His newest novel, The Turnaround, is a disappointment, however. And so is the performance of narrator Dion Graham.

Graham does a great job of characterization. The people come alive in this story of a racial incident in 1973 and its impact 30 years later. But when he isn't doing dialogue, his voice drops into an utterly annoying cadence that will make you wish he was running his fingernails across a chalkboard instead.

The novel itself draws a perfect picture of the times, both then and now, and the changed nature of race relations. But its conclusion is cloying and schmaltzy. It  lacks the edginess of Pelecanos' other works, such as The Night Gardener.