I've read a few of [a:George Pelecanos|47387|George Pelecanos|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1200675547p2/47387.jpg]'s more recent novels and liked them very much, so I decided to go back to the beginning. This was his first book, published in 1992, and while one can see the seeds of greatness in it, one can also see how much he has learned in the intervening years. The protagonist, Nick Stefanos, is Greek-American like so many of Pelecanos's main characters. He works in a discount electronics chain (as Pelecanos himself did, according to the dust jacket). He's thirty years old but hasn't really grown up yet, and that was the main problem I had with the book. In the last Pelecanos I read, his most recent,([b:The Cut|96908|Johnny the Homicidal Maniac Director's Cut|Jhonen Vasquez|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171357077s/96908.jpg|93408]) the protagonist has some similarities to Nick Stefanos but is a much more likable and admirable character. I was never much interested in the details of drunken binges even when I was younger, and still less now; and there's way too much of that in [b:A Firing Offense|307534|A Firing Offense|George Pelecanos|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173596965s/307534.jpg|298504]. The plot is fairly complicated and at least I didn't figure it all out before the end. Pelecanos loves his details. He wants the reader to know exactly what music the character has on the car's cassette player and what streets of D.C. and environs he's driving on; he also uses a lot of retail sales and restaurant jargon, though it's not difficult to pick up on. In this book, that got a bit tedious, unlike the more recent ones in which this style is still noticeable but doesn't detract from the story. I'm glad someone saw something in this story and published it so that Pelecanos could keep writing and become the fine writer he is today. ( )

An enjoyable story of a man switching from being a retail salesman to a private investigator who, in this initial installment, works well outside the law. A not too obnoxious version of the sleeping with the perpetrator gimmick. The narration is a little like the brat pack (Bret Easton Ellis and Jay McInerney): drugs and music. ( )

A taut little noir that provides hints to the author Pelecanos has become. Solid crime story set in a very real, lived-in world. The man clearly knows his D.C., and knows it well. ( )

A taut little noir that provides hints to the author Pelecanos has become. Solid crime story set in a very real, lived-in world. The man clearly knows his D.C., and knows it well. ( )

A taut little noir that provides hints to the author Pelecanos has become. Solid crime story set in a very real, lived-in world. The man clearly knows his D.C., and knows it well. ( )