A Firing Offense
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3.8 • 25 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
As the advertising director of Nutty Nathan's, Nick Stefanos knows all the tricks of the electronics business. Blow-out sales and shady deals were his life. When one of the stockboys disappears, it's not news: just another metalhead who went off chasing some dream of big money and easy living. But the kid reminded Nick of himself twelve years ago: an angry punk hooked on speed metal and the fast life. So when the boy's grandfather begs Nick to find the kid, Nick says he'll try. A Firing Offense, Nick Stefanos' debut, shows why, as Barry Gifford puts it, "To miss out on Pelecanos would be criminal."
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Thirtysomething Nick Stefanos, up-from-the-sales-floor ad manager at a Washington, D.C., electronics chain, has quit smoking and considerably reduced his drug intake but still drinks pretty heavily. When the grandfather of Jimmy Broda, a stockboy Nick has befriended, asks him to help find the missing boy, Nick reluctantly agrees. Jimmy has been hanging out with skinheads and Nick begins plumbing that world after he's fired from his job. With time and severance pay on his hands he follows Jimmy's trail to the resorts of the Carolina Outer Banks, moving back to Washington to unravel a plot that involves drugs, violence and murder. Besides offering an inside look at electronics retailing, dreary skinheads, a nostalgic list of late baby-boomers' pop songs and quite a lot of drinking (including a solo binge by Nick that feels gratuitous), Pelacanos also delivers a blazing, climactic shoot-out. Nick's weltschmerz is saved from excess by the cool, controlled prose and the realistic, rather bleak resolution.
Customer Reviews
Great
I can't wait to read more!
Greed
In this - and other iBooks - Apple acts like a sleaze bag marketer. Tap on the book and the informational page pops up and the buyer is told the publishing date is 2011. Shell out $9.99, however, and the buyer will see a copyright date of 1992.
Same thing the booksellers do when they slap a fresh cover on a 20 year old book and stick it in the New Arrivals section. Sleaze bag marketing. At best, this story belongs in the books for $3.99 section.
I have read read most of Pelecanos' writings. This is just mediocre. Set in late '80s DC, there isn't much to it until the end. Save your money.......