George Pelecanos

"The job seems simple enough: retrieve the valuable painting--"The Double"--Grace Kinkaid's ex-boyfriend stole from her. It's the sort of thing Spero Lucas specializes in: finding what's missing, and doing it quietly. But Grace wants more. She wants Lucas to find the man who humiliated her--a violent career criminal with a small gang of brutal thugs at his beck and call. Lucas is a man who knows how to get what he wants, whether it's a thief on the...

"Short stories and a novella from one of crime fiction's most revered writers. Whether they're cops or conmen, savage killers or creative types, gangsters or God-fearing citizens, George Pelecanos' characters are always engaged in a fight for their lives. They fight to advance or simply to survive; they fight against odds, against enemies, even against themselves. In this, his first collection of stories, the acclaimed novelist introduces readers...

Derek Strange is a rookie cop, the job he's dreamed of since he was a boy. His brother, Dennis, has not been as fortunate; home from the service with a disability pension and zero prospects, he is a man with good intentions but bad habits. Derek has always looked out for Dennis, but no amount of brotherly love can save him from the dangerous world of Alvin Jones, a local bottom-feeder, hustler, and stone killer who draws him into his web of violence.While...

"Four blistering novellas, drawn together by themes of strife, violence, and humanity, from esteemed crime fiction writers, George Pelecanos" --Provided by Publisher. "When the son of the Carusos is involved in a hold up, the family home comes under siege in the form of a no-knock warrant. Months after the cops destroyed their home, the Carusos struggle to return to normal. Elsewhere, two former inmates reunite by chance on the set of a TV production....

Constantine is a drifter, a man with a lot of miles behind him, a lot more ahead, and a number of jobs in between that never showed up on anyone's books. He hitches a ride on a bright spring morning with a little man named Polk. Heading down a country road in Polk's hopped-up muscle-car, the two men share a few cigarettes. This is how it starts. Later, when Constantine walks toward the big brick house, the Beat in his head, the grip of the .45 warm...

It's 1985 and the party of the '70s is slowing down. 42nd Street has deteriorated into a world of crime, seedy video stores, and peep shows; VHS has overtaken film as porn's primary medium, and the AIDS epidemic has had a devastating impact. Welcome to the third and final season of the gritty HBO series that follows the interconnected lives of barkeeps, prostitutes, pimps, the police, mobsters, and adult film actors and producers in Times Square.