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Book Review of King Suckerman (D.C. Quartet, Bk 2)

King Suckerman (D.C. Quartet, Bk 2)
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This is a real "guy's writer." Lots of violence. Pelecanos writes lyrically and realistically. His dialogue is spot on. Cheech and Chong meet Pulp Fiction in a retro novel of Seventies drug culture. Small-time pot dealer Dimitri Karras and record-store owner Marcus Clay stumble into the wrong warehouse looking for weed and pocket some hot cash in the bargain. They are pursued by a gang of trigger-crazed lowlifes more concerned with savoring the taste of Kools and death than recovering their money. Dimitri slowly begins to realize that he's wasted many years dealing to kids and getting high. He proves his desire for redemption to Marcus by participating in a rooftop showdown with the Wilton Cooper gang.