The Cut by George Pelecanos

Spero Lucas has a new line of work. Since he returned home after serving in Iraq, he has been doing special investigations for a defence attorney. He’s good at it, and he has carved out a niche: recovering stolen property, no questions asked. His cut is forty percent.

A high-profile crime boss who has heard of Lucas’s specialty hires him to find out who has been stealing from his operation. It’s the biggest job Lucas has ever been offered, and he quickly gets a sense of what’s going on. But before he can close in on what’s been taken, he tangles with a world of men whose amorality and violence leave him reeling. Is any cut worth your family, your lover, your life?

The first thing that hits you when you start reading The Cut by George Pelecanos is how fast paced and free flowing the narrative is. This is an incredibly easy book to read and measuring just 235 pages in length it won’t take you long. My only disappointment came when I turned the final page and realised my first Pelecanos experience was over.

I’ve been fortunate to have lived in Australia over the years – not so now unfortunately – but living in Melbourne as I did, later Sydney, you can’t help but find yourself immersed in the Greek way of life in one way or another whether visiting Greek restaurants, deli’s or coffee shops. Melbourne just happens to be the second largest Greek city in the world outside of Athens with just over 300,000 Greek-Australians living in the Victorian capital. So why am I sharing this fascinating fact with you? Spero Lucas is Greek!

The Cut is a crime thriller par excellence, there’s no getting away from that and nor would I want to but within a few pages I realised it was so much more than just your regular run of the mill thriller. I associated with his family, I recognised the relationships explored within; a Greek mother who dotes on her sons where nothing is too much trouble and whose love is reciprocated without fail and the spirited relationship between brothers. Spero is adopted, as is his brother yet they lived the life and benefited from a loving parents. I found myself chuckling at the humorous exchanges between Leo and Spero in what always appeared to be a game of one upmanship but one thing is undeniable; their love for one another.

Characterisation is impressive and Spero – the protagonist – takes centre stage more or less throughout, occasionally sharing the limelight with two other deserving characters – his brother and young student Ernest Lindsay – who both play a fairly pivotal role in the story. The great thing about this book is that in Spero you have a vigorous leading man, a regular church goer and an ex-marine who saw battle in Fallujah who doesn’t really grow. There’s no real need. That’s not to say there is no depth to his character, there is but he knows who he is and what he’s about and his story – for me – was never about growth or development. Pelecanos gave him a stage and an audience to tell his tale and he does it very well.

Spero comes across as a bit of a lad – in my limited experience a typical Greek lad – and if he’s not working, cycling or training he’s thinking about women or food! He loves both in equal measures but with a reluctance to settle down he has a penchant to play the field as often as he can! Yet despite this calculating approach to life he shows a sensitivity beyond his years with frequent visits to his father’s grave at Glenwood cemetery often leaving a dozen roses by the graveside.

The story and plot is unquestionably slick – as you would expect from the author who brought us The Wire – and not once did I feel it faltered or lost its way. As I’ve already mentioned my only disappointment came when I finished the book, it was a little short for my liking and I would have liked to have seen further exploration in his investigative role and his working relationship with lawyer Tom Petersen but I have no doubt this will be rectified in the follow up to The Cut.

Highly recommended.

Published by Orion The Cut is available in Hardcover or Kindle Formats