George P. Pelecanos

Christopher Flynn is trying to get it right. After years of trouble and rebellion that enraged his father and nearly cost him his life, he has a steady job in his father's company, he's seriously dating a woman he respects, and, aside from the distrust that lingers in his father's eyes, his mistakes are firmly in the past. One day on the job, Chris and his partner come across a temptation almost too big to resist. Chris does the right thing, but...

After returning home from serving in Iraq, Spero Lucas makes a living doing special investigations for a defense attorney and catches the attention of a high-profile crime boss who offers Lucas a high paying job he can't refuse.

Michael Hudson spends the long days in prison devouring books given to him by the prison's librarian, a young woman named Anna who develops a soft spot for her best student. Anna keeps passing Michael books until one day he disappears, suddenly released after a private detective manipulated a witness in Michael's trial. Outside, Michael encounters a Washington, D.C. that has changed a lot during his time locked up. Once shady storefronts are now trendy...

Follows a single sprawling drug and murder investigation in Baltimore. Told from the point of view of both the police and their targets, where easy distinctions between good and evil are challenged at every turn.