The Night Gardener by George Pelecanos
Adult New Book Display - Main Level
Downloadable Audio Book
Fans of the smart, nuanced storytelling on the HBO series, The Wire, will also like The Night Gardener, because George Pelecanos wrote both. And just as The Wire made many TV critics’ “Ten Best” lists, The Night Gardener received critical acclaim as one of the best mysteries of 2006. Pelecanos uses his screenwriting talents to create scenes that the reader can actually “see” and the dialogue crackles as it propels the story forward.
The book opens with a child’s murder in 1985 and then jumps forward twenty years to 2005 when another child’s murder brings together the story’s main characters. The Night Gardener takes place on the gritty streets and working class neighborhoods around Washington DC - territory that Pelecanos covers right down to the fast-food wrappers blowing across the corner basketball courts. The story’s characters are all believable, complex human beings - complete with the usual foibles and flaws as well as rare moments of grace. The first part of the book allows us time to get to know the characters, so that we feel like we’re riding in the same car with them when the action accelerates and the plot takes some unexpected twists and turns. Fans of writers like Denis Lehane, Michael Connelly, Ian Rankin, Ruth Rendel, and Margaret Yorke who are looking for a complex, character-driven mystery will want to check out The Night Gardener.