The Sweet Forever, George Pelecanos

Yep, I’m on a Pelecanos kick… reading all his books that the library has of him. How can I not -   scenes set in the DMV, he wrote the best TV series ever  -- The Wire, and his books keep you engaged on the characters and their stories. This one is no different. It’s the mid-1980s, when the city was wrapped up in cocaine, with crack just around the corner. The corrupt Mayor Berry – we all remember him well for those of us who grew up here in the area, is bankrupting and polluting the city… and yet the people still kept voting him in. Kids are turning entire neighborhoods into war zones; police officers and public officials are taking drug money kickbacks…. A fight for survival from straight-edged, hard-working folk. Marcus Clay is back – the proud owner of a small record chain, his new store right in the epicenter of the drug trade. Dimitri Karras is back as well – Clay’s best friend, who has a serious coke problem. A bad situation turns lethal when a car crashes in front of the record store; drug money from the car is stolen; the drug pin wants to find out who took it. A chain reaction begins involving Clay and his friends, bad cops, the drug runners, etc. Our main characters are forced to fight for their lives, their livelihoods, and the soul of the city. Another great original story.