George P. Pelecanos - Hell To Pay

Two and a half stars. Almost okay, but too flawed to make the grade.

Derek Strange and Terry Quinn deal with racism, poverty, prostitution, drugs and murder, as well as their own personal relationship and anger management issues. It's a gritty, downbeat novel that makes many important points about many important issues. It's also rather slow and dull. The pace doesn't pick up until the last 50 pages or so, but by then it's too late to salvage a decent crime story from the overbearing worthiness of the book's central themes.