George Pelecanos
Little, Brown and Company
Release date: August 1, 2008
List price: $24.99 (304p)
ISBN: 978-0316156479
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Review - "The Turnaround"
Reviewer: Cori Vella
Rating:
I love books that make me cry, and The Turnaround did just that. Many times. The Turnaround opens in the 1970s, a different time and practically a different world, where people lived in racially divided neighborhoods.
Bored teenagers Alex Pappas, Billy Cachoris, and Pete Whitten decide one day to go joy-riding in the predominantly black neighborhood of Heathrow Heights. "Eat this, you fuckin niggers!" is the sentence that starts it all, changing the lives of six boys forever.
Billy Cachoris is killed, shot in the back. Alex Pappas is permanently disfigured. Charles Baker and James Monroe spend years behind bars.
Fast-forward to present time. Raymond Monroe, one of the boys who had been involved, comes across Alex Pappas. With Charles Baker's recent release from prison, Raymond wants to make amends with Alex, and also to warn him: Charles Baker is intent on revenge, and will stoop to any means to get it.
The Turnaround is full of emotionally-charged suspense. It is a book focused on redemption and forgiveness, which are universal themes that any reader can identify the need for. Pelecanos is particularly deft at creating characters that come to life; you live and breathe alongside these characters, feel the way that they feel, hope the way that they hope.
The ending left something to be desired — it felt incomplete, as if Pelecanos had run out of steam, and decided to just end it with the first thing he could think of. For such a marvelous foundation and build-up, it was something of a let-down.
Still, a somewhat disappointing ending doesn't remove The Turnaround's quality overall. Loved it. Would definitely read it again.
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