Bestseller Pelecanos (The Turnaround ) probes the volatile and fragile relationship between a father, Thomas Flynn, and his son, Chris, in this less than satisfying effort. As a rebellious teen into drugs, Chris had minor brushes with the law and did a stint in juvenile prison. Now 26, he's working for his father's D.C.-area carpet installation business and staying clean. Still, Thomas remains disappointed in his son's lack of achievement or ambition, and Chris remains resentful that he's not accepted for who he is. A rather tired device, a bag of stolen money found by Chris and a friend and fellow former inmate, serves to set in motion a chain of actions that will lead to critical decisions for both Flynns. Pelecanos adroitly sketches the obstacles and temptations that face juvenile offenders in and after prison, but this novel, with its dispassionate style, never manages to generate high suspense or evoke much sympathy for its characters. Author tour. (May)
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Pelecanos mines familiar territory in his new novel about the strained relationship between a father and son in Washington, DC. Chris Flynn disappointed his father terribly when, after a string of juvenile crimes, he finally committed one serious enough to land himself in Pine Ridge, a facility for juvenile offenders. Now an adult, Chris is working for his father's carpet installation company, leading a clean life and hoping to earn his father's respect. Trouble comes in the form of $50,000 found at a job site and someone from Chris's Pine Ridge past. While Pelecanos has a knack for strong characterization and a clear sense of place, the similarities to his work on HBO's The Wire and his recent The Turnaround make this novel somewhat of a disappointment to regular fans.
A crime novel, yes, but the talented Pelecanos (The Turnaround, 2008, etc.) shoves it out of its comfort zone. He needn't worry, 17 year old Chris Flynn brashly assures his father as the door of Pine Ridge Reformatory is about to shut behind him: "I know how to jail." How did Chris get there, decently brought up kid that he is-loving parents, solid middle-class home? He has no idea. Oh, he can talk about "Good Chris, Bad Chris," but that riff no longer satisfies the way it once did. All he knows for sure is that Bad Chris brought him within an inch of killing someone during a wild, drug-filled night that ended with a string of exasperated D.C. cops running him down. Thus his sentence to Pine Ridge, leaving a frustrated father and a heartbroken mother wondering where they went wrong. Unexpectedly, however, Pine Ridge proves to be a way of starting over. Bleak and dehumanizing though it is, Chris grows up there, copes with adversity, makes better friends, keeps Bad Chris caged. Ten years later, he's put a life together. He has a worthwhile girlfriend. His always thorny relationship with his father is at least manageable. Lulled, he thinks the past is safely buried. But when a pair of killers show up claiming he has something that belongs to them, Chris learns how inexorably the past is prologue. Redemption the hard way, well-crafted and deeply felt. Author tour to New York, Chicago, Boston, Seattle, Portland, Ore., Houston, Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington D.C.
"A crime novel, yes, but the talented Pelecanos shoes it out of its comfort zone. . . . Redemption the hard way, well-crafted and deeply felt."—Kirkus (starred review) Marilyn Stasio , New York Times Sarah Weinman , Los Angeles Times Kevin Allman , Washington Post John Weisman , Washington Times
"Between the wonderful dialogue, the characters who unpeel like onions before your eyes, and action that punches from the shoulder and hip - the very technique Thomas Flynn taught young Chris - Mr. Pelecanos brings things off with bravura."
John Weisman - Washington Times
"In George Pelecanos's THE WAY HOME, it's the little things that matter...he's fascinated by the minor decisions that end up making a huge difference in the long run, and the ripples that result when good but imperfect people try to do the right thing-even when they're not exactly sure what the right thing is."
Kevin Allman - Washington Post
"THE WAY HOME remains true to its titular purpose; as a result, the structure is perhaps less weighted toward a classic narrative arc and more toward the journey itself. As with his last two novels, Pelecanos demonstrates that redemption, if it comes at all, is hard-won."
Sarah Weinman - Los Angeles Times
"Nobody can teach George Pelecanos anything he doesn't already know about the inherent drama in the father-son dynamic."
Marilyn Stasio - New York Times
Between the wonderful dialogue, the characters who unpeel like onions before your eyes, and action that punches from the shoulder and hip - the very technique Thomas Flynn taught young Chris - Mr. Pelecanos brings things off with bravura.Washington Times
In George Pelecanos's THE WAY HOME, it's the little things that matter...he's fascinated by the minor decisions that end up making a huge difference in the long run, and the ripples that result when good but imperfect people try to do the right thing-even when they're not exactly sure what the right thing is.Washington Post
THE WAY HOME remains true to its titular purpose; as a result, the structure is perhaps less weighted toward a classic narrative arc and more toward the journey itself. As with his last two novels, Pelecanos demonstrates that redemption, if it comes at all, is hard-won.Los Angeles Times
Nobody can teach George Pelecanos anything he doesn't already know about the inherent drama in the father-son dynamic.New York Times
George Pelecanos rips a life, actually several lives, from a Washington, DC, ghetto and lays them bare for everyone to see—and understand. Christopher Flynn is a confused white kid with a chip on his shoulder and a bleak future. Despite the odds, he changes his life for the better after a stint in juvenile hall. But trouble comes knocking when a friend finds a bag of money. Reader Dion Graham pulls the listener into the story with his earnest delivery and streetwise patter. Graham gives each character a distinctive voice, even managing to talk like a white kid trying to talk like a black kid. His work is as engaging and powerful as the book, a perfect pairing. M.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine
