![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/pelecanos.jpg\")
<\/a>Have you read the collection of Appalachian short stories Kentucky Straight<\/em>?\u00a0 How about westerns by Elmore Leonard, or The Things They Carried\u00a0<\/em>by Tim O\u2019Brien?\u00a0 Michael Hudson has. In fact, he has read everything Anna the prison librarian has suggested. Incarcerated while awaiting trial, he\u2019s developed a bad reading habit. To him, a book becomes \u201c\u2026 like a piece of art \u2026 It made him see what he was reading. It was how he dreamed.\u201d\u00a0 When Michael leaves jail, he takes his habit with him, into a new life free of crime.<\/p>\nMaybe. He\u2019s free because a private detective named Phil Ornazian used a little extra-legal leverage to get Michael\u2019s victim to drop the charges. He needs Michael\u2019s skills as a \u201cwheelman\u201d for some over-the-legal-line activities he\u2019s slipped into. He uses blackmail to get Michael behind the wheel of a car. Michael struggles, but picks up a job, and a lot of books. Tension builds between Phil and Michael.<\/p>\n
Then Michael bumps into Anna in the bar where he\u2019s settled in as a staff member. Their bond carries over, and they meet a few times. Michael keeps up his reading habit, and Phil keeps involving Michael in his habit.<\/p>\n
Will Anna stay with her husband even though \u201cHer heart wanted many different things\u201d?\u00a0 Will Phil\u2019s frenzy catch up to him?\u00a0 Will Michael be pulled into a life of crime he desperately wants to leave behind?<\/p>\n
Although George Pelecanos applies all his skills here, with sharp dialogue, and the evocative D.C. setting he\u2019s known for, this book is actually about \u2014 books. Throughout, Anna \u2014 Pelecanos, duh \u2014 recommends books to prisoners, Michael keeps reading books she recommends, books that resonate with life and crime, a life of crime, and a life in crime. We get insight into the writing that the author values and honors. The greatest honor is paid to the master pulp writer John D. MacDonald. In her comments about The Deep Blue Good-Bye<\/em>to her prison reading group,\u00a0 \u201cAnna had argued that (the book) was \u2026 about the complex nature of masculinity and the cost of retribution.\u201d<\/p>\n So is this\u00a0 book. After you finish it, go back and read the MacDonald. Two great books. Two great writers.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer THE MAN WHO CAME UPTOWN. By George Pelecanos. Little, Brown. 263 pages. $27. Have you read the collection of Appalachian short stories Kentucky Straight?\u00a0 How about westerns by Elmore Leonard, or The Things They Carried\u00a0by Tim O\u2019Brien?\u00a0 Michael Hudson has. In fact, he has read everything Anna the prison librarian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[590,426,14],"tags":[1073],"class_list":["post-2401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-detective-fiction-mysteries","category-popular-fiction","category-thriller-suspense","tag-george-pelecanos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2401"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2401\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2406,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2401\/revisions\/2406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}