Sometimes I wonder why I keep reading mysteries. Most of them are formulaic and the endings are often disappointing. Either predictable or improbable. Then comes along a book that is not just a good mystery but a great book. “Clokers” is such a book.The author Richard Price wrote for the HBO series “The Wire” – the best series of all time - and, at first, I thought that this book was very similar to the series. We have young underprivileged black men – kids really – selling drugs – the clokers - and the narcotics cop who go after them. The narcotics cops are called “The Fury” by the clockers from the car they drive, Plymouth Fury.Then the main characters come in focus: Strike who manages the clokers on the benches and Rocco the homicide cop. The story is told from their alternate point of views. The strength of the author is that we care equally about both. By the end of the book we understand clearly the dealer’s point of view. They really believe that they have no choice in life but to deal drugs that there is not alternative. Victor’s, honest brother, proves their point. He’s holding two jobs and still can’t get his family out of the project. They are crushed by peer pressure and by their desire to get a better life. Unfortunately the trill of the easy money and notoriety moves them further from the life they aim for. In other circumstances, Strike could have gotten is MBA and make money honestly. He does show business acumen and some leadership. And, when we think about it, is their naked ambition so different for the people on Wall Street? The cops life is better but intrinsically linked to that of the dealers can it be much better? They hardly ever see their family. What they see are these kids making all that money and some corrupted cops take a cut. Often they don’t show any respects for the clokers but some of the policemen are truly good people who still believe that what they do has value, that they are helping those kids. They have faith.This book is all about faith. Strike has faith in Rodney, the posse boss, whom he sees as a mentor. He has faith in Tyrone, a bright kid, whom he tries to mentor with terrible consequences. Andre’s, a cop, tries ineffectively to save some kids in whom he has faith. They all have faith in a shiny better future that is forever escaping them.Then a third in the book a murder happens. (view spoiler)[Victor, the “good brother” claims that he killed the victim but nobody really believes him. Not Strike his brother, not Rocco to whom he confess. (hide spoiler)]
There's this notion in these Goodreads reviews that "Clockers" is overlong, and I'll admit that it took me much longer than expected to get through it. It's not a page-turning, guns-blazing, whizz-bang thriller, and much of its duration is devoted to interrogation, most of which goes like this:Rocco (protagonist detective guy): What do you know?Witness: Nothing.I mean, there are SEVERAL scenes in the book where Rocco RETURNS to a witness / perp / etc who has given him the "Nothing" line only to receive, once again, the same old "Nothing" line. SEVERAL scenes.It's not exactly Batman, you know? Which, I think, is Richard Price's intention. Without giving too much away (this is, after all, a murder mystery, of sorts), "Clockers" seems to revolve this Didion-esque idea that one of the most dangerous things we do is tell stories. The power players here-- the stick-up man, Errol Barnes, the head honcho, Rodney, the intimidating cops known as "The Fury"-- are people whose power comes mainly from reputation. And the people who live in and around these powerful men-- such as the novel's parallel heroes, the drug dealer Strike and the aforementioned Rocco-- fail when they become seduced by these reputations; when they let stories take place of the realities of life.Of course, like Didion herself, Price is a wicked storyteller, so even his naturalist deconstruction of fantasy is a pretty fun and energetic ride. His own rep is all about his great ear for dialogue, which is definitely a fair assessment. I'll add that he's got a ton of empathy (the characters seem familiar, and not just because Price's style has seeped into film and TV: they all have souls, and they all have flaws), ESPECIALLY for young black men encountering the omnipresent indignities of the police, and a real knack for putting you inside the heads of two seemingly different but finally connected lives (look how carefully he delineates the perspectives of Strike and Rocco-- the slight, but never too obvious, changes in word choice-- and how he finally has you, weirdly, rooting for both of them, fucked up choices and all).
Do You like book Clockers (2003)?
One of my very favorite books, and one of the most influential on the stuff I write. I don't usually describe books I like in terms of their "significance"- even with books I like, I tend to think of individual books as being generally less important relative to one another than the "top 10 novels of the decade" crowd seems to think, and it's generally not a horse race I follow. But it wouldn't surprise me at all if this book is regarded as a major touchstone once the dust settles in fifty years or so. It's one of the major reasons that crime fiction began to be taken more seriously as literature. More importantly, it inspired lots of crime/noir/mystery/whatever writers to be more journalistic, do more and better field research, and make "gritty" mean something other than "violent".And most importantly of all, this book is the best example I can think of for how genre conventions can be used to make us look more closely at the real world, as opposed to pulling us out into fairyland (for speculative folks) or down into our navels (for "literary" folks). And it's big and sad and funny and exciting and will leave you shaking your head and catching your breath and feeling like you just travelled somewhere far from home. Highest possible rec.
—Brendan Detzner
A drug dealer is gunned down in a diner and the brother of another drug dealer is the prime suspect. Did he do it? That's what Rocco Klein wants to find out. But can he get the suspect's brother, a crack dealer named Strike, to cooperate?This is the fourteenth book in my Kindle Unlimited Experiment. For the 30 day trial, I'm only reading books that are part of the program and keeping track what the total cost of the books would have been.Like most people who have read this in recent years, I loved HBO's The Wire and Price was one of the writers. This feels like the novelization of four Wire episodes in the best way possible.Clockers is a crime book but it's also a window into the lives of cops and the crack dealers they're trying to catch. Much like The Wire, Clockers shows that both sides of the conflict are fairly ordinary human beings, not knights in shining armor or scene-chewing villains.Strike and Rocco, the two leads, are both well-drawn, conflicted characters. Neither is particularly happy with his lot in life. Rocco sees an actor as his way out of the cop's life and Strike just wants to make enough money to get out.The mystery is actually secondary. The real focus is on the lives of Rocco, Strike, and the rest. The crack business is a lot more complicated than I thought and now I'm even more keenly aware of why so many cops wind up divorced, alcoholic, and/or eating their guns.The writing is a notch above most crime books, akin to Dennis Lehane and George Pelecanos. I thought the plot meandered a bit but not as much as in the last Price book I read, Lush Life. The city of Dempsey is almost a character.Four out of five stars. Maybe it's time I rewatch the entire run of The Wire.Current Kindle Unlimited Savings Total: $77.48.
—Dan Schwent
i'm still relatively new to the urban-crime-fiction genre, but this is probably the best example of it i've found so far. and yes - like many people say in other reviews on here - it's the perfect book for fans of the wire, especially ones as obsessive as me. in fact, rocco klein is in many ways a less romanticized mc nulty - the blueprint is all there (absent dad, alcoholic, righteous, over-committed, prone to faulty judgments). on television (even HBO), there's obvious pressure to make this sort of person attractive. in novel form, this figure can be middle-aged, overweight... and all the more melancholic.it's tempting to say that clockers works best as a character study. the chapters read like extended interior monologues, and it brilliantly conveys the way desires are deflected due to circumstance (e.g. strike's misplaced fatherly affection for a kid in the neighborhood, rocco's odd obsession with the famous actor). in one way, it's a massive socio-political landscape viewed from the inside of its characters' heads. which would be more than enough for a successful novel. but it's also a very satisfying whodunit - my less "literary" desire to discover who the real murderer is stayed with me till the bitter end. and i didn't figure it out!anyway, this is a fantastic novel and a great place to start the new year for me as well...
—Dan
