"Pelecanos. . . has continued to produce first-rate crime novels. . . Now, in "Owning Up," he presents four novellas that trace the consequences of a random event or single bad choice in the life stories of everyday people. . . Although each tale is short, averaging 56 pages, they are sweeping, tracing the consequences of these events over a lifetime... The book is distinguished by well-drawn characters, elegant prose and thoughtful insights about human nature." --Bruce Desilva, AP
Praise for the novels of George Pelecanos----
"Like his hero Elmore Leonard, Pelecanos finds the humanity in the lowest of lowlifes. . . . Pelecanos' peppery dialogue energizes every page."--Lloyd Sachs, Chicago Tribune
"Every time I read one of George Pelecanos's novels, I'm left a little awed...The guy's a national treasure."--Dennis Lehane
"Using his customary knowing dialogue and stripped-down, soulful prose, Pelecanos skillfully, sensitively works the urban frontier where the problems and stresses of everyday life cross the line into the sort of criminal behavior that could tempt anyone-anyone at all."--Kirkus Reviews
"Here we see what makes Pelecanos' best writing so resonant: the sense of longing, of miscommunication, the way love does not enlarge us but rather makes us small."--David L. Ulin, Los Angeles Times
"If I were in jail, George Pelecanos would be on my reading list, right up there with James Lee Burke and Elmore Leonard. . . . Pelecanos's characters [are] so human and so doomed. This is an author who writes with the steady hand of a man who knows he's driving a cool set of wheels and respects his own mechanical skills."--Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review
"The writing is taut, the violence is graphic and the characters are so well-drawn that they step off the page and into your life. . . As good as it gets."--Bruce DeSilva, Associated Press