If you liked George Pelecanos' The Way Home...
...why not try these hard-hitting accounts of America’s mean streets from two fellow Wire writers...
The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-city Neighbourhood by David Simon and Edward Burns
The Wire creator David Simon and writer Ed Burns write about a crime- infested area of Baltimore, through the eyes of one broken family...
The crime-infested intersection of West Fayette and Monroe Streets is well-known--and cautiously avoided--by most of Baltimore. But this notorious corner's 24-hour open-air drug market provides the economic fuel for a dying neighbourhood. David Simon, an award-winning author and crime reporter, and Edward Burns, a 20-year veteran of the urban drug war, tell the chilling story of this desolate crossroad. Through the eyes of one broken family - two drug-addicted adults and their smart, vulnerable 15-year-old son, DeAndre McCollough - Simon and Burns examine the sinister realities of inner cities across the country and unflinchingly assess why law enforcement policies, moral crusades, and the welfare system have accomplished so little. This extraordinary book is a crucial look at the price of the drug culture and the poignant scenes of hope, caring, and love that astonishingly rise in the midst of a place America has abandoned.
Prayers for Rain by Dennis Lehane
Lehane’s popular Kenzie-Gennaro private detective series comes to a climax...
Boston private investigators, Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro's relationship has hit the skids - their long-standing professional commitment and growing romance have disintegrated due to seemingly irreparable personal differences. But despite these problems, Prayers for Rain brings them together again to close down a predator whose modus operandi seems to put him beyond the law. This killer's insidious murder weapon is within his victims' minds: no smoking gun, no bloody knife, just merciless manipulation until despair drives his targets to kill themselves. As Patrick and Angie attempt to identify and save his next victim, this sinister force turns on them and thus begins a dangerous battle of wits: a tormenting, life-threatening game of psychological warfare in which simple survival seems a mixed blessing - because not even the winner will emerge unscathed.
