A Firing Offense

Well-plotted and very gritty story of a manager at a cut-rate electronics store, Nutty Nathan's, who is hired as a PI to find a missing grandson who worked at one of the branch stores and whom the manager/PI (Nick) knew a little bit. There's enough alcohol and drugs here for several books, but the author pulls it off with hardly a dull moment and not too much suspension of disbelief required for this sort of thing. Lots of interesting characters and character flaws. Also, great local color around DC and as the hunt moves down the coast to North Carolina. The author's insistence on telling us every bit of music that Nick listens to or hears being played is a bit too much at time--but any book that mentions Camper Van Beethoven and the show more Hoodoo Gurus is fine by me. show less

George P Pelecanos has forged a deserved reputation for mixing the classical with the new: hard drama and atmosphere along with a plentiful supply of pop culture references and a dash of social conscience. His creation of hard-livin' Washington DC appliance salesman Nick Stefanos is a welcome addition to the varied pantheon of put-upon gumshoes. Technically, Nick isn't even a P.I, he just happens to be very good at acting like one. Who better, then, to head the search for missing stockboy Jimmy Broda, recently fired for bad attendance and last seen in the company of two dangerous drug-dealers? For what is essentially a thin tale, Pelecanos superbly executes the splendid irony that being a private eye will offer Nick more satisfaction show more than the rampant corruption that occurs in the legitimate world of retail. With A Firing Offense, Pelecanos has wonderfully laid the groundwork for what would become the staple of his later works, a perfect lure for both existing fans and newcomers. Slight, but engaging, this opening gambit oozes with the potential that is now routinely consolidated. show less

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 show more 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. show less

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.