Happy birthday George Pelecanos!

Today is the birthday of the great George Pelecanos, maybe the greatest crime fiction writer alive, certainly my favorite. I discovered him back in 2006, around this time of year, when my future wife had bought me Right as Rain among a few other crime novels by various authors in a bargain sale. To this day she refuses to tell me how much of a bargain it was (apparently it was ridiculously cheap). For me, it was the bargain that made me discover George Pelecanos, so I am still grateful towards her for this. Since then, I read all his books, except The Martini Shot, his collection of short stories. When I'll have read it, I will then know his full literary work. Then I guess I will have to wait for the next one, or re-read those I already read. Until then, I want to wish a happy birthday to the crime master. And if you have not read his books yet, you better get started. You won't regret it.

Happy birthday George Pelecanos!

I learned something today through Facebook: today, 18th of February, is the birthday of George Pelecanos, who is now 57. Pelecanos is not my favourite writer, but he is my favourite crime writer, since I read Right as Rain back in 2006. Right now I am reading The Night Gardener, which is quite fitting. Pelecanos is of course of Greek origins and I always thought he wrote Greek tragedies, or Greek epic, set in contemporary USA. His stories are hard, merciless, very dark, yet there is genuine humanism in it and a love for his characters, however flawed, which makes reading him such a pleasant experience. So happy birthday to the best of the best.