There is a fierce inevitability to the way George Pelecanos's new book unfolds.

The book unfolds chronologically, even though its most striking material comes last.

But it's also a good description of the way this book unfolds.

The books unfold in an accordion style and when completely unfurled present themselves as a single polyptych image.

(Most of the names here are Westernized, though the book unfolds in a desert nation.)

Never violating its internal logic, the book unfolds like a rich, resonant dream that you can't stop thinking about the following day.

The story proceeds chronologically as the book unfolds, and is told entirely by using the symbols without words.

(The book unfolds during the years of "Dynasty" and his administration.)

Yet, as the book unfolds, each fact, however esoteric, is connected to fiber.

Constructed like flashes of memory, the book unfolds in bursts of association, the way children tell stories.