Book Club Report: The Night Gardener by George Pelecanos

I met with my new book club for the second time on May 27th to discuss The Night Gardener.

Short summary:

When a teen is found murdered in a Washingtion DC garden, it reminds veteran police officer Gus Ramone of a case he worked on as a rookie cop. Could the same killer, dubbed The Night Gardener, be on the loose again?

The group verdict:

The group is all women and we agreed that this novel seems more suited to men. Not only is there is grusome premise and a gritty setting, but the focus is on the male characters, the pages are full of men bragging about their sexual conquests in colorful language, and there is a primarily action driven plot.

We all expressed our frustration at the lack of real closure and the introduction of ancillary characters that had nothing to do with the main story. Perhaps they were there to show that the author has some familiarity with the DC criminal scene, but all the superfluous characters were just confusing to most of us.

I did enjoy the interogation scenes, and specifically that those being interogated always asked for the soft drink Slice and had to make due with Mountain Dew. I guess Slice is the criminal drink of choice in the DC area.

Up next:

Undecided. The next meeting is a movie night to watch Slumdog Millionaire.