I finished my 7th book of the year a little over a week ago: A Firing Offense, by George Pelecanos.

I decided to read something by Pelecanos because of his connection to the television series "The Wire." (Pelecanos was a writer on the show.) A Firing Offense is his debut novel, and the first entry in Pelecanos' Nick Stefanos series of books.

I definitely didn't love this book. The plot was extremely thin, centering on Stefanos' search for a missing teen. However, Pelecanos spent far more time describing the seedy beer-soaked world in which his characters live than on the story at hand. Thanks to Stefanos' sometimes endless hours at his day job, a consumer electronics store, I now know a great deal about the deceptive methods employed by such stores to extract as much money as possible from each customer. Sadly, I now know very little about finding a missing person.

Given that this was Pelecanos' first novel and that he has built quite a reputation in the years since, I suspect I'll find his later novels more impressive than this one.

52B/52W Progress: 7 down, 45 to go.

Currently Reading: The Smartest Guys in the Room