The Way Home by George Pelecanos

The Way Home was released in hardcover last month.  Thanks to Miriam with the Hachette Book Group, I was able to receive an advance reader copy.

Some books are plot or character driven.  This one appears to be more plot driven than character driven.  The story is about Chris Flynn with a subplot about his relationship to his father, Thomas. 

In the first half of the book the reader meets Chris and his parents at a juvenile detention center.  Chris was a directionless teenager headed for trouble.  Until the last time, Thomas was able to bail Chris out.  Chris is now serving his time and deciding what direction to take his life.

In the second half of the book, the adult Chris is working at his father’s business installing carpets.  Chris and his friends are moving forward with their lives.  Some of their old detention center buddies have not fared as well. 

While on a job, Chris and his friend Ben find something that will change their lives in unexpected ways.  A series of events set the rest of the novel in motion.

Pelecanos does a wonderful job of creating the setting.  A juvenile detention center is not a pleasant place to be and it’s not a vacation resort.  For most of the teens in the novel it’s a tolerable place.  They learn to stick together against other housing units and some of the guards.  In the latter half, the fancy suburbs and revitalized neighborhoods are recognizable to me.

Some characters, like Ben and Ali, are genuinely nice people and the reader roots for them.  Others, like Lawrence, have a bit more backbone and sense of right than originally given credit for.  Amanda Flynn is never really present.  She’s mostly filtered through the eyes of her husband. 

The heart of the novel is supposed to be the relationship between Thomas and Chris.  Thomas drinks a too much and he’s lost.  He doesn’t know why his son went down the wrong path or how to get close to him again.  It’s obvious Thomas loves Chris.  Chris loves Thomas too but  feels hassled by him. It seems to Chris that no matter what he does, Thomas will aways perceive Chris as the teen that messed up his life. 

For some reason I just couldn’t connect with any character for more than a moment or two.  This is the first book I’ve read by Pelecanos so I wasn’t sure what to expect.  The plot is well planned and Pelecanos lets it unfold at a leisurely pace.  The Way Home might make a fantastic movie.