude of rough urban life. If you haven't read Pelecanos before, don't start with Shoedog, a book that has promise but is ultimately a mixed bag. On the good side, the book's hero, Constantine, is a typical Pelecanos protagonist, an outsider, of sorts, even when he's on the inside. We root for him even if we can't quite put a finger on why. The negative: many of the opening chapters are almost like Pelecanos is at a piano playing scales. It takes so long to get going and then he has a chapter of exposition where he follows Constantine for 17 years (that is not a typo) 17 years where no scenes takes place. We listen to the author tell us that Constantine lives here and lives there. He tells and tells. Finally he returns to DC and the story picks up. Why the novel didn't start here and how those awful chapters of exposition made it past editors is a mystery to me. For readers looking for Pelecanos books, start with either The Turnaround or The Night Gardener.
What do You think about Shoedog (2004)?
A drifter named Constantine winds up back in DC after more than a decade of drifting and finds himself entangled in a plot to rob two liquor stores at the same time. But can he keep his mind on the job when the girlfriend of the man bankrolling it has her sights set on him?Shoedog is a departure from Pelecanos' first couple of books featuring Nick Stefanos. This one features a larger cast and a different writing style. Instead of a straight up detective story, this one is more like a heist by Richard Stark or Elmore Leonard. Probably more on the Leonard side of things. It's written from multiple viewpoints in the third person, much different than the Stefanos books.Constantine, like Stefanos, is kind of a screw up but of a slightly different breed than our beloved Nick. He's a drifter, running his whole life. Things start coming unglued for him when he winds up back in DC for the first time since he was 17 and hooks up with another screw up named Polk. He and Polk get involved with a gangster named Grimes and things immediately spiral out of control.Even though the writing is different than in the Stefanos books, it's still Pelecanos and still pretty damn slick, complete with music references. The heist seemed flawed from the beginning and was doomed to come unglued, as did the fledgling relationship between Constantine and Delia. Parker never would have worked with a crew like this.I did like the way the dual heists were written, though. It felt like a sequence from a Guy Ritchie movie. An early one, like Snatch or Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, not anything after that.That's about all I can say without giving anything away. It's a quick and exciting read. Not my favorite Pelecanos by any stretch but not bad either.
—Dan Schwent
This is a solid, short crime novel about a drifter named Constantine. He is picked up as a hitchhiker by a man named Polk, and Polk brings Constantine along to make a stop. The stop leads to the involvement of the two men in a crime that brings them into contact with other criminals, some clever, some just animals. It is difficult to read the setup of this book, which was written in 1994, and not think of Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, which came out in 1992. While Shoedog is fine on its own, there are a number of similarities to the movie. It doesn't ruin the book, but if you have seen the movie, you will likely find yourself comparing and contrasting.There are some themes here that were present in Pelecanos' earlier work: there is a soundtrack playing throughout the novel, this time funk, there are characters who work in retail, and there are a number of people wo drink heavily and indulge in other chemicals. Pelecanos has his gritty style down here, and the dialogue and the conflicts between the characters seem real enough.There is a "reveal" at the end that would have been better off being left out of the book, because Pelecanos doesn't really do enough groundwork to interest the reader. Also, Constantine is a somewhat interesting character who Pelecanos wants to portray as being fairly anonymous. But he is not anonymous enough to be mysterious and not detailed enough to be interesting. It is hard to care what happens to him. On the positive side, the descriptions of the crime(s) in the book are really well done and well thought out. The characters interactions with one another are also good. These scenes, rather than the plot as a whole make the book worth reading.
—David
You know what you are getting with Pelecanos -- that is assuming you want some of it. On that point I'm not so keen. Always superbly captured atmosphere but in the general rule of the Pelencanos universe -- maschismo playing itself out among men.Observant stuff it's true --- but the plots are men tested by events and then trying to make their manly way through them.Shoedog is no exception. It's men being men by being hard working criminals even if they don't want to be like that. But then, a mans' gotta do what a man's gotta do...and some criminals are better men/better criminals than others. If that's your thing go fot it. But after reading a few Pelecanos novels I'm bowing out. I'm had my surfeit of anti-heroes living their lives in pseudo realistic mean streets....
—Dave Riley
