The Sweet Forever

A Novel

By: George Pelecanos

Narrated by: Cary Hite

A bold, brilliant tale of mystery, revenge, and survival in the 1980s, when cocaine and money ruled the city streets and even the good guys wanted a piece of the action.

It's March madness and the college boys are playing basketball on TV. But on the streets of D.C., the homeboys are dealing, dissing, dying. From behind plate glass, with an 80s backbeat pounding in his brain, Marcus Clay watches it all happen, and prays that he can make a go with his downtown record store. Then a car comes careening down U Street, and what Marcus sees next will plunge him into the middle of a war.

A drug runner is decapitated in the crash. A bystander--a white boy desperate to buy a woman's love--snatches a bag of cash from the wreck, and a prince of crime wants it back. For Marcus's buddy, Dimitri Karras, the mayhem is a chance to make a score. For a pair of dirty cops it's a chance to get free. And for dozens of lives swept up into the maelstrom, it's just another springtime in America's capital, where the game is played for keeps.

A riveting story

Pelecanos always keeps the reader wanting to turn the page. This book continues in that tradition.

George Pelacanos Tale of Drugs, Basketball and Righteousness in 1986 Washington

#3 of Pelacanos’ DC Quartet, featuring record shop entrepreneur Marcus Clay, and his old friend and co-worker Dimitri Karras, opening a new store in a rough, drug-ridden neighborhood, facing down dealers and trying to save a couple of street kids. Lotsa cocaine in use, with the 1986 NCAA tournament as a backdrop. Some really evil bad guys are the adversaries, and there is a lot of violence. A well-told story, if with a somewhat implausible ending. If you are not familiar with Maryland BB star Len Bias, you must Google him when you get to the last scene, in order to understand what’s happening.

So much potential that got diluted with unfocused writing and too many characters

It felt like every chapter at least 4-5 new characters were introduced. Most of these characters who seem to do nothing at all for the story, and the story doesn’t seem to move after the first main event. Some characters were more fleshed out than others but most were near carbon copies of the last 20 just mentioned. I found myself mentally tuning it all out after a while and had to give up. I really want to like this book, and it’s not bad, but it just needs better editing - it needs to cut out all the fat and stay focused.

Maybe this book is probably better read than listened to. It’s easier to keep track of a longer story and tangled storylines when you can actually read the words and names.

A textbook on how to write crime fiction-brilliant

It would be enough if this were simply a great character-drive novel. However, as compelling as this is for three-fourths of the book, as the climax nears Pelecanos just keeps building and building. You won't be able to stop listening once that final 90 minutes kicks in. Suckerman was also great. I hope the turn the other two books in the series into audio soon.
This was some kind of ride.

George Pelecanos...Glad I found him

This man can spin a gripping story. I will listen to more of his works. And the narration is fantastic.