ANGELS OF CATASTROPHY- A Book Review

pstrongReViewsForTheReVoLution for all your literary, visual,and audio art needs. /strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/467/photo_1_supplement.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby George Tirado/p pI can't tell you how excited I was when I heardbr / that Peter Plate wrote the last book in the Mission Quartet,br / iAngels of Catastrophe/i. What a treat it is to seebr / another angle on such a diverse place, whenbr / "most Americans pay taxes, vote, and think of death asbr / a slice of reality-television they can turn off whenbr / they want to." But not here, not in the Missionbr / District, and most of all, not here in Peter Plate'sbr / Mission./p pThe story is simple—a cop is killed, a pettybr / thief street hustler named Ricky Durrutti is the onebr / the cops are after. Now, put this problem in thebr / middle of the Mission District, add in just the rightbr / amount of Salvadoran gangs, drag queen dealers,br / junkies, hookers and Jewish gangsters and what do youbr / get—Angels of Catastrophe./p pThis book is fast-paced. Not only does Peter Platebr / follow in that great line of noir writers likebr / Dashell Hammett, but he follows a tradition deeply intrigued withbr / San Francisco's seedy darker side. /p piOn the street is another story, every dollar bill is marker, everybr / killing has a witness, and nobody gets away withbr / anything.i/i/i/p p This is a story which is played outbr / everyday in a world where most will never venture, in abr / place which is slowly dying. The killer here isbr / not a person, but it could be it's gentrification andbr / progress. When this is all gone and the Mission hasbr / been replaced by more cop stations and GAP outlets,br / and god-forbid, Niketowns, and the only ones allowedbr / to live here are millionaires, who will remember? Whobr / will find the poetry in the madness to come? And willbr / they feel the same pride as say Lonely boy in thebr / story when he says, "Who do you think rules Missionbr / St.?" He answers himself, "The motherfuckers willing tobr / die for it."/p pThis book is a great read. I suggest everyone find thisbr / treasure and read it. You will not be disappointed./p p/p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p