In his series work as well as his standalones George Pelecanos often explores themes of retribution and redemption. Known for gritty DC settings, he riffs on movies, music and sports—giving a pop culture vibe to his social issue-infused crime fiction. All those elements are in place in his latest novel, his 21st, but the skillfully written The Man Who Came Uptown is most notable for its determination to let you know that books can change lives.

Yes, the plot has crime and crime solvers, but it’s the eponymous newbie bookworm Michael Hudson that we root for. As the story unspools, 28-year-old Hudson is in a DC jail, awaiting prosecution for a drug robbery. He spends his time lying on his upper bunk, reading. All thanks to the efforts of the dedicated prison librarian known to the inmates as Miss Anna.

Unexpectedly freed when a key witness declines to testify, Hudson returns home to live with his doting mother and aging rescue dog. He gets a library card and a dishwashing job (in that order). Then comes a call from Phil Ornazian, a private investigator who convinced the witness against Hudson to back off. Ornazian has teamed with former-cop-turned-bail bondsman Thaddeus Ward in schemes to roust and rob bad guys. Ward, who lost a daughter to prostitution and drug use, enjoys roughing up creeps, especially those who hurt women. Ornazian’s motives are less noble. A family man, he bolsters his bank account with the raided loot—a moral descent that began with witness tampering.

In need of a skilled wheelman to do the driving on late-night raids, Ornazian strong-arms the reluctant Hudson. Attempting to soothe Hudson’s worries about the planned robbery of a man who owns a brothel, Ornazian says, “We’re gonna relieve a slave trader of his ill-gotten gains.” What the PI fails to anticipate is that he and Ward will become as violent as the thugs they target, or that Hudson’s participation in an assault will prove to be a turning point.

Meantime, Hudson’s friendship with Anna continues on the outside. She lives with her husband in a nearby gentrified area and continues to suggest books to the former inmate, who eagerly tracks them down. Their relationship is nuanced and complicated, not only by what seems to be latent sexual tension, but also implied race and culture issues. Though he made his name with hardboiled works involving racial themes, the author purposely hedges in physically describing these characters. It feels like a cheat, considering his otherwise vivid character portraits.

But there’s nothing hazy about Pelecanos’ lit picks, which include shout-outs—even Oprah-type book discussions—of dozens of titles/authors ranging from Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men to Don Carpenter’s Hard Rain Falling. There’s even an exchange about foreshadowing!

There’s some irony in his literary hard sell: nowadays, Pelecanos is a TV writer-producer on the kind of premium cable programs, such as HBO’s The Deuce, that lure people away from reading. Now that’s a crime!