Review: Soul Circus

Speechless... That’s this reviewer. RIGHT AS RAIN. HELL TO PAY. Two outstanding books that took on the persona of a western in modern D.C. A D.C. blocks from the Washington Monument where the death toll rings far too frequently for an all too large group of young people. The only good money to be had comes from all the wrong places and a small group of neighbors reaches out trying to help with mixed results. Amongst these neighbors; Derrick Strange and Terry Quinn. Lawmen of a sorts in a lawless geography. As created by Pelecanos both of these men have evolved since the beginning of the Washington Trilogy. They are happier people. Living by individual credos and in relationships that have you thinking they are on their way to a good life.

Watch out for that sucker punch that’s about to hit you. Pelecanos has been lauded as “THE WASHINGTON VOICE” in mystery for a decade now. I’m afraid from here on in we’ll have to share him with the rest of the reading community . SOUL CIRCUS is a book rarely found. With two main characters fully developed and a cast of secondary characters so richly drawn you want the ones you like to leap from the page and those that you don’t to stay right where they are this book is very satisfying. With settings so remarkably drawn you can smell the activator in the beauty parlor and the stale beer in the saloon it becomes a highly recommended read.

There’s an incredible story here too. I will not give it away. I’ll leave that to the “professional” reviewers. Suffice to say at the beginning of this tale Strange is indeed following up on the promise that he made at the end of HELL TO PAY and there will be repercussions. There is a cameo appearance from another Pelecanos detective , Nick Stephanos just to drive the message of this Trilogy home.

The message that I’ve received from this trilogy is sad. If you want a light read better dust off Bleak House and leave this immensely readable tome on the shelf for another time. The message of Soul Circus a true one. Sometimes in our world even with heroes to protect us the inevitabily of violence is realized and we are indeed responsible. The evolution of individual characters cannot always stop the momentum of action. Not today.

Does this mean HOPE is gone in the realistic mystery? The climax of Pelecanos’ trilogy would seem to say yes. And yet there is such a humanity to the people, places and events that make up SOUL CIRCUS you must in the end say no.

In perhaps the most hard-boiled of the modern mysteries the message is in the end that hard-boiled is dead. It is not a credo we can live with any longer. God bless your characters Mr. Pelecanos, God bless your Washington. And thank you for making this sheltered, middle class woman have to think so hard.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Ruth Jordan - RAM

Book Review: Soul Circus