I've read several of Pelecanos' books, but this one was most enjoyable because it most closely resembled "The Wire". While not a classic, "The Night Gardener" allows Pelecanos to flex his muscles when it comes to story-telling, dialog, and building characters. I've often felt that the best dialog writers skip writing novels and go directly to Hollywood. Pelecanos shows that you can do both.

While reading the book, I did not realize it drew from real events that happened in the early 70s, and not very far from where I live. Either way, "The Night Gardener" is a fast and intense read.

George Pelecanos is one of the writers of n  The Wiren and The Night Gardener, while not actually set in the same universe (as we'd say in the scifi world), feels very much The Wire-esque. Of course, Pelecanos has been writing these sorts of books for longer than The Wire has been on the air, so I suppose The Wire is very Pelecanos-esque. Whichever and whatever, I'm really glad to have discovered his writing--it'll be another way to satisfy my Wire fix when the series comes to it's all-too-soon end.

The Night Gardener is set in Washington, DC and suburban Maryland (not far from the seedy Baltimore of The Wire) and follows some just-trying-to-do-their-jobs homicide cops as they try to solve several murders. The death of a young man might be connected to some decades-old serial killings, but this is no flashy Bones or CSI and these cops are on no great crusade.

"How do you solve a murder? Tell me. 'Cause I'd really like to know."

"What are you talking about?"

"Would finding the killer raise those kids back from the dead? Would it bring closure to the families? What would it solve, exactly?" Ramone shook his head bitterly. "I lost the idea a long time ago that I was accomplishing anything. Occasionally I put assholes away for life, knowing they can't kill again. That's how I speak for the fallen few. But as far as solving goes? I don't solve shit. I go to work every day and I try to protect my wife and kids from the bad things that are out there. That's my mission. That's all I can do."

We also get to see things from the perspective of criminals and school children (just like on The... alright, I'll stop now).

Murder mystery in DC.... Good book. I like all the characters and other situations besides the main crime being investigated. I will read more books by this author.

Red herrings and Macguffins. I just read a book where the main plot really didn't have anything to do with the supposed story (and the title). It's like the author had two ideas, mashed them together, but forgot to work on one of them completely. So he slapped a chapter on the front, another on the back, and went back and added 10 pages sprinkled throughout the book to make it "work."

I was disappointed on the whole.

DNF 50%, not because it’s bad but I wasn’t particularly hooked and got distracted by other books. But it’s competently written and a book/author I would go back to!

It was a good story after page 150.

3 Stars. A police procedural with interesting undertones - race relations in the early 21st century, the circuitous route of major criminal investigations, the close proximity of success and failure, fathers and sons, I could go on. Washington DC detective Gus Ramone picks up the case of a teenager found shot in a community garden; could it have been suicide? Nope, the gun was missing. His name was Asa who turns out to be a friend of Ramone's son Diego. The family lives nearby and it falls to Gus to break the news to Asa's parents. Ramone realizes that this new case has a strong resemblance to the unsolved "Palindrome" murders of 1985 - the murders of three young Black kids with names that read the same forward and backward. He had been a young police officer and, along with Dan Holliday who later left the force under a cloud, was directing traffic at the scene. But they had watched the experienced Sergeant T. C. Cooke as he conducted the investigation. Although not without difficulty, they get together again. Can they conquer mistrust and different styles to find a killer? It's tough. (October 2019)

I have a feeling I would have rated this higher had I not read it in sequence with a bunch of other police/detective stories. It's a perfectly good book in it's genre, but as it was I probably could have used a break about then. On the other hand, nothing stood out and made me want to search out further works by the author, so...

I've come to grips with the fact that George Pelecanos is my Stephen King. The guy's matter-of-fact style just flies off the page for me and I don't honestly think he could write a book I wouldn't enjoy.

I audibly laughed during many of the opening chapters, as the dialogue just echoes off the page, down to the accented profanities. But I was transfixed as everything came to a head in the final chapters and couldn't put it down for the final 50 pages.

The plot is a solid mystery with a meaningful resolution, even if many might find it unsatisfying in the traditional sense. The plea for inclusion in the last chapters may ring trite to some but I found it refreshing in this genre. It's got more heart than most on the crime fiction shelf.

I found this book in a free little library. It was an overall enjoyable read. There were a couple of side stories that confused me and detracted from the main story, in my opinion. Not a bad book for free, but not sure I’d go seeking it out.

This one felt a little shaky starting out. The intrigue of the opening section disappeared as the modern day bulk of the novel began. Also, the dialogue was strangely written.

However, I soon forgot all of those issues and actually really enjoyed this book. There are a lot of observations regarding race, and this is handled really well. The reader feels like a minority through the characters and their experiences.

As far as the crime portion, well, there wasn’t much there. This played like a law and order episode that was all backstory. Not that this was a bad thing, it was merely not what I expected.

The resolution was strong, the development was believable, all the boxes were checked. I’ve bounced back and forth between what to score this novel at, And have settled on a solid 3.5, so I guess that means I’m rounding up. Good effort.

3,5/5 στρογγυλεμένο στα 4 αστέρια. Καθαρό αστυνομικό που επικεντρώνεται στους χαρακτήρες, χωρίς ξέφρενη δράση αλλά με ωραίο κλείσιμο στο τέλος. Η μετάφραση με ξένισε σε κάποια σημεία που προσπάθησε να αποδώσει βρισιές ή αργκό με αντίστοιχες ελληνικές φράσεις.