The Night Gardener: George Pelecanos

“When the body of local teenager Asa Johnson is found in a community garden, homicide detective Gus Ramone relives intense memories of a case he worked on twenty years ago. Ramone and his then partner Dan ‘Doc’ Holiday assisted legendary detective T.C. Cook as he investigated a series of killings involving young victims left overnight in neighborhood parks. The killer, dubbed ‘The Night Gardener’ was never caught. Could Asa’s death be the work of the Night Gardener?”

This book was not what I expected from a mystery novel. The murder that is supposed to drive the main characters and link events from the past to the present does not occur until several chapters into the story. If I were reading this just for pleasure, I would have put it aside after the first few chapters and found another book to read.

The story, told from multiple viewpoints, focuses mainly on Detective Ramone and Dan Holiday. Ramone is a good cop. He is honest, hard working and devoted to his family, but he is boring. Holiday is a creep for most of the book and I had trouble relating to his character.

The biggest problem I had with the book was the style. Yes, it is subjective and not every writing style will appeal to every reader but at some point, it has to be viewed objectively. Pelecanos’ style kept me very firmly outside the story. I felt as though I was watching a television program, rather than reading a book. There was no moment when the story overtook me and I was immersed in it. This is especially uncomfortable during the intimate scenes between Ramone and his wife - I have read scenes in other books that were far more explicit, but none of them has ever made me as uncomfortable as these. The voyeuristic aspect of the book was so strong I almost felt like I was peeking in the window and watching them.

There were other issues that bothered me: Pelecanos is often praised for his handling of racial subjects, but I felt like he spent much of the book coyly dropping hints about race, rather than confronting it. What is so difficult about describing Ramone’s wife? Why should it take multiple chapters and little bits of slowly released information to find out they are a biracial couple?

The setting lacked substance; the book is set in Washington D.C. but doesn’t have the distinctive feel of that city. I also felt the story suffered from a subplot that had nothing to do with the case and was included as a convenient wrap up of a loose end.

I did not enjoy the book. The writing itself is not bad, but the book as a whole was a chore to read and I can’t recommend it.

--------------------------------------
Hardcover: 372 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company August 2006 (Hachette Book Group)
ISBN: 0-316-15650-7