Book Review: OWNING UP: NEW FICTION by George Pelecanos

OWNING UP: NEW FICTION by George Pelecanos (Mulholland Books, February 2024) Hardcover, 240 pages. ISBN # 9780316570473

Synopsis on the Goodreads website . . . . .

Four blistering novellas, drawn together by themes of strife, violence, and humanity, from esteemed crime fiction writer George Pelecanos; "Like his hero Elmore Leonard, Pelecanos finds the humanity in the lowest of lowlifes." ( Chicago Tribune )

When the son of the Carusos is involved in a hold up, the family home comes under siege in the form of a no-knock warrant. Months after the cops destroyed their home, the Carusos struggle to return to normal. Elsewhere, two former inmates reunite by chance on the set of a TV production. Both have found their way on the straight and narrow path, that is, until one sees the potential for an easy grift. A teenage boy must step into the man he'd like to be as a hostage crisis grips his hometown. A woman adrift meets a man tied to her grandmother's past, an encounter that awakens her to a bloody history that undergirds the place she grew up. 

Pelecanos' portraits are characterized by shades of grey, resisting the mold of heroes and villains, victims and perpetrators, good and evil. At once streetwise and full of heart, Owning Up grapples with random chance, the bind of consequence, and the forked paths a life can take. 

My Four-Star Review on the Goodreads website . . . . .

     I’ve always admired the crime fiction of George Pelecanos, his ability to convey so much with short, crisp sentences and an abundance of realistic dialogue. His tales always give the impression of being narrated by street-smart individuals (whether written as first-person narratives or third-person descriptions). 

     The four short novellas here do not feature professional criminals but in most cases deal with everyday people pulled into borderline criminal situations - - and is stronger for it. As a bonus readers learn quite a bit about dramatic periods in actual history occurring in Washington D.C. and Baltimore, two areas which Pelecanos knows so well and features well-known streets and landmarks. 

     The inclusion of actual events should also qualify this collection for the historical fiction label as well as crime fiction. 

This collection could have had "And Growing Up" added to the title. The one commonality is that all four protagonists in these stories have an epiphany of major and minor degrees that changes their morals or world view and shows their development/maturity.

     This would make a great introduction to Pelecanos' writing. I look forward to his next novel.