The Cut Audiobook

Quotes

• “Triple-distilled excellence…Not just recommended—this is essential reading.”

  — Lee Child

• “DC is as brilliantly drawn as the characters.”

  — Parade

• “The start of a hot new series.”

  — New York Times

• “Spero Lucas is a terrific character.”

  — New York Times Book Review

• “Maintains a remarkably high level of intelligence and style.”

  — Washington Post

• “This coplike knowledge of the streets gives his novels authenticity…The Cut is getting rave reviews. His fans are a veritable Who’s Who.”

  — USA Today

• “A lean, swift, atmospheric detective novel…free of cliché, condescension, or illusion. An engagingly inspired character.”

  — Wall Street Journal

• “Pelecanos has excelled at character and plot… The characters and the Washington of The Cut are complicated and interesting.”

  — Los Angeles Times

• “This is gold-standard character-driven crime writing that few will ever match.”

  — Financial Times

• “The Cut isn’t so much a whodunit as a where-, what-, why-, and howdunit. There’s plenty of heft, but the book crackles with energy as it follows its sometimes hotheaded protagonist…The Cut is hard to put down, and it sticks with you when you do.”

  — Philadelphia Inquirer

• “Excellent…Both vital and timely, this remarkable novel also connects DC’s past and present as only Pelecanos does.”

  — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

• “Award-winning actor Dion Graham infuses life into a large cast of characters that include Washington professionals, street punks, and Spero’s ex-military buddies…Fast moving and hard edged.”

  — Library Journal

• “His writing is masterful, and The Cut deserves a place among his best work, which, as his legions of readers well know, is high praise indeed.”

  — BookPage

• “Spero Lucas [is] an Iraqi War vet and a ‘young man with appetites,’ who has carved for himself a Travis McGee-like career of recovering stolen property…Pelecanos’ characters often speak of their love of classic westerns, and there have been more than a few showdowns at the OK Corral in his best work. We can feel another one coming here, too…Familar and right for Spero and also for Pelecanos’ fans.”

  — Booklist (starred review)

• “George Pelecanos knows detective fiction, and he knows Washington, DC. Both genre and setting play an integral part in his latest novel…Dion Graham shines in his narration…Graham’s voices and delivery of street slang are distinct and creative. Spero’s erudite and streetwise brother; a young, innocent student; and assorted friends and colleagues all come alive in the listener’s ear. Graham is exceptional in his portrayal of the psychopathic ringleader of a criminal enterprise. Here’s hoping Pelecanos brings Lucas back—with Graham as narrator.”

  — AudioFile

• “Pelecanos’ many fans will be pleased with his new and fascinating protagonist and exploration of social and ethical issues. Graham’s narration is ideal; he is equally adept with both Caucasian and African American characters without approaching stereotypical speech patterns. In his representation of Lucas, his voice is soft and enticing, luring listeners into engaging with an intriguing new player in the world of crime fiction.”

  — Booklist

• “Another tough, heart-rending odyssey through a war zone in which every denizen has the potential to be both hero and villain.”

  — Kirkus Reviews

• As you'd expect from a writer with credit for both The Wire and Treme, Pelecanos expertly renders the streets of the US capital and succeeds where many have failed of late: creating a fully formed antihero whom readers will want to meet again.

  — Shortlist

• Pelecanos is incapable of writing a book that isn't gripping, and the dialogue is of a brilliance comparable only with Elmore Leonard and George V Higgins.

  — The Times

• Pelecanos keeps readers on their toes with a series of twists that confound stereotypes, drilling the plot along with breakneck prose, sassy dialogue and even shifting into a serious analysis at modern society in all its flawed glory. Exceptional.

  — The Big Issue

• Pelecanos, heir to Elmore Leonard's throne, has landed another short, sparkling masterpiece. What's more, The Cut is just the beginning of a planned series for tough, streetwise, mother's boy Spero Lucas.

  — The Mirror

• He's best known for writing acclaimed US TV show The Wire. But George Pelecanos has spent many years penning brilliant but under-appreciated crime novels set in Washington DC...the dialogue, characters and sense of location are superb. Pelecanos is a cut above the rest.

  — Natasha Harding, The Sun