The Way Home

Set in and around Washington, D.C., George P. Pelecanos's novel begins when Thomas Flynn leaves his seventeen-year-old son, Chris, at Pine Ridge, a juvenile prison, convinced the boy must pay for his mistakes. Inside, he meets kids from a rougher side of D.C. than the one he knew. A decade later he seems to have turned his life around, with a job in his father's business, a girlfriend he respects and an apartment of his own. Then, while remodeling a house, he and his work partner find something tempting hidden under the floorboards. The uneasy bond between father and son drives the story.

It is included in a roundup of every book Barack Obama recommended during his presidency.