King Suckerman (D.C. Quartet #2) 
It is the summer of 1976 and 'King Suckerman' is the title of a new film ("the one about the pimp?") that virtually every character in the novel is dying to watch. Taking place throughout Independence Day weekend of the Bicentennial Year, the novel portrays a melting pot of Washington D.C. denizens; a tapestry of races and a cauldron of ethnic criminality. Pelecanos' novel pulsates with the jive and vibe of the blaxploitation films it manifestly emulates and reveres. The facile and underwhelming
Not his best work yet enjoyable. I am a big fan of the Terry Quinn / Derek Strange stories.

Holy shit. After Shoedog I couldnt hold off staying on the Pelicanos train. And after a second dose of his tight prose, well illustrated tragic characters, I am super hooked on this...sensitive pulp? Is that a genre? King Suckerman has everything I loved about shoedog but with a Hitchcockian Everyman in a bad position kind of twist. Throw some record store geeks and their music into the mix and an overarching blaxploitation film as a sort of thematic chorus for the whole piece. I loved this
4.5The crime noir spree continues, as does Pelecanos's hit rate for me. This is very nearly as good as The Sweet Forever, the novel that shares many of these characters 10 years older. This one is set around the Bicentennial celebration in 1976 DC. It reads like a less creepy version of a 90s Tarantino movie.
I'm re-reading all of Pelecanos. I'm amazed at how much I've forgotten, and yet I can describe the Oblonsky drawing room in Anna Karenina. Loose money, warehouses, slums, hot cars, a soundtrack and everyone wants to see the pimp movie, King Suckerman, at the Town Theater. It was similar when I was the only white person on Thanksgiving seeing Superfly over in Riverdale. I'll give him this: he captures an era and a city to perfection.
I really wanted to love this, but it just didn't flow. I'm sure I'll try Pelecanos again. This was an early one, so I'm sure he tightened up his game over the years.Scoring the book like a movie doesn't really work on the printed page. After a while, you question whether you really need to know what's on the radio every time someone gets in a car. Which is a shame, because Pelecanos knows his '70s jams.Also, FWIW, this was the first time I encountered someone dying from having their femoral
George Pelecanos
Mass Market Paperback | Pages: 336 pages Rating: 3.99 | 2116 Users | 115 Reviews

Itemize Books As King Suckerman (D.C. Quartet #2)
Original Title: | King Suckerman |
ISBN: | 2020490684 (ISBN13: 9782020490689) |
Series: | D.C. Quartet #2 |
Rendition Toward Books King Suckerman (D.C. Quartet #2)
It's the week leading up to the Bicentennial celebration in Washington, D.C., and King Suckerman is the hot new blaxploitation film that's got everyone talking. Small-time dealer Dimitri Karras and his friend, record-store owner Marcus Clay, are out looking to score some weed when they stumble in on a big deal gone bad -- and pick up some cash that isn't theirs. Pursued by a trigger-happy gangster looking to settle the score, Dimitri and Marcus suddenly find that they're players in a savage game of cross and double-cross....Brilliantly evoking the retrocool of seventies music, clothes, and movies, King Suckerman is bold, real, and violent -- a supercharged thriller in the hardboiled tradition of Jim Thompson, David Goodis, and Pulp Fiction. Here is George Pelecanos's strongest work to date -- a book that is certain to win him a whole new audience of admirers.
Identify About Books King Suckerman (D.C. Quartet #2)
Title | : | King Suckerman (D.C. Quartet #2) |
Author | : | George Pelecanos |
Book Format | : | Mass Market Paperback |
Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
Pages | : | Pages: 336 pages |
Published | : | March 16th 2001 by Dell (first published 1997) |
Categories | : | Mystery. Crime. Fiction. Noir |
Rating About Books King Suckerman (D.C. Quartet #2)
Ratings: 3.99 From 2116 Users | 115 ReviewsJudgment About Books King Suckerman (D.C. Quartet #2)
This is Pelecanos tribute to 1970's blaxploitation flicks. And what better way to do that than to write a book in the very style of the waaay over the top movies it skewers? Almost all of the characters seem to have walked directly from the screenings of Shaft, Superfly and the Mack onto the pages of this book. Pelcanos even keeps the soundtrack tight by constantly referencing 70's music staples and some one hit wonders that only someone who lived it could remember. He skillfully recreates theIt is the summer of 1976 and 'King Suckerman' is the title of a new film ("the one about the pimp?") that virtually every character in the novel is dying to watch. Taking place throughout Independence Day weekend of the Bicentennial Year, the novel portrays a melting pot of Washington D.C. denizens; a tapestry of races and a cauldron of ethnic criminality. Pelecanos' novel pulsates with the jive and vibe of the blaxploitation films it manifestly emulates and reveres. The facile and underwhelming
Not his best work yet enjoyable. I am a big fan of the Terry Quinn / Derek Strange stories.

Holy shit. After Shoedog I couldnt hold off staying on the Pelicanos train. And after a second dose of his tight prose, well illustrated tragic characters, I am super hooked on this...sensitive pulp? Is that a genre? King Suckerman has everything I loved about shoedog but with a Hitchcockian Everyman in a bad position kind of twist. Throw some record store geeks and their music into the mix and an overarching blaxploitation film as a sort of thematic chorus for the whole piece. I loved this
4.5The crime noir spree continues, as does Pelecanos's hit rate for me. This is very nearly as good as The Sweet Forever, the novel that shares many of these characters 10 years older. This one is set around the Bicentennial celebration in 1976 DC. It reads like a less creepy version of a 90s Tarantino movie.
I'm re-reading all of Pelecanos. I'm amazed at how much I've forgotten, and yet I can describe the Oblonsky drawing room in Anna Karenina. Loose money, warehouses, slums, hot cars, a soundtrack and everyone wants to see the pimp movie, King Suckerman, at the Town Theater. It was similar when I was the only white person on Thanksgiving seeing Superfly over in Riverdale. I'll give him this: he captures an era and a city to perfection.
I really wanted to love this, but it just didn't flow. I'm sure I'll try Pelecanos again. This was an early one, so I'm sure he tightened up his game over the years.Scoring the book like a movie doesn't really work on the printed page. After a while, you question whether you really need to know what's on the radio every time someone gets in a car. Which is a shame, because Pelecanos knows his '70s jams.Also, FWIW, this was the first time I encountered someone dying from having their femoral
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