And he graduated from my high school, the venerable Northwood HS in Silver Spring, MD . . . yeah, I'm biased. But I didn't know he was a fellow alum until well after I'd been hooked by his work.
Owning Up isn't a crime novel. It's four short stories, as always, based in Washington DC:
1. The Amusement Machine: a small timer out of jail after passing some bad checks. On a lark, he puts his name in as an extra for a TV show being shot in Baltimore. Makes friends with an ambitious extra who wants more than to just stand in the background. He's after a speaking role. The check grifter? He's just looking for a score.
2. No Knock: a successful book and magazine writer's home is the subject of a no-knock warrant being executed. Seems the writer's oldest son was part of a mugging/hold up involving a drug dealer.
3. Knickerbocker: A young woman aspires to write. Wants to write an historical novel. She decides to narrow her research to her family history specifically in the years after WWI. She manages to locate a couple elderly relative and engages in some revealing oral history particularly around a disaster in a movie theater in the pre depression years.
4. Owning Up: A grown man remembering racial confrontations that have repeatedly descended upon DC over his lifetime.
Now these are a bit of a departure from his usual street crime forte. From the very start, these seem to be personal. Really personal. All of his books are respected for his skill at developing characters. While searching for a .jpg of the cover, I came across an NPR interview from Feb 2024 (at the time of publication). Turns out, No Knock actually happened to Pelecanos. 2009. Just blocks across the DC/MD border. Lights, cars, SWAT, rifles, to the floor, zip-tied, made fun of by the cops. In the 4th story is considerable detail about being in high school and getting talked into participating in a break-in. Does it sound like the author got roped into driving his car one night? And who knows just how much else were tales from his life. Betting there are plenty.
And while there are many reasons to admire his work, one aspect runs true through all his books - Washington, DC. He manages to portray DC geography and its sense of being into a critical character in all his books. I've read tons of mysteries/thrillers based in, or pass through, DC where the authors take liberties with the city (e.g., started walking from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol arriving about a half hour later. Yeah, like that's gonna happen. Given the current DC traffic you'd be lucky to drive that distance in a half hour). Not Pelecanos. He give DC to us as it is, warts and all; importantly, nary a mention of the federal government. Don't believe me? Have a DC atlas open and follow along.
And he STILL lives in Silver Spring, MD. Has stayed true to his roots. No Hollywood suck up here.
Pick up this book. It's short. You can read all 4 stories in an undisturbed day. And if it's your first Pelecanos book, plan on heading to your library to dive in and appreciate the gift Pelecanos shares with us.
Dennis Lehane says, "The guy's a national treasure." Stephen King has called him "Perhaps the greatest living American crime writer." Who are we to argue with the likes of Lehane and King?
East Coast Don (Northwood HS class of '67)
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