The Turnaround
From Co-Creator of Hit HBO Show ‘We Own This City’
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4.1 • 9 Ratings
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- £2.99
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- £2.99
Publisher Description
A brilliant novel from one of America's finest literary crime writers...
On a hot summer afternoon in Washington DC 1972, three white teenagers, stoned and fearless, drive a stolen car into a rough, black neighbourhood. Taunting local black kids through the car window, they speed off to what they think is safety.
They find themselves trapped in a dead-end street whilst an angry mob gathers. In the ensuing chaos, two of the white boys manage to escape, but Billy - the third friend - is shot dead.
Thirty-five years later, one of these men reaches out to another, opening a door that could lead to salvation. However, another survivor of that day is now out of prison, and is looking for reparation in any form he can find it . . .
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In yet another gem of urban noir, bestseller Pelecanos (The Night Gardener) explores the possibility of making "the turnaround," of starting over and building a new life, regardless of the past. One summer day in 1972, three teenage white boys Alex Pappas and his friends Billy Cachoris and Pete Whitten drive into a poor Washington, D.C., neighborhood, high on booze and weed, looking for trouble. They confront three young black men, Billy winds up dead and Alex badly beaten. In 2007, Alex runs the family coffee shop, as did his father, and grieves for his son, recently killed in Iraq. Then, one of the black survivors of "the incident" contacts Alex, opening a door that may finally put the trauma of the past to rest. At the same time, another survivor, the man who beat Alex, has gotten out of prison and has extortion on his mind. The result is a beautifully written and thought-provoking novel of crime, friendship, aging and redemption.
