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Spero Lucas #2
The Double
Every man has his dark side...Spero Lucas confronts his own in the most explosive thriller yet from the writer of the award-winning THE WIRE
The second novel featuring Spero Lucas, a young Iraq vet working as a PI in Washington DC but with a sideline in finding lost items - the kind of items the owners can't go to the police about. This time Spero is trying to find a painting belonging to a sexy young woman who was scammed out of it by a super-smooth con artist, part of a team of ruthless thugs. Spero tracks the painting down but the woman is brutally attacked to warn him off.
Spero goes on the attack and takes the gang out one by one in their isolated house in the woods - prompting the question: have his experiences in Iraq turned him into an amoral killer no better than the crooks he's up against? It's this question that gives the book its dark edge, and moral ambiguity, with a hero we're not quite sure we should like.
The second novel featuring Spero Lucas, a young Iraq vet working as a PI in Washington DC but with a sideline in finding lost items - the kind of items the owners can't go to the police about. This time Spero is trying to find a painting belonging to a sexy young woman who was scammed out of it by a super-smooth con artist, part of a team of ruthless thugs. Spero tracks the painting down but the woman is brutally attacked to warn him off.
Spero goes on the attack and takes the gang out one by one in their isolated house in the woods - prompting the question: have his experiences in Iraq turned him into an amoral killer no better than the crooks he's up against? It's this question that gives the book its dark edge, and moral ambiguity, with a hero we're not quite sure we should like.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published October 8, 2013
About the author
George P. Pelecanos
65 books1,564 followersGeorge Pelecanos was born in Washington, D.C., in 1957. He worked as a line cook, dishwasher, bartender, and woman's shoe salesman before publishing his first novel in 1992.
Pelecanos is the author of eighteen novels set in and around Washington, D.C.: A Firing Offense, Nick's Trip, Shoedog, Down by the River Where the Dead Men Go, The Big Blowdown, King Suckerman, The Sweet Forever, Shame the Devil, Right as Rain, Hell to Pay, Soul Circus, Hard Revolution, Drama City, The Night Gardener, The Turnaround, The Way Home, The Cut, and What It Was. He has been the recipient of the Raymond Chandler award in Italy, the Falcon award in Japan, and the Grand Prix du Roman Noir in France. Hell to Pay and Soul Circus were awarded the 2003 and 2004 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes. His short fiction has appeared in Esquire, Playboy, and the collections Unusual Suspects, Best American Mystery Stories of 1997, Measures of Poison, Best American Mystery Stories of 2002, Men from Boys, and Murder at the Foul Line. He served as editor on the collections D.C. Noir and D.C. Noir 2: The Classics, as well as The Best Mystery Stories of 2008. He is an award-winning essayist who has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, GQ, Sight and Sound, Uncut, Mojo, and numerous other publications. Esquire called him "the poet laureate of the D.C. crime world." In Entertainment Weekly, Stephen King wrote that Pelecanos is "perhaps the greatest living American crime writer." Pelecanos would like to note that Mr. King used the qualifier "perhaps."
Pelecanos served as producer on the feature films Caught (Robert M. Young, 1996), Whatever, (Susan Skoog, 1998) and BlackMale (George and Mike Baluzy, 1999), and was the U.S. distributor of John Woo's cult classic, The Killer and Richard Bugajski's Interrogation. Most recently, he was a producer, writer, and story editor for the acclaimed HBO dramatic series, The Wire, winner of the Peabody Award and the AFI Award. He was nominated for an Emmy for his writing on that show. He was a writer and co-producer on the World War II miniseries The Pacific, and is currently at work as an executive producer and writer on David Simon's HBO dramatic series Treme, shot in New Orleans.
Pelecanos lives with his family in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Pelecanos is the author of eighteen novels set in and around Washington, D.C.: A Firing Offense, Nick's Trip, Shoedog, Down by the River Where the Dead Men Go, The Big Blowdown, King Suckerman, The Sweet Forever, Shame the Devil, Right as Rain, Hell to Pay, Soul Circus, Hard Revolution, Drama City, The Night Gardener, The Turnaround, The Way Home, The Cut, and What It Was. He has been the recipient of the Raymond Chandler award in Italy, the Falcon award in Japan, and the Grand Prix du Roman Noir in France. Hell to Pay and Soul Circus were awarded the 2003 and 2004 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes. His short fiction has appeared in Esquire, Playboy, and the collections Unusual Suspects, Best American Mystery Stories of 1997, Measures of Poison, Best American Mystery Stories of 2002, Men from Boys, and Murder at the Foul Line. He served as editor on the collections D.C. Noir and D.C. Noir 2: The Classics, as well as The Best Mystery Stories of 2008. He is an award-winning essayist who has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, GQ, Sight and Sound, Uncut, Mojo, and numerous other publications. Esquire called him "the poet laureate of the D.C. crime world." In Entertainment Weekly, Stephen King wrote that Pelecanos is "perhaps the greatest living American crime writer." Pelecanos would like to note that Mr. King used the qualifier "perhaps."
Pelecanos served as producer on the feature films Caught (Robert M. Young, 1996), Whatever, (Susan Skoog, 1998) and BlackMale (George and Mike Baluzy, 1999), and was the U.S. distributor of John Woo's cult classic, The Killer and Richard Bugajski's Interrogation. Most recently, he was a producer, writer, and story editor for the acclaimed HBO dramatic series, The Wire, winner of the Peabody Award and the AFI Award. He was nominated for an Emmy for his writing on that show. He was a writer and co-producer on the World War II miniseries The Pacific, and is currently at work as an executive producer and writer on David Simon's HBO dramatic series Treme, shot in New Orleans.
Pelecanos lives with his family in Silver Spring, Maryland.
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May 20, 2013
While trying to clear a man for the murder of his mistress, Spero Lucas takes on another case, the case of a painting stolen by a woman's former lover. Further complicating things is a love affair Spero is having with a married woman. Can Spero recover The Double and survive his new lady love with his health intact?
First, the official business. I got this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for reviewing it. This new Kindle is quickly paying for itself.
The first Spero Lucas book, The Cut, was also my first George Pelecanos. Since then, I've read the Nick Stefanos trilogy and the first two books in the DC Quartet. Pelecanos really does like his heroes damaged, doesn't he?
As in the first book, Spero Lucas is a Gulf War vet with some trouble adjusting to civilian life. He makes his living recovering stolen property for people in exchange for 40% of the value. The Double, the painting of the title, will net him 80 large should he manage to recover it. That's a thick slice of pizza. The addition of his love affair with Charlotte really sets this one above most other detective stories. When a ladies man like Spero falls for a woman, he falls hard. I found myself empathizing with him while he was waiting for her to call him.
The villains of the piece, Billy Hunter and his cronies, were reprehensible pieces of garbage and I couldn't wait for Spero to catch up with them. The thing that keeps this from becoming a mindless actionfest is that Spero has a lot of soul searching moments and a lot more baggage from his time as a marine than originally displayed. Not that he can't dish out the violence. The final fist fight in this one is among the most brutal I've ever read.
The Double was a little lighter on musical references but it still hit all the sweet spots for me and my unconventional tastes, namely Ernest Ranglin and numerous mentions of dub records. I like that Pelecanos brought back much of the supporting cast of the first book. I'll be sad once he starts picking them off.
To sum up, I liked this just as much as the The Cut. It's top notch and I'm reading for another Spero Lucas novel. Get writing, George!
First, the official business. I got this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for reviewing it. This new Kindle is quickly paying for itself.
The first Spero Lucas book, The Cut, was also my first George Pelecanos. Since then, I've read the Nick Stefanos trilogy and the first two books in the DC Quartet. Pelecanos really does like his heroes damaged, doesn't he?
As in the first book, Spero Lucas is a Gulf War vet with some trouble adjusting to civilian life. He makes his living recovering stolen property for people in exchange for 40% of the value. The Double, the painting of the title, will net him 80 large should he manage to recover it. That's a thick slice of pizza. The addition of his love affair with Charlotte really sets this one above most other detective stories. When a ladies man like Spero falls for a woman, he falls hard. I found myself empathizing with him while he was waiting for her to call him.
The villains of the piece, Billy Hunter and his cronies, were reprehensible pieces of garbage and I couldn't wait for Spero to catch up with them. The thing that keeps this from becoming a mindless actionfest is that Spero has a lot of soul searching moments and a lot more baggage from his time as a marine than originally displayed. Not that he can't dish out the violence. The final fist fight in this one is among the most brutal I've ever read.
The Double was a little lighter on musical references but it still hit all the sweet spots for me and my unconventional tastes, namely Ernest Ranglin and numerous mentions of dub records. I like that Pelecanos brought back much of the supporting cast of the first book. I'll be sad once he starts picking them off.
To sum up, I liked this just as much as the The Cut. It's top notch and I'm reading for another Spero Lucas novel. Get writing, George!
February 14, 2014
I'm in a few week period where I can read anything I'd like, and I have been using that time to read new books that I am not necessarily all that excited for. For a change I decided, I'm going to read something I've been meaning to read and that I'll enjoy and life will be good. So I picked The Double, the newest novel by George Pelecanos, which I've been meaning to get around to for almost a year.
I only have an ARC, but the always wonderful Karen got it for me at last year's BEA and it's inscribed by Pelecanos. That's a nice thing, right? The book also doesn't have the kind of embarrassing author photo that the hardcover had, so that's a nice thing, too.
I started reading the book wearing a pair of earth tone Schmidt carpenter pants, a plaid Old Navy short sleeve button up shirt, a black Fruit of the Loom band t-shirt for the righteous West Bay 1990's PowerViolence band Spazz's 1997 summer tour, the one with the Mexican wrestler on the backside. I'd seen them out at the VFW hall out in Colonie, New York, out past Wolf Road and near the Airport. Spazz play the kind of aggressive, three-tone growled yelling vocals with no-guitar solos and constant rythm change in twenty second songs that I dig. I also wore an insulated black Schmidt pull-over hoodie. On my head was a black knit winter hat with a German chemical company's logo on it. I also had on a black wool coat from Old Navy, a pair of Haines boxer-briefs, a white pair of athletic socks with the grey fabric near the toes and heels and a brown pair of Sketcher shoes.
I started to read the book on the subway. I took the 7 train, one of the newer lines run by the Metropolitian Transit Authority, which New Yorkers more commonly call the MTA. The classic red cars had been discontinued years ago, and they were now just a mere memory to a new generation of cars that were usurping the usurping subway cars. They are the ones with the LED lights and the robot voice. Blander and without the character of the old red cars, and a sign of more change and homogenity in what some people call the Big Apple, some people Gotham, but which other people call home. Some of the people who call the Big Apple home were members of various New York Hardcore bands that played in venues like CBGB's and A7, both now defunct.
There were many people on the subway car with me as I started to read the book. They were also wearing clothes. I wish I had made a note to jot down what they were all wearing.
The subway stopped at the 50th st Station. And then at 46th and the 40th Street stations. We passed where the old Sunnyside Gardens had stood, the home to many prize fights, which old-timers still fondly remember. We continued on in the train past the LaGuardia High School stop and then to Queensboro Plaza, where I transferred to a Manhattan bound N train.
There were more people on that train and they were wearing all different kinds of clothes made by different brands. We passed underneath the East River and stopped at Lexington Avenue where many people got off the train and I was able to get a seat. The person sitting next to me was wearing....
etc.
The story was fairly good, that is when the story was going on. It took about a hundred pages for the actual story to get going though, and those first hundred pages were filled with minor subplots that would all wrap together in various ways, but they were kind of insubstantial. What was substantial were the number of company names dropped. I started to feel like Pelecanos must have been getting money for making product placements. Nike boots are mentioned multiple times, restaurants are eaten in and the characters seem to talk in marketing slogans for the restaurant. Spero (the main character) measures some tire tracks and he doesn't just measure them with a tape measure, but with a Craftsman tape measure. He talks about buying his clothes at Sears. Two brothers open up a conversation with one another by the one saying, something like, "I see you've gone with the fitted Polo shirt," and the other going, "And I see you have picked the blah blah blah from the LL Bean catalog."
Pelecanos always seemed to enjoy giving too many details in his books, but they were usually about jobs or gave an insiders view into Washington DC, but this was just about the most trivial shit, every outfit was talked about. Seriously.
And never mind the sex scenes. Oh boy, were those bad. The word helmet shouldn't be used in reference to anything being touched or sucked on during intimate times.
And why did I have to know the rough penis size of so many characters in the book?
And what was up with all the pointing out of men who worked out their upper bodies but ignored building up their legs? I get that it made one of the characters stand out who was built all around, but just saying that character had a wrestler's body would have been enough.
I normally enjoy Pelecanos and the bit of story that was in this book I did enjoy, but it was fairly insubstantial for an almost three hundred page novel. It never felt like any work was going into figuring anything out, it just happened that when Spero decided to take a break from kyaking, biking around, drinking beer out of green bottles, smoking pot and listening to music he would go out and make some progress on the case.
And it's not like he can't do character development and dialogue. I've read books of his which are more character versus plot driven and he can do it, just here everything was reduced to clumsy dialogue, awkward exchanges and too many details about clothes and music trivia.
Or maybe I was just off these past couple of days and latched on to some idiosyncrasies and once I started paying attention to them I just saw them everywhere and let myself get too hung up on them.
Either way, this wasn't a terrible terrible book, but I didn't really enjoy it all that much, and maybe it's not a two star book, but I'm going giving it that rating in relation to the handful of other novels I've read by Pelecanos.
P.S. I just watched the 'trailer' for the book on Goodreads, and isn't Spero Lucas supposed to be African-American? Or are just some of his fellow adopted siblings?
I only have an ARC, but the always wonderful Karen got it for me at last year's BEA and it's inscribed by Pelecanos. That's a nice thing, right? The book also doesn't have the kind of embarrassing author photo that the hardcover had, so that's a nice thing, too.
I started reading the book wearing a pair of earth tone Schmidt carpenter pants, a plaid Old Navy short sleeve button up shirt, a black Fruit of the Loom band t-shirt for the righteous West Bay 1990's PowerViolence band Spazz's 1997 summer tour, the one with the Mexican wrestler on the backside. I'd seen them out at the VFW hall out in Colonie, New York, out past Wolf Road and near the Airport. Spazz play the kind of aggressive, three-tone growled yelling vocals with no-guitar solos and constant rythm change in twenty second songs that I dig. I also wore an insulated black Schmidt pull-over hoodie. On my head was a black knit winter hat with a German chemical company's logo on it. I also had on a black wool coat from Old Navy, a pair of Haines boxer-briefs, a white pair of athletic socks with the grey fabric near the toes and heels and a brown pair of Sketcher shoes.
I started to read the book on the subway. I took the 7 train, one of the newer lines run by the Metropolitian Transit Authority, which New Yorkers more commonly call the MTA. The classic red cars had been discontinued years ago, and they were now just a mere memory to a new generation of cars that were usurping the usurping subway cars. They are the ones with the LED lights and the robot voice. Blander and without the character of the old red cars, and a sign of more change and homogenity in what some people call the Big Apple, some people Gotham, but which other people call home. Some of the people who call the Big Apple home were members of various New York Hardcore bands that played in venues like CBGB's and A7, both now defunct.
There were many people on the subway car with me as I started to read the book. They were also wearing clothes. I wish I had made a note to jot down what they were all wearing.
The subway stopped at the 50th st Station. And then at 46th and the 40th Street stations. We passed where the old Sunnyside Gardens had stood, the home to many prize fights, which old-timers still fondly remember. We continued on in the train past the LaGuardia High School stop and then to Queensboro Plaza, where I transferred to a Manhattan bound N train.
There were more people on that train and they were wearing all different kinds of clothes made by different brands. We passed underneath the East River and stopped at Lexington Avenue where many people got off the train and I was able to get a seat. The person sitting next to me was wearing....
etc.
The story was fairly good, that is when the story was going on. It took about a hundred pages for the actual story to get going though, and those first hundred pages were filled with minor subplots that would all wrap together in various ways, but they were kind of insubstantial. What was substantial were the number of company names dropped. I started to feel like Pelecanos must have been getting money for making product placements. Nike boots are mentioned multiple times, restaurants are eaten in and the characters seem to talk in marketing slogans for the restaurant. Spero (the main character) measures some tire tracks and he doesn't just measure them with a tape measure, but with a Craftsman tape measure. He talks about buying his clothes at Sears. Two brothers open up a conversation with one another by the one saying, something like, "I see you've gone with the fitted Polo shirt," and the other going, "And I see you have picked the blah blah blah from the LL Bean catalog."
Pelecanos always seemed to enjoy giving too many details in his books, but they were usually about jobs or gave an insiders view into Washington DC, but this was just about the most trivial shit, every outfit was talked about. Seriously.
And never mind the sex scenes. Oh boy, were those bad. The word helmet shouldn't be used in reference to anything being touched or sucked on during intimate times.
And why did I have to know the rough penis size of so many characters in the book?
And what was up with all the pointing out of men who worked out their upper bodies but ignored building up their legs? I get that it made one of the characters stand out who was built all around, but just saying that character had a wrestler's body would have been enough.
I normally enjoy Pelecanos and the bit of story that was in this book I did enjoy, but it was fairly insubstantial for an almost three hundred page novel. It never felt like any work was going into figuring anything out, it just happened that when Spero decided to take a break from kyaking, biking around, drinking beer out of green bottles, smoking pot and listening to music he would go out and make some progress on the case.
And it's not like he can't do character development and dialogue. I've read books of his which are more character versus plot driven and he can do it, just here everything was reduced to clumsy dialogue, awkward exchanges and too many details about clothes and music trivia.
Or maybe I was just off these past couple of days and latched on to some idiosyncrasies and once I started paying attention to them I just saw them everywhere and let myself get too hung up on them.
Either way, this wasn't a terrible terrible book, but I didn't really enjoy it all that much, and maybe it's not a two star book, but I'm going giving it that rating in relation to the handful of other novels I've read by Pelecanos.
P.S. I just watched the 'trailer' for the book on Goodreads, and isn't Spero Lucas supposed to be African-American? Or are just some of his fellow adopted siblings?
August 18, 2015
Dan has a theory that Spero Lucas is the illegitimate son of Travis McGee, and considering the similarities between the two, this seems like a reasonable scenario.
Both are ex-military guys who eschew the traditional American lifestyle of steady jobs and families so that they can live on their own terms. Not only are their attitudes alike, they also have found similar ways to turn a buck by recovering stolen items for a percentage of their value in incidents where the owners can’t use the legal system for one reason or another. They are capable, sometimes violent, men who make their way with their wits and their brawn while feeling like outsiders from the people living ordinary lives around them.
The big difference is that John D. MacDonald’s creation was a pulp male fantasy in which McGee lived on a houseboat while cruising the Florida coast and picking up scores of beach bunnies with an attitude that would probably get him routinely pepper sprayed today. Spero likes the ladies and can attract his share, but he’s far less of a man-ho than his spiritual predecessor.
The first book, The Cut, established Spero as a former Marine who saw extensive combat in Iraq. Back in his home city of Washington D.C., Spero’s time facing death has left him impatient to get on with his life. He wants meaningful work on his own terms and to enjoy simple pleasures like good music or the company of a pretty woman. Working as a private investigator for a lawyer provides some steady income, but Spero also takes side gigs.
This time out Spero is helping a woman who barely avoided an Internet scam, but apparently the near-miss put her in the crosshairs of a predatory sexual con man who arranged the theft of a valuable painting she owned called The Double. As he tries to track down the trio responsible for their own crime wave of scams and robbery, Spero is also working for the lawyer to find evidence that could clear a man accused of murder as well as poke around the death of a young girl who was a student of his brother. He also gets involved in a torrid affair with beautiful married women, but while Spero has tried to keep his romantic encounters casual, he begins to crave more than just sex with her.
As always with a George Pelecanos novel, there’s the incorporation of various locales that make his literary DC come alive. Whether Spero is biking through up-scale neighborhoods or stopping by an auto shop to question a suspect, Pelecanos has a knack for casually imparting the bits of detail and history that make the city one of the characters in the novel.
Spero seemed like he had a lot of potential as a character in the first novel, and Pelecanos adds the kind of depth to make him really special here. On the surface, Spero seems to have his act together and knows exactly what he wants, but there are new layers of uneasiness added here. His relationship with the married lady makes him start to question the bachelor lifestyle he thought he wanted. This feeds into more inner conflict about the life he’s living. Spero’s thoughts increasingly turn to his late father, the man who adopted him and his brother and gave them a loving home by his honest hard work and devotion to his family, and Spero is starting to find himself lacking in comparison.
Worst of all is that it starts to seem like the war may have taken a bigger toll on his psyche than he previously thought. Spero learned how to kill overseas, and he was good at it. That skill is a valuable tool in his work, but as the saying goes, "When you have a hammer every problem starts to look like a nail."
Pelecanos has written a lot of great crime novels with memorable characters, but Spero may be his best one yet.
Both are ex-military guys who eschew the traditional American lifestyle of steady jobs and families so that they can live on their own terms. Not only are their attitudes alike, they also have found similar ways to turn a buck by recovering stolen items for a percentage of their value in incidents where the owners can’t use the legal system for one reason or another. They are capable, sometimes violent, men who make their way with their wits and their brawn while feeling like outsiders from the people living ordinary lives around them.
The big difference is that John D. MacDonald’s creation was a pulp male fantasy in which McGee lived on a houseboat while cruising the Florida coast and picking up scores of beach bunnies with an attitude that would probably get him routinely pepper sprayed today. Spero likes the ladies and can attract his share, but he’s far less of a man-ho than his spiritual predecessor.
The first book, The Cut, established Spero as a former Marine who saw extensive combat in Iraq. Back in his home city of Washington D.C., Spero’s time facing death has left him impatient to get on with his life. He wants meaningful work on his own terms and to enjoy simple pleasures like good music or the company of a pretty woman. Working as a private investigator for a lawyer provides some steady income, but Spero also takes side gigs.
This time out Spero is helping a woman who barely avoided an Internet scam, but apparently the near-miss put her in the crosshairs of a predatory sexual con man who arranged the theft of a valuable painting she owned called The Double. As he tries to track down the trio responsible for their own crime wave of scams and robbery, Spero is also working for the lawyer to find evidence that could clear a man accused of murder as well as poke around the death of a young girl who was a student of his brother. He also gets involved in a torrid affair with beautiful married women, but while Spero has tried to keep his romantic encounters casual, he begins to crave more than just sex with her.
As always with a George Pelecanos novel, there’s the incorporation of various locales that make his literary DC come alive. Whether Spero is biking through up-scale neighborhoods or stopping by an auto shop to question a suspect, Pelecanos has a knack for casually imparting the bits of detail and history that make the city one of the characters in the novel.
Spero seemed like he had a lot of potential as a character in the first novel, and Pelecanos adds the kind of depth to make him really special here. On the surface, Spero seems to have his act together and knows exactly what he wants, but there are new layers of uneasiness added here. His relationship with the married lady makes him start to question the bachelor lifestyle he thought he wanted. This feeds into more inner conflict about the life he’s living. Spero’s thoughts increasingly turn to his late father, the man who adopted him and his brother and gave them a loving home by his honest hard work and devotion to his family, and Spero is starting to find himself lacking in comparison.
Worst of all is that it starts to seem like the war may have taken a bigger toll on his psyche than he previously thought. Spero learned how to kill overseas, and he was good at it. That skill is a valuable tool in his work, but as the saying goes, "When you have a hammer every problem starts to look like a nail."
Pelecanos has written a lot of great crime novels with memorable characters, but Spero may be his best one yet.
January 1, 2020
4.5 stars
"Lucas made a low hourly wage working for [defense attorney] Tom Petersen, and he was looking at an eighty-thousand-dollar payoff on the Kinkaid job. A smart guy might have prioritized the work. But Lucas liked to honor his commitments, and . . . he was curious." -- page 39
Two years ago when I read The Cut, crime writer Pelecanos' debut of thirtysomething Marine Corps veteran-turned-Washington D.C. private investigator Spero Lucas, I found it to be a good but mostly serviceable detective novel, but I thought that the character had some potential. In the follow-up The Double the emotional drama, suspense and action are now cranked up to a much more involving and energetic level. This time around, amidst a torrid but really heartbreaking love affair, P.I. Lucas' inquiries on two concurrent but otherwise not connected cases - investigatory work regarding a murder suspect AND retrieving a stolen painting for a duped lady - are pleasingly reminiscent (but not derivative) of both John MacDonald's 'retrieval expert' Travis McGee and Robert Crais' private eye Elvis Cole. By the appropriately melancholy ending of The Double I felt it was a damn shame that Pelecanos has thus far only featured Lucas in the two books - this character could carry a series.
"Lucas made a low hourly wage working for [defense attorney] Tom Petersen, and he was looking at an eighty-thousand-dollar payoff on the Kinkaid job. A smart guy might have prioritized the work. But Lucas liked to honor his commitments, and . . . he was curious." -- page 39
Two years ago when I read The Cut, crime writer Pelecanos' debut of thirtysomething Marine Corps veteran-turned-Washington D.C. private investigator Spero Lucas, I found it to be a good but mostly serviceable detective novel, but I thought that the character had some potential. In the follow-up The Double the emotional drama, suspense and action are now cranked up to a much more involving and energetic level. This time around, amidst a torrid but really heartbreaking love affair, P.I. Lucas' inquiries on two concurrent but otherwise not connected cases - investigatory work regarding a murder suspect AND retrieving a stolen painting for a duped lady - are pleasingly reminiscent (but not derivative) of both John MacDonald's 'retrieval expert' Travis McGee and Robert Crais' private eye Elvis Cole. By the appropriately melancholy ending of The Double I felt it was a damn shame that Pelecanos has thus far only featured Lucas in the two books - this character could carry a series.
September 9, 2015
A friend of a friend, Grace Kinkaid, comes to Spero with a job: steal back a painting that a con-man recently walked off with. Having disappeared from her life as mysteriously as he appeared, Grace needs to know who he is and if he’s pulling the same tricks with others. Can Spero track down the scumbag, get Grace’s painting back and earn his cut?
I didn’t enjoy The Double quite as much as I did the first Spero Lucas novel, The Cut. In fact, I purposely put off writing this review for several days as I couldn’t quite figure out why. It wasn’t a bad novel, Spero’s enemies were just as dangerous and the crime was just as intriguing. The same great cast of supporting characters that I loved from the first were present, so it wasn’t that either. The more I thought about it, I think the whole sub-plot involving Lucas’ affair with a married woman and the graphic sex scenes turned me off. I’m not a prude mind you – I love Brubaker and Phillips’ Criminal series and those comics are packed with smut – but I certainly didn’t need the play-by-play for their steamy sex sessions. I found it didn’t seem to add anything and more or less got in the way of the job Spero was trying to complete. It took up a good chunk of the story and having Lucas sit around pining for her didn’t really do the story any favours.
That aside, I thought Pelecanos did a great job in having Spero begin questioning the lasting effects the war will have on him. It seems that he craves confrontation and is constantly putting himself in harm’s way, desperately trying to regain the adrenaline rush of combat. While many are attempting to steer him toward therapy, his pride seems to always get in the way leaving him running in circles. In a way, it reminded me of Lawrence Block’s Matt Scudder, pre-AA. It all makes for a great, interesting character that I look forward to reading more of.
I didn’t enjoy The Double quite as much as I did the first Spero Lucas novel, The Cut. In fact, I purposely put off writing this review for several days as I couldn’t quite figure out why. It wasn’t a bad novel, Spero’s enemies were just as dangerous and the crime was just as intriguing. The same great cast of supporting characters that I loved from the first were present, so it wasn’t that either. The more I thought about it, I think the whole sub-plot involving Lucas’ affair with a married woman and the graphic sex scenes turned me off. I’m not a prude mind you – I love Brubaker and Phillips’ Criminal series and those comics are packed with smut – but I certainly didn’t need the play-by-play for their steamy sex sessions. I found it didn’t seem to add anything and more or less got in the way of the job Spero was trying to complete. It took up a good chunk of the story and having Lucas sit around pining for her didn’t really do the story any favours.
That aside, I thought Pelecanos did a great job in having Spero begin questioning the lasting effects the war will have on him. It seems that he craves confrontation and is constantly putting himself in harm’s way, desperately trying to regain the adrenaline rush of combat. While many are attempting to steer him toward therapy, his pride seems to always get in the way leaving him running in circles. In a way, it reminded me of Lawrence Block’s Matt Scudder, pre-AA. It all makes for a great, interesting character that I look forward to reading more of.
July 2, 2020
“Αφού ξάπλωσαν στο κρεβάτι τον πήρε στο στόμα της, έγλυψε τα α******α και τον π****ο του βάζοντας όλη της την τέχνη στο κεφάλι και ο Λούκας ένιωσε να ασθμαίνει και να καρδιοχτυπά και είπε «Σαρλότ» και τελείωσε με μια μακρόσυρτη, καυτή έκρηξη”. Άξιος! Άξιος!!
Ο Τζώρτζ Pelekanos, γνωστός στο Ελληνικό κοινό λόγω των εκδόσεων Οξύ που είχαν κυκλοφορήσει αρκετά βιβλία του, αλλά και λόγω της Ελληνικής καταγωγής του, κάνει για μια ακόμα φορά αυτό που ξέρει καλύτερα: να γράφει ένα σφιχτοδεμένο, hard-boiled, σκληρό αστυνομικό δανειζόμενος επιρροές από τους μέτρ του είδους (Χάμμετ/ΜακΝτόναλντ/Σπίλλειν) αλλά και από μοντέρνους συγγραφείς όπως ο Κόνολι ή ο Λίχειν. Για την ακρίβεια γράφει για ένα σκληρό ντετέκτιβ, φυσικά βετεράνο του Ιράκ με ένα προσωπικό κώδικα ηθικής που αναλαμβάνει μια περίεργη υπόθεση εντοπισμού ενός πίνακα υψηλής αξίας.
Εκ πρώτης όψεως ακούγεται ιδιαίτερα ελκυστικό σχήμα, παρόλα αυτά από τις πρώτες σελίδες απογοητεύτηκα: ο Pelekanos: γράφει με τον μοντέρνο, αντιπαθέστατο κινηματογραφικό τρόπο, κάτι που δεν αποτελεί έκπληξη καθώς είναι παραγωγός/σεναριογράφος σε διάφορες αστυνομικές σειρές. Παρόλα αυτά είναι εμφανές ότι υπάρχει σύγχυση στο μυαλό του Pelekanos καθώς οι cheesy διάλογοι και οι γλαφυρές περιγραφές, μπορεί να λειτουργούν σε μια τηλεοπτική σειρά αλλά σε ένα τελείως διαφορετικό μέσο (βιβλίο) αγγίζουν τα όρια του γελοίου. Έτσι λοιπόν ο συγγραφέας αναλώνεται σε ακατάσχετο namedropping/product placement (Neospotin, Post, City Paper, Discord, Positive Force, Crown Victoria, Accord, Honda, Ford Excursion, Nike, General Motors, Mini Cooper, Graiglist, Realtor, iPhone, Hotmail, Vans, Reef, Mastodon, Pathfinder, Sly Dumbar, Barolo, Stella, Malboro, Brothers Brooks, Dickies, Newport, CSI, Intelius, Sabo, Grant National Buick, New Balance, Washington Post, Champion, Angry Birds κ.α.) και σε ατάκες τύπου «Γαμώτο. Μικρέ είσαι μαστουρωμένος!», ενώ επίσημα ζητώ από την κοινότητα του Goodreads να μου απαντήσει κάποιος ΥΠΕΥΘΥΝΑ αν μετά από σαικς με τον/την σύντροφο του ακούστηκε η ατάκα «Ήταν σαν να συγκρούστηκαν δύο κόσμοι».
Δεν ξέρω αν όλα αυτά λειτουργούν στα Αμερικάνικά αλλά στην Ελληνική μετάφραση μοιάζουν από απλοϊκά έως παντελώς αδιάφορα. Το σενάριο δεν είναι τόσο άσχημο αλλά γενικά περνάει σε δεύτερη μοίρα: προτεραιότητα του Pelekanos είναι οι γελοίοι διάλογοι καθώς επίσης και το «ξέπλυμα» των βετεράνων, τους οποίους δεν παύει να εκθειάζει, μαζί με τον Αμερικάνικο στρατό, προφανώς απευθυνόμενος σε ένα real American κοινό που ψοφάει για τέτοια. Δεν είναι τυχαίο άλλωστε που αρκετά blockbuster προωθούν την στρατιωτική καριέρα, δίνοντας σχεδόν υπεράνθρωπες δυνάμεις σε πεζονάυτες αναδεικνύοντας ταυτόχρονα την ηθική των ενεργειών τους.
Εν ολίγοις το βιβλίο δεν είναι τίποτε άλλο από ένα παραλογοτεχνικό σκουπίδι, αδιάφορο, σοβαροφανές και γελοίο. Μείνετε μακριά, αναμφίβολα υπάρχουν πολύ καλύτερα βιβλία στο είδος.
Ο Τζώρτζ Pelekanos, γνωστός στο Ελληνικό κοινό λόγω των εκδόσεων Οξύ που είχαν κυκλοφορήσει αρκετά βιβλία του, αλλά και λόγω της Ελληνικής καταγωγής του, κάνει για μια ακόμα φορά αυτό που ξέρει καλύτερα: να γράφει ένα σφιχτοδεμένο, hard-boiled, σκληρό αστυνομικό δανειζόμενος επιρροές από τους μέτρ του είδους (Χάμμετ/ΜακΝτόναλντ/Σπίλλειν) αλλά και από μοντέρνους συγγραφείς όπως ο Κόνολι ή ο Λίχειν. Για την ακρίβεια γράφει για ένα σκληρό ντετέκτιβ, φυσικά βετεράνο του Ιράκ με ένα προσωπικό κώδικα ηθικής που αναλαμβάνει μια περίεργη υπόθεση εντοπισμού ενός πίνακα υψηλής αξίας.
Εκ πρώτης όψεως ακούγεται ιδιαίτερα ελκυστικό σχήμα, παρόλα αυτά από τις πρώτες σελίδες απογοητεύτηκα: ο Pelekanos: γράφει με τον μοντέρνο, αντιπαθέστατο κινηματογραφικό τρόπο, κάτι που δεν αποτελεί έκπληξη καθώς είναι παραγωγός/σεναριογράφος σε διάφορες αστυνομικές σειρές. Παρόλα αυτά είναι εμφανές ότι υπάρχει σύγχυση στο μυαλό του Pelekanos καθώς οι cheesy διάλογοι και οι γλαφυρές περιγραφές, μπορεί να λειτουργούν σε μια τηλεοπτική σειρά αλλά σε ένα τελείως διαφορετικό μέσο (βιβλίο) αγγίζουν τα όρια του γελοίου. Έτσι λοιπόν ο συγγραφέας αναλώνεται σε ακατάσχετο namedropping/product placement (Neospotin, Post, City Paper, Discord, Positive Force, Crown Victoria, Accord, Honda, Ford Excursion, Nike, General Motors, Mini Cooper, Graiglist, Realtor, iPhone, Hotmail, Vans, Reef, Mastodon, Pathfinder, Sly Dumbar, Barolo, Stella, Malboro, Brothers Brooks, Dickies, Newport, CSI, Intelius, Sabo, Grant National Buick, New Balance, Washington Post, Champion, Angry Birds κ.α.) και σε ατάκες τύπου «Γαμώτο. Μικρέ είσαι μαστουρωμένος!», ενώ επίσημα ζητώ από την κοινότητα του Goodreads να μου απαντήσει κάποιος ΥΠΕΥΘΥΝΑ αν μετά από σαικς με τον/την σύντροφο του ακούστηκε η ατάκα «Ήταν σαν να συγκρούστηκαν δύο κόσμοι».
Δεν ξέρω αν όλα αυτά λειτουργούν στα Αμερικάνικά αλλά στην Ελληνική μετάφραση μοιάζουν από απλοϊκά έως παντελώς αδιάφορα. Το σενάριο δεν είναι τόσο άσχημο αλλά γενικά περνάει σε δεύτερη μοίρα: προτεραιότητα του Pelekanos είναι οι γελοίοι διάλογοι καθώς επίσης και το «ξέπλυμα» των βετεράνων, τους οποίους δεν παύει να εκθειάζει, μαζί με τον Αμερικάνικο στρατό, προφανώς απευθυνόμενος σε ένα real American κοινό που ψοφάει για τέτοια. Δεν είναι τυχαίο άλλωστε που αρκετά blockbuster προωθούν την στρατιωτική καριέρα, δίνοντας σχεδόν υπεράνθρωπες δυνάμεις σε πεζονάυτες αναδεικνύοντας ταυτόχρονα την ηθική των ενεργειών τους.
Εν ολίγοις το βιβλίο δεν είναι τίποτε άλλο από ένα παραλογοτεχνικό σκουπίδι, αδιάφορο, σοβαροφανές και γελοίο. Μείνετε μακριά, αναμφίβολα υπάρχουν πολύ καλύτερα βιβλία στο είδος.
October 10, 2013
The Double, the latest novel by George Pelecanos, features a decent plot and some interesting characters. It is fast-paced and rather suspenseful. In this book, Pelecanos brings back his character Spero Lucas (previously featured in The Cut. Spero, just turned 30, is an Iraq war veteran who puts to good use his Marine training in his current occupation as an investigator for a criminal attorney in Washington, D.C. On the side, he has a business finding stolen property, whether legal or not, for a forty percent cut of the value. In this book, he makes a deal to retrieve a very valuable painting called “The Double”. But that’s not all; he also agrees to find the man who stole it, a violent gangbanger who won’t much like either being found, or giving back the painting.
Discussion: I felt many of the little details of the book were gratuitously contrived to cater to callow young males. The result is closer to Marvel comics and farther from Raymond Chandler than I would prefer. For example, a climactic fight scene could have come from a Batman movie.
In the same vein, the gratuitous titillation factor is a bit much. Both Spero and the principal villain have histories of great success with women. What seems unrealistic and a bit annoying is that neither seems to have much charm, but both are described as very well-endowed with “big pipes,” and I don’t mean strong singing voices. Pelecanos writes (in a sentence that would surely have many women throwing the book) that when Spero walks down the street or goes into a bar, "women noticed him. Some of them got damp."
Furthermore, how realistic is it that Spero has a gorgeous woman who wants only to go to upscale hotel rooms (for which she pays), drink expensive wine (for which she pays), and have intense, passionate sex, avoiding foreplay and the usual dating rituals? Well, Spero Lucas, the protagonist, meets such a gal, and meets her often in the book. However, she plays virtually no other role in the plot than to flesh out, so to speak, this male fantasy.
Gustav Flaubert was known for his realistic portrayals, which he accomplished largely by describing interesting details about the characters and their environment. Pelecanos also provides many details about his characters, but some of them seem colossally unimportant—I don’t care what brand of jeans Spero wears. Pelecanos is also overly diligent about letting me know what color shirts, shorts, or pants (yawn!) the hero is wearing, which would not be a problem except that Spero changes clothes a lot.
The action is set in Washington, D.C. and Prince George’s County, Maryland, an area in which I lived for four months. I can attest that Pelecanos excels at capturing the nuances of economic status and racial composition that precise geographical position provides.
Evaluation: Despite its flaws and the occasional “Oh come now” moment in the narrative, The Double is a good “beach" or "airplane" book, especially for anyone with a good sense of Washington, D.C. geography and neighborhood composition.
Discussion: I felt many of the little details of the book were gratuitously contrived to cater to callow young males. The result is closer to Marvel comics and farther from Raymond Chandler than I would prefer. For example, a climactic fight scene could have come from a Batman movie.
In the same vein, the gratuitous titillation factor is a bit much. Both Spero and the principal villain have histories of great success with women. What seems unrealistic and a bit annoying is that neither seems to have much charm, but both are described as very well-endowed with “big pipes,” and I don’t mean strong singing voices. Pelecanos writes (in a sentence that would surely have many women throwing the book) that when Spero walks down the street or goes into a bar, "women noticed him. Some of them got damp."
Furthermore, how realistic is it that Spero has a gorgeous woman who wants only to go to upscale hotel rooms (for which she pays), drink expensive wine (for which she pays), and have intense, passionate sex, avoiding foreplay and the usual dating rituals? Well, Spero Lucas, the protagonist, meets such a gal, and meets her often in the book. However, she plays virtually no other role in the plot than to flesh out, so to speak, this male fantasy.
Gustav Flaubert was known for his realistic portrayals, which he accomplished largely by describing interesting details about the characters and their environment. Pelecanos also provides many details about his characters, but some of them seem colossally unimportant—I don’t care what brand of jeans Spero wears. Pelecanos is also overly diligent about letting me know what color shirts, shorts, or pants (yawn!) the hero is wearing, which would not be a problem except that Spero changes clothes a lot.
The action is set in Washington, D.C. and Prince George’s County, Maryland, an area in which I lived for four months. I can attest that Pelecanos excels at capturing the nuances of economic status and racial composition that precise geographical position provides.
Evaluation: Despite its flaws and the occasional “Oh come now” moment in the narrative, The Double is a good “beach" or "airplane" book, especially for anyone with a good sense of Washington, D.C. geography and neighborhood composition.
October 24, 2013
I'd rate this 4.5, maybe even 4.75 stars.
George Pelecanos may be one of the finest crime writers around, but for reasons I can't quite figure out, he's not nearly as well-known as a number of less talented writers in the genre. While his work on the acclaimed television series The Wire has increased his name recognition a bit, it's a shame that more people aren't aware of the talent this man has to draw magnetic yet flawed characters, compellingly twisted plots, and crackling action.
His latest novel, The Double, is another example of Pelecanos at the top of his game. Young, dogged private investigator Spero Lucas, first introduced in Pelecanos' The Cut, returns. Iraq War veteran Spero works as an investigator for Washington, D.C. attorney Tom Petersen, but with a strong sense of duty to right wrongs, he also does some freelance work on the side. Petersen asks him to find evidence that might exonerate his client, Calvin Bates, who is accused of murdering his girlfriend. All the evidence points toward Bates, but Spero has his suspicions, and will do all he can to track down the truth, or at least give Petersen enough information to raise reasonable doubt among jury members.
Meanwhile, Spero is asked by a friend to help Grace Kinkaid, a woman emotionally and sexually manipulated by her magnetically powerful ex-boyfriend. But the man also took something valuable from Grace—a prized painting—and she wants Spero to get it back. Spero finds that this man is the center of a much larger scam—and he and his partners are just aching for someone to come looking for them. Spero will have his hands full—which is just the way he likes it.
As his work is heating up, his emotions are working overtime. When he meets an older, married woman, he falls hard, even though he knows their relationship has no future. And although he has always been tremendously active in working with and helping other Iraq War veterans struggling with PTSD and life after the war, Spero has never really experienced the side effects of his time in the military, but he is starting to find his mind drifting into places it shouldn't go.
The Double is the story of a man who knows the difference between right and wrong, but isn't above crossing over to the dark side in order to protect someone or avenge a crime. It is also the story of a man who has always been able to hold his life together, until he finally starts to realize he might not be as together as he thinks he is.
Like so many of Pelecanos' books, this is an excellent mix of character development, action, and suspense, and it hooks you from the beginning. Spero Lucas is definitely one of Pelecanos' finest characters—a protector who can't always reconcile his violent and sensitive sides. I hope we'll be seeing Spero again soon, and I also hope that Pelecanos will go back on his one-book-a-year schedule, because I don't want to have to wait too long for the next one!
George Pelecanos may be one of the finest crime writers around, but for reasons I can't quite figure out, he's not nearly as well-known as a number of less talented writers in the genre. While his work on the acclaimed television series The Wire has increased his name recognition a bit, it's a shame that more people aren't aware of the talent this man has to draw magnetic yet flawed characters, compellingly twisted plots, and crackling action.
His latest novel, The Double, is another example of Pelecanos at the top of his game. Young, dogged private investigator Spero Lucas, first introduced in Pelecanos' The Cut, returns. Iraq War veteran Spero works as an investigator for Washington, D.C. attorney Tom Petersen, but with a strong sense of duty to right wrongs, he also does some freelance work on the side. Petersen asks him to find evidence that might exonerate his client, Calvin Bates, who is accused of murdering his girlfriend. All the evidence points toward Bates, but Spero has his suspicions, and will do all he can to track down the truth, or at least give Petersen enough information to raise reasonable doubt among jury members.
Meanwhile, Spero is asked by a friend to help Grace Kinkaid, a woman emotionally and sexually manipulated by her magnetically powerful ex-boyfriend. But the man also took something valuable from Grace—a prized painting—and she wants Spero to get it back. Spero finds that this man is the center of a much larger scam—and he and his partners are just aching for someone to come looking for them. Spero will have his hands full—which is just the way he likes it.
As his work is heating up, his emotions are working overtime. When he meets an older, married woman, he falls hard, even though he knows their relationship has no future. And although he has always been tremendously active in working with and helping other Iraq War veterans struggling with PTSD and life after the war, Spero has never really experienced the side effects of his time in the military, but he is starting to find his mind drifting into places it shouldn't go.
The Double is the story of a man who knows the difference between right and wrong, but isn't above crossing over to the dark side in order to protect someone or avenge a crime. It is also the story of a man who has always been able to hold his life together, until he finally starts to realize he might not be as together as he thinks he is.
Like so many of Pelecanos' books, this is an excellent mix of character development, action, and suspense, and it hooks you from the beginning. Spero Lucas is definitely one of Pelecanos' finest characters—a protector who can't always reconcile his violent and sensitive sides. I hope we'll be seeing Spero again soon, and I also hope that Pelecanos will go back on his one-book-a-year schedule, because I don't want to have to wait too long for the next one!
October 10, 2013
Writing this makes me so sad, not liking this book makes me so sad, I was really looking forward to new Pelecanos and I am disheartened at how much I hated everything about this book. Nothing worked right, the pacing was off, how the characters were developed was clunky and much of the information felt like page filler serving no purpose, there are sex scenes that could be in the running for The Worst Sex Scene in Books of 2013, and nothing is gripping or page turning about it.
December 23, 2017
Although I like Dion Graham as an actor the inner city dialect of this narration is not something that held my attention. I might focused on the story more had I read the book.
November 8, 2013
I am an avid fan of George Pelecanos and always look forward to this time of the year which holds the promise of a new book from him, so was as keen as mustard to read this follow-up to The Cut featuring ex-soldier and private investigator Spero Lucas. Unfortunately, The Double didn’t quite live up to my expectations, comprising mostly of sex, cycling, a bit of canoeing, sex, a murder investigation, sex and a missing painting, but here are my thoughts…
There can be no argument that Lucas is a wonderful creation being a true man’s man and combining a mix of moral ambiguity, showing moments of charm and empathy underscored by a propensity for violence and womanising. The tables are turned nicely in this one with Lucas being called upon for his prowess in the bedroom by a sexually voracious married woman (a neat re-working of the McNulty/D’Agostino storyline from The Wire) but despite his growing infatuation discovers that there is little else to this relationship. Hence, a large part of the book is devoted to this mismatched physical relationship, while Lucas struggles with matters of the heart (or in his case- the trouser department) and endeavours to put his mind to what he should actually be doing. The central plot is also somewhat undone by the focus on Lucas’ other physical activities with his seemingly endless scenic cycle trips, where each location is dutifully pointed out and described in some detail, that quickly lost my interest, as I was more keen to return to his tracking down of the bad men doing bad things. Where the book got back on form for me, was seeing Lucas in his tough guy role, with the references to both his former soldiering career and the interaction between him and his other ex-military cohorts, as the race to track down a nasty, violent group of con-artists got into full swing. Additionally, Pelecanos is great on the socio-political side of his plotting, and the observations he makes on the US involvement abroad and the social decline of certain areas of Washington DC outside the corridors of power is as sharp and focused as usual. Lucas is commissioned to investigate a possible miscarriage of justice, seeking to try and prove a man innocent of a murder, but to me this plotline was slightly lost and unbalanced within the central narrative, as his other mission to recover a stolen painting from an emotionally unstable woman took precedence in the story. I would have liked the book to have been concerned with one or the other, rather than producing a weakness to both strands in a relatively slim book so in short a rather mixed affair all round.
The book is peppered throughout with Pelecanos’ trademark cultural references to music, films and books and I liked the quote that reading should comprise of “ a good story with clean, efficient writing, a plot involving a problem to be solved or surmounted, and everyday characters the reader could relate to”. Although The Double does not quite fit this manifesto on some levels for this reader, it was nevertheless good to see the return of the entertaining Spero Lucas in a generally engaging, though slightly patchy read, from one of my favourite American crime authors.
There can be no argument that Lucas is a wonderful creation being a true man’s man and combining a mix of moral ambiguity, showing moments of charm and empathy underscored by a propensity for violence and womanising. The tables are turned nicely in this one with Lucas being called upon for his prowess in the bedroom by a sexually voracious married woman (a neat re-working of the McNulty/D’Agostino storyline from The Wire) but despite his growing infatuation discovers that there is little else to this relationship. Hence, a large part of the book is devoted to this mismatched physical relationship, while Lucas struggles with matters of the heart (or in his case- the trouser department) and endeavours to put his mind to what he should actually be doing. The central plot is also somewhat undone by the focus on Lucas’ other physical activities with his seemingly endless scenic cycle trips, where each location is dutifully pointed out and described in some detail, that quickly lost my interest, as I was more keen to return to his tracking down of the bad men doing bad things. Where the book got back on form for me, was seeing Lucas in his tough guy role, with the references to both his former soldiering career and the interaction between him and his other ex-military cohorts, as the race to track down a nasty, violent group of con-artists got into full swing. Additionally, Pelecanos is great on the socio-political side of his plotting, and the observations he makes on the US involvement abroad and the social decline of certain areas of Washington DC outside the corridors of power is as sharp and focused as usual. Lucas is commissioned to investigate a possible miscarriage of justice, seeking to try and prove a man innocent of a murder, but to me this plotline was slightly lost and unbalanced within the central narrative, as his other mission to recover a stolen painting from an emotionally unstable woman took precedence in the story. I would have liked the book to have been concerned with one or the other, rather than producing a weakness to both strands in a relatively slim book so in short a rather mixed affair all round.
The book is peppered throughout with Pelecanos’ trademark cultural references to music, films and books and I liked the quote that reading should comprise of “ a good story with clean, efficient writing, a plot involving a problem to be solved or surmounted, and everyday characters the reader could relate to”. Although The Double does not quite fit this manifesto on some levels for this reader, it was nevertheless good to see the return of the entertaining Spero Lucas in a generally engaging, though slightly patchy read, from one of my favourite American crime authors.
March 22, 2014
I enjoyed my first Spero Lucus read. This complicated character gets the job done in the best way he sees fit. The only negative was a bit of preachiness near the end that is best ignored. 8 of 10 stars
November 16, 2023
This is the new character in my relatively extensive experience of reading George pelacanos novels. I didn’t find him as likable as most of the main characters of the earlier books, although he had many of the same habits. He is the brother of one of the earlier characters.
But I initially thought that this book was much bloodier than early pelacanos. but then I remember that I had also just finished listening to King Suckerman for the second time which was also pretty bloody and an early book.
This book had some of the authors, writing, tidbits that I have enjoyed in the past. But overall I found the main character quite a bit less admirable. His marine background is emphasized, and his willingness to kill as a planned action is clear. At the end of the book, he does decide to turn somebody into the police , after he had the opportunity to kill him. This suggests he is questioning his approach with the outcome still up for grabs.
But I initially thought that this book was much bloodier than early pelacanos. but then I remember that I had also just finished listening to King Suckerman for the second time which was also pretty bloody and an early book.
This book had some of the authors, writing, tidbits that I have enjoyed in the past. But overall I found the main character quite a bit less admirable. His marine background is emphasized, and his willingness to kill as a planned action is clear. At the end of the book, he does decide to turn somebody into the police , after he had the opportunity to kill him. This suggests he is questioning his approach with the outcome still up for grabs.
April 5, 2023
I like this Pelecanos book a lot.
Now I read #1 and #2 in this Speros Lucas character book, and I'm hooked--I'm curious what happens to this young man next. He is in a very interesting stage in his life. I remember when my dad came back from Vietnam in 1969 when I was in 4th grade (I think...3rd or 4th). He was probably at this stage a year after his return.
Not having to sit in the mud firing his M-16 and M79 grenade launcher every day, not having the other "old man" with kids in the platoon die in his arms, he was at odds with civilian life. Like Speros after the character's return from Afghanistan, my dad was "I'm fine!" Except when he wasn't.
Hail to author George Pelecanos for provoking deep thoughts, by George Handy from me while reading this novel.
Now I read #1 and #2 in this Speros Lucas character book, and I'm hooked--I'm curious what happens to this young man next. He is in a very interesting stage in his life. I remember when my dad came back from Vietnam in 1969 when I was in 4th grade (I think...3rd or 4th). He was probably at this stage a year after his return.
Not having to sit in the mud firing his M-16 and M79 grenade launcher every day, not having the other "old man" with kids in the platoon die in his arms, he was at odds with civilian life. Like Speros after the character's return from Afghanistan, my dad was "I'm fine!" Except when he wasn't.
Hail to author George Pelecanos for provoking deep thoughts, by George Handy from me while reading this novel.
January 18, 2022
This gritty novel, second (and so far the last) in the Spero Lucas series by George Pelecanos, finds our hero in Travis McGee mode, taking a recovery job for a cut of the return. Spero's day job working as an investigator for a lawyer isn't really panning out so when this lucrative opportunity comes along he jumps on it. It becomes much more than just a job to him though. He's righting a wrong and delivering a little justice in an unjust world. Spero's violent when he needs to be, but isn't one of those superheroes who can just beat up people without effort.
While working his two jobs he gets involved with a beautiful, sexy and wanton woman, but after he figures out she's married has to decide whether to continue with an affair that satisfies needs he hadn't realized he had so strongly, or end it so he can find someone with more long term potential.
Pelecanos brings facets of the DC area to life as more than mere background. We really get a sense of the place, feel we're there. soaking up the atmosphere.
This is a raw, noir novel not for the feint of heart, but it delivers.
While working his two jobs he gets involved with a beautiful, sexy and wanton woman, but after he figures out she's married has to decide whether to continue with an affair that satisfies needs he hadn't realized he had so strongly, or end it so he can find someone with more long term potential.
Pelecanos brings facets of the DC area to life as more than mere background. We really get a sense of the place, feel we're there. soaking up the atmosphere.
This is a raw, noir novel not for the feint of heart, but it delivers.
July 9, 2024
Smooth private eye story which echoes The Wire and Nick Stefanos books.
November 22, 2018
Another Pelecanos classic. I even like this one better than The Cut. Wonder if he'll write another Spero book. Here's hoping.
April 6, 2017
Few if any other American writers can capture the rhythms and speech patterns of inner-city streets as well as George Pelecanos. Best known as the lead writer and sometime producer on the celebrated HBO series “The Wire” and later on its successor, “Treme,” Pelecanos has also written 21 novels. The Double, his second outing with Iraq vet Spero Lucas, is his most recent book.
The adopted son of Greek immigrants, Lucas is 28. He is an ex-Marine haunted by his experiences of door-to-door fighting in Fallujah who has returned to his hometown of Washington DC, where he has managed to recapture some of the thrill he felt as a fighter by hiring himself out as an “investigator” who specializes in finding lost things — such things as marijuana stolen from a dealer, as in the first novel featuring Spero Lucas, or, in The Double, a painting stolen from a woman’s home. This is Lucas’ real work, since his cut of the value of recovered property is 40% and what he recovers is invariably high-priced. However, he identifies himself as an investigator for a criminal lawyer — apparently, a lawyer who defends criminals, not one who is a crook himself — as the identity is useful even if the pay is meager.
As Lucas sets out to recover the stolen painting, a work titled “The Double,” he stumbles across a small criminal gang guilty of numerous other thefts and swindles. White getting closer to the gang by working his police contacts, he becomes embroiled in two murder investigations, one for the attorney and the other for his older brother, a schoolteacher. Lucas manages to resolve all three cases more or less satisfactorily but not without an immoderate degree of violence. The Double was not written for children or nervous cardiac patients, so be forewarned.
Last year I was equally enthusiastic in my review of Pelecanos’ debut novel about Spero Lucas, The Cut. George Pelecanos is, simply, one of the very best ever to convey the reality of our cities’ streets to those of us who remain distant from it.
The adopted son of Greek immigrants, Lucas is 28. He is an ex-Marine haunted by his experiences of door-to-door fighting in Fallujah who has returned to his hometown of Washington DC, where he has managed to recapture some of the thrill he felt as a fighter by hiring himself out as an “investigator” who specializes in finding lost things — such things as marijuana stolen from a dealer, as in the first novel featuring Spero Lucas, or, in The Double, a painting stolen from a woman’s home. This is Lucas’ real work, since his cut of the value of recovered property is 40% and what he recovers is invariably high-priced. However, he identifies himself as an investigator for a criminal lawyer — apparently, a lawyer who defends criminals, not one who is a crook himself — as the identity is useful even if the pay is meager.
As Lucas sets out to recover the stolen painting, a work titled “The Double,” he stumbles across a small criminal gang guilty of numerous other thefts and swindles. White getting closer to the gang by working his police contacts, he becomes embroiled in two murder investigations, one for the attorney and the other for his older brother, a schoolteacher. Lucas manages to resolve all three cases more or less satisfactorily but not without an immoderate degree of violence. The Double was not written for children or nervous cardiac patients, so be forewarned.
Last year I was equally enthusiastic in my review of Pelecanos’ debut novel about Spero Lucas, The Cut. George Pelecanos is, simply, one of the very best ever to convey the reality of our cities’ streets to those of us who remain distant from it.
September 7, 2013
The title refers to a painting, but it also links to the dual nature of man and, in particular, Spero Lucas, the protagonist of this novel.
Spero is a Marine veteran of Iraq who is trying to readjust to civilian life while continuing to live on the edge as an investigator and retriever of stolen property. When an emotionally damaged woman hires him to recover the stolen painting Spero is plunged into a maelstrom that will test both his courage and his opinion of himself.
Spero Lucas is a complicated character and Pelecanos does an excellent job of depicting him and the world in which he lives. The bad guys (yes, there’s more than one) are equally well-drawn. There are several sub-plots, including Spero’s hot love affair with a married woman, yet all tie in successfully with the main theme.
Pelecanos brings his characters, the setting (Washington, D.C., and Maryland) and the plot to life in a way that once more demonstrates he is among those crime writers who rate as literary in the true sense of the word. In an afterword he acknowledges his debt to some other writers, including two of my favorites, Charles Willeford and John D. MacDonald.
This is the second novel featuring Spero Lucas. I’m hoping there’ll be more.
Spero is a Marine veteran of Iraq who is trying to readjust to civilian life while continuing to live on the edge as an investigator and retriever of stolen property. When an emotionally damaged woman hires him to recover the stolen painting Spero is plunged into a maelstrom that will test both his courage and his opinion of himself.
Spero Lucas is a complicated character and Pelecanos does an excellent job of depicting him and the world in which he lives. The bad guys (yes, there’s more than one) are equally well-drawn. There are several sub-plots, including Spero’s hot love affair with a married woman, yet all tie in successfully with the main theme.
Pelecanos brings his characters, the setting (Washington, D.C., and Maryland) and the plot to life in a way that once more demonstrates he is among those crime writers who rate as literary in the true sense of the word. In an afterword he acknowledges his debt to some other writers, including two of my favorites, Charles Willeford and John D. MacDonald.
This is the second novel featuring Spero Lucas. I’m hoping there’ll be more.
August 18, 2015
I'm not giving this three stars based on my strong dislike for Spero Lucas, it's just that I didn't really find the story here as interesting as usual. It's a good, quick read, just not very griping. That said, can we talk about how much I'd like to shake my fist at Spero? I find him so unimpressive. I love the hell out of George Pelecanos & our one-sided love affair is still on, but Spero Lucas, consider yourself on notice.
July 19, 2014
I love Pelecanos and I have read almost everything that he has written, but the new series with Spero Lucas as the protagonist just doesn't grab me the way his earlier books did. I suspect that one reason is that, in his earlier books, his setting was the Washington, DC in which I grew up and he wrote about it as well as any author I've ever read. His depiction of the "new" DC just isn't as rich to me. In addition, Spero Lucas is a young man who is a Gulf War veteran who is, I would guess, interested in the things that most young men who have come back from war are interested in - sex with beautiful women, independence, physical strength and appearance, and trying to regain some of the edge that his life had during the war. These things are just not that interesting to me. Although I will continue to read whatever Pelecanos writes, I really just anted to go back and reread my favorite Pelecanos books of the past, especially the one I consider his best - Hard Revolution.
November 5, 2013
This is the second in the Spiro Lucas series. It is much better than the original in that it resembles some of Pelecano's earlier work: dark and violent. Spiro works on three different investigations and this leads him to confront some pretty bad characters. He uses an assorted group of friends to assist him in accomplishing his goals. The book contains some very graphic sexual scenes, which in my opinion were excessive and in cases not pertinent to the investigative story. The author uses some great descriptions of Washington DC neighborhoods and restaurants.
September 23, 2018
Reading George Pelecanos Double was like taking a walk through the mind of a criminal wanting to do good, but in the end, he was a murderer nonetheless, no matter how Pelecanos made him appear to be on the side of right and justice. But this is what Pelecanos does best: take us on a tour of the mean streets, the conversations of the habitues of the mean streets; and through the colorful and expressive language that Pelecanos uses to personify his characters, inform us of how virtue finds a path in the City.
Pelecanos' books are weighted in the real world. The writing is clear and unpretentious, and each time, I get the impression that no matter how far Pelecanos wanders, he never is very far from the realities of his hometown, Washington, D.C. I have been reading Pelecanos' books since his earliest works were published in the late 1900s. In fact, one of my favorite expressions is one I read in his "King Suckerman", an early Pelecanos, the "be-back", someone who comes looking, isn't sure about buying, but the salesman is convincing and the customer walks out of the store but the salesman is sure he's a "be-back." When I first saw the Wire, I had no idea that Pelecanos was involved in it, but I turned to my wife and said, "George Pelecanos could have written the screenplay." Years later, I learned of his involvement. His style is that distinctive to me, and I have noticed subtle changes over the years which largely mark changes in how language expresses our thoughts and culture of the times. To my mind, he is one of the great underappreciated writing assets of our times.
Pelecanos' books are weighted in the real world. The writing is clear and unpretentious, and each time, I get the impression that no matter how far Pelecanos wanders, he never is very far from the realities of his hometown, Washington, D.C. I have been reading Pelecanos' books since his earliest works were published in the late 1900s. In fact, one of my favorite expressions is one I read in his "King Suckerman", an early Pelecanos, the "be-back", someone who comes looking, isn't sure about buying, but the salesman is convincing and the customer walks out of the store but the salesman is sure he's a "be-back." When I first saw the Wire, I had no idea that Pelecanos was involved in it, but I turned to my wife and said, "George Pelecanos could have written the screenplay." Years later, I learned of his involvement. His style is that distinctive to me, and I have noticed subtle changes over the years which largely mark changes in how language expresses our thoughts and culture of the times. To my mind, he is one of the great underappreciated writing assets of our times.
September 6, 2018
It's a lot of fun to read a crime thriller set in your city, and Pelecanos' eye for geographic detail is pretty great. Many of the routes that Spero Lucas bikes to get to and from interviews or pass hours thinking through a case are familiar to any DC resident, but it's his visits to local establishments that are a lot of fun. Lucas travels between the lines of native Washingtonians and newer transient gentrification, offering views of both sides of the city's physical and symbolic divide. His setting is true Washington, the city, and not the nation's capital and its touristy monuments and museums. The city is a living, breathing, complicated character that adds depth and color to Lucas' exploits and makes the read all the more enjoyable.
Which is much needed, since this is a book with some flaws. As in the past installment, Lucas takes a side job to supplement his work as a PI for a local defense attorney, running into some problems that require quick creative thinking and an easy willingness to resort to violence as soon as things get sticky. There is some pretty discomfiting misogyny in this volume that isn't just limited to the bad guys, written off as a metaphorical exploration of Lucas' double nature that includes a dark side embodied in one particularly distasteful bad guy. It's a little contrived and doesn't do much to endear one to the protagonist or his efforts to seek vigilante justice while remaining whole.
Though the main narrative and protagonist leave something to desire, it's the city that shines here, as well as the miscellaneous cast of Lucas' veteran friends (all male, unsurprisingly) seeking their way in a society that has largely cast them aside. For those moments, this is a series that still shows promise for future installments.
Which is much needed, since this is a book with some flaws. As in the past installment, Lucas takes a side job to supplement his work as a PI for a local defense attorney, running into some problems that require quick creative thinking and an easy willingness to resort to violence as soon as things get sticky. There is some pretty discomfiting misogyny in this volume that isn't just limited to the bad guys, written off as a metaphorical exploration of Lucas' double nature that includes a dark side embodied in one particularly distasteful bad guy. It's a little contrived and doesn't do much to endear one to the protagonist or his efforts to seek vigilante justice while remaining whole.
Though the main narrative and protagonist leave something to desire, it's the city that shines here, as well as the miscellaneous cast of Lucas' veteran friends (all male, unsurprisingly) seeking their way in a society that has largely cast them aside. For those moments, this is a series that still shows promise for future installments.
December 17, 2018
Spero Lucas continues his good work recovering assets for people in need. When he goes to recover a painting titled The Double, he walks into a dumb-ass criminal group, and instead of using his brain, he lets his anger guide his brawn into a dangerous situation.
Note to Pelecanos: You are good on details all the way down to street level businesses and popular dub performers. That's beyond me, but you could research the Glock Model 17 to know it has no safety to disengage. You made this mistake twice in The Double.
Note to Pelecanos: You are good on details all the way down to street level businesses and popular dub performers. That's beyond me, but you could research the Glock Model 17 to know it has no safety to disengage. You made this mistake twice in The Double.
February 6, 2021
Eh...I get the feeling Pelecanos thinks of himself as part Chandler part Tarantino. Just like Tarantino writes some dialogue so that movie-goers will say "Wow, isn't he clever", same, I believe goes for Pelecanos. If you take out the supposedly entertaining banter between Lucas and others, this is a short story at best. However, since I could not do what he and others do, my hat is still off to a pretty good plot with backstory.
June 29, 2019
Interesting. I’ll read more by him and see what I think.
August 15, 2020
A decent thriller, somewhat straightforward in presentation, no real twists for the most part. I enjoyed the main character, but something felt off about him. This reminded me a bit of a series I enjoyed as a kid, THE EXECUTIONER. Similar kind of style, perhaps. Basically bad guys doing bad stuff. For the most part I liked it.
October 24, 2013
A terse and effective thriller that slowly makes you aware that there's a lot more going on under the surface.
I've been a fan of Pelecanos' writing for quite some time now and have read nearly all of his other books (my favorite is still "The Sweet Forever" but plenty of others are great, including "Drama City" and "The Night Gardener"). He has a keen eye for the urban landscape around the District of Columbia and a knack for dialogue and action scenes. He's not afraid to tackle issues like race relations and urban decay. And all of his books come with their own soundtrack as he makes solid, knowing references to music that helps flesh out his characters and their tastes and personalities.
This book is the second in his new series about private eye Spero Lucas, who by day runs down witnesses for a defense attorney but who has a lucrative side job as a locator of lost items. Introduced in "The Cut," Lucas, a former Marine (if there is such a thing as a FORMER Marine) is part of a new crop of American tough guys who saw action in Iraq or Afghanistan and came home still hankering for some action (another is Ace Atkins' ex-Army Ranger Quinn Colson.) In this novel Lucas spends time at his VFW post bar and the VA hospital, and he calls on some of his other vet buddies for assistance. He also checks in with his adoptive mother and his schoolteacher brother, who happens to be African-American. Those scenes, as well as snapshots of him out biking, kayaking or just walking the streets, help establish Lucas as a man who is comfortable inside his own head, in good shape physically and apparently on top of things mentally as well.
Spero likes to think he's in control, but Pelecanos' subtly shows that the Marine isn't quite as on top of things as he thinks. He begins an affair with a married woman who captivates him so much he veers into drunken stalker territory. As his personal life deteriorates, work takes a bad turn too. There are several cases he handles in this book, but the main one involves his promise to a middle-aged lawyer to recover a valuable painting that was stolen from her by a vicious ex-lover named Billy Hunter. Hunter, a blond beast who takes delight in abasing women, turns out to be working with two other lowlifes, an slow-witted Eastern European scumbag and an emotionally fragile yet loyal African-American ex-con. Lucas eagerly takes them on and before the book is over people get hurt and some of them die.
But here's the interesting thing: The trio of bad guys that Lucas takes on are not killers. They are far from saints, especially Hunter, who comes across as a classic sociopath. But they are not nearly as dangerous as some past Pelecanos villains. In fact, given Lucas' prior violence in "The Cut," you could argue that he's a bigger bad guy than they are, a vigilante following his own rules instead of following the law.
Pelecanos takes that idea all the way to its logical extreme, leaving Lucas poised on the brink of disaster, dizzy and shaken at what he's become. The author's unflinching staredown of the darker side of the classic "knight in tarnished armor" trope is what elevates this novel above more formulaic thrillers, and leaves you pondering its implications long after you've finished it.
I've been a fan of Pelecanos' writing for quite some time now and have read nearly all of his other books (my favorite is still "The Sweet Forever" but plenty of others are great, including "Drama City" and "The Night Gardener"). He has a keen eye for the urban landscape around the District of Columbia and a knack for dialogue and action scenes. He's not afraid to tackle issues like race relations and urban decay. And all of his books come with their own soundtrack as he makes solid, knowing references to music that helps flesh out his characters and their tastes and personalities.
This book is the second in his new series about private eye Spero Lucas, who by day runs down witnesses for a defense attorney but who has a lucrative side job as a locator of lost items. Introduced in "The Cut," Lucas, a former Marine (if there is such a thing as a FORMER Marine) is part of a new crop of American tough guys who saw action in Iraq or Afghanistan and came home still hankering for some action (another is Ace Atkins' ex-Army Ranger Quinn Colson.) In this novel Lucas spends time at his VFW post bar and the VA hospital, and he calls on some of his other vet buddies for assistance. He also checks in with his adoptive mother and his schoolteacher brother, who happens to be African-American. Those scenes, as well as snapshots of him out biking, kayaking or just walking the streets, help establish Lucas as a man who is comfortable inside his own head, in good shape physically and apparently on top of things mentally as well.
Spero likes to think he's in control, but Pelecanos' subtly shows that the Marine isn't quite as on top of things as he thinks. He begins an affair with a married woman who captivates him so much he veers into drunken stalker territory. As his personal life deteriorates, work takes a bad turn too. There are several cases he handles in this book, but the main one involves his promise to a middle-aged lawyer to recover a valuable painting that was stolen from her by a vicious ex-lover named Billy Hunter. Hunter, a blond beast who takes delight in abasing women, turns out to be working with two other lowlifes, an slow-witted Eastern European scumbag and an emotionally fragile yet loyal African-American ex-con. Lucas eagerly takes them on and before the book is over people get hurt and some of them die.
But here's the interesting thing: The trio of bad guys that Lucas takes on are not killers. They are far from saints, especially Hunter, who comes across as a classic sociopath. But they are not nearly as dangerous as some past Pelecanos villains. In fact, given Lucas' prior violence in "The Cut," you could argue that he's a bigger bad guy than they are, a vigilante following his own rules instead of following the law.
Pelecanos takes that idea all the way to its logical extreme, leaving Lucas poised on the brink of disaster, dizzy and shaken at what he's become. The author's unflinching staredown of the darker side of the classic "knight in tarnished armor" trope is what elevates this novel above more formulaic thrillers, and leaves you pondering its implications long after you've finished it.
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