In Pelecanos's writing, the law itself becomes a character as complex as any human one. His characters who are involved or at odds with the law are capable of surprising us with their benevolenceand their malevolence. The central symbols of American lawthe White House and the Justice Department, the Capitol and the Supreme Courtare visible from the part of Washington, D. C., that the novels inhabit. Pelecanos's terrain, however, has rarely been portrayed in fiction before.