The Night Gardener
by George Pelecanos
Little, Brown and Company
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Reviewed by Peg Brantley
Gus Ramone is on the job working as a homicide detective. Married with a couple of kids, he just wants to do the right thing. That usually means following all the rules. His ex-partner, Dan "Doc" Holiday spends his days in bars and running his limo service, and his nights with women whose names he can't remember. But Doc has not forgotten how good it felt to be a cop.
Early in their careers, Gus and Doc were on the scene when legendary police detective, T. C. Cook, investigated a series of killings where the victims were teenagers. Cook took great pride in his solve rate, but the "Night Gardener" killer eluded him, and he retired with the haunting need to solve this case--to let the three young people who lost their lives know they had not been forgotten.
Twenty years later there's another murder--with striking similarities to the "Night Gardener" killings. And Doc Holiday is the guy who calls it in. The three men find themselves drawn together with a common goal--to lay to rest a monster.
Although the plot seems to be secondary to crude vulgarity from time to time, Pelecanos creates a realistic view into the world where all kinds of monsters exist. He handles teenage pathos and lingo with skill, and the sense of purposelessness in the two ex-cops who have lost their connection is well defined.
Armchair Interviews says: Cops trying to solve a 20-year-old crime make for a good story.