(CNN) -- Horror-meister, Stephen King calls George Pelecanos "perhaps the greatest living American crime writer." His stories are set in Pelecanos' hometown of Washington, D.C., but this is not the side of the U.S. capitol that you see portrayed on TV with white marble monuments, lawyers and lobbyists. Pelecanos is more interested in working families struggling to get by, the racial tensions in its ethnic neighborhoods and the low-lifes on the edges. His crime-writing peers call Pelecanos the "undisputed poet" of Washington's gritty side. The best-selling and award-winning author is out this week with his 17th and latest novel, "The Cut." It's the first in a new series featuring Iraq war veteran and private investigator Spero Lucas. When he's not working for a Washington defense attorney, Lucas recovers stolen property for a 40% cut. Now, a high-profile crime boss hires Lucas to find out who's been stealing from him, and it could turn out to be Lucas' biggest payday or an untimely end. While Pelecanos made his bones in the noir tradition, there's a definite "Western" feel to "The Cut." The new novel takes place in a morally gray and often violent world. It's peppered with pitch-perfect dialogue and captures the sights, sounds and taste of Washington in rich detail. In short, Pelecanos reads like the real deal. Pelecanos knows a thing or two about capturing the authenticity of urban America with an ethnically and socially diverse cast. In addition to his success as a novelist, Pelecanos is a producer and writer for HBO's New Orleans-set, "Treme." He was previously a producer and Emmy-nominated writer on the hit series "The Wire" and the miniseries "The Pacific." Read an excerpt from "The Cut" CNN recently spoke to Pelecanos about his new novel. The following is an edited transcript. CNN: Tell me more about your new character, Spero Lucas.

Question: "According to the article, what is specifically different about how Washington DC (and its people) is portrayed in Pelecanos's stories to the typical portrayal?"

OPTIONS:
- no
- yes

Answer: "Politicians"

Response: no

An archaeological party explore some caverns underground . Dr. Campbell and Dr. Hughes are the two leaders of the archaeological expedition , and get separated . While Dr. Hughes finds an alien corpse with a fossilized diamond , Dr. Campbell finds hieroglyphics at the cost of the party except for Hughes and himself . Two years later , Campbell and his assistant Holly are digging up the bones of Yonggary , a gargantuan dinosaur 50 times the size of a tyrannosaurus rex . Out of nowhere , people slowly are being killed around the site . While Holly is working Dr. Hughes , who has been legally dead for 2 years , goes to Holly and tells her to stop the dig . Dr. Campbell comes into the tent and sends Dr. Hughes off . Holly quits the expedition when another '' Accident '' occurs . In the town bar , Dr. Hughes finds Holly and takes her back to her Hotel room to tell her why he thinks the bones of the Dinosaur , Which he calls Yonggary , are going to bring the end of the world . After explaining , Holly and Hughes go to the site to stop Campbell but it is too late and Aliens resurrect Yonggary . After Yonggary's first appearance , the Army comes in and takes Holly and Campbell to an army base when Yonggary is dispatched by the aliens again . The army sends choppers after Yonggary , but he destroys them . Yonggary is then sent to the city and does some damage , where some jets attack him . Then Yonggary is transported to a power plant where he is attacked by rocket pack soldiers . During the fight , Hughes and Holly find out that the diamond on Yonggary's forehead is the device giving the aliens control of Yonggary .

Question: "Where was the alien corpse originally found by Dr. Hughes?"

Response: "Caverns underground"
OPTIONS:
- no
- yes

A: yes

Problem: The Reconquest: The aim of the Crusades in Spain was the eviction of the Muslims. After the recovery of Jerusalem in 1099, it took four hundred years of sieges and battles, treaties, betrayals, and yet more battles, before Christian kings and warlords succeeded in subduing the Moors. On 10 September 1229, a Catalan army led by King Jaume I of Aragon and Catalunya took the Mallorcan shore near the present-day resort of Santa Ponca. The defenders retreated inside the walls of Palma, but on the last day of 1229 the city fell, and pockets of resistance throughout the island were also defeated. Jaume I proved to be an enlightened ruler who profited from the talents of the Moorsconverted by force to Christianityas well as of the island's large Jewish and Genoese trading communities. Mallorca prospered. The Moors on Menorca speedily agreed to pay an annual tribute to Aragon and were left in peace. The island's tranquility lasted until 1287, when Alfonso III of Aragon, smarting over a series of humiliations at the hands of his nobles, found a pretext for invasion. The Moors were defeated and expelled or killed. In contrast to Mallorca, Menorca's economy was devastated for decades. Jaume I died after reigning in Aragon for six decades, but he made the cardinal error of dividing between his sons the lands he had fought for so long to unite. At first this resulted in an Independent Kingdom of Mallorca, under Jaume II, followed by Sanc and Jaume III. But family rivalry triggered the overthrow of Jaume III by his cousin Pedro IV, who then seized the Balearics for Aragon. Attempting a comeback, Jaume was killed in battle near Llucmajor in 1349. A newly unified Christian Spain under the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, completed the Reconquest, defeating the only Moorish enclave left on the Iberian peninsula, Granada, in 1492. However, the centralized kingdom failed to incorporate the Balearics politically or economically.

Question: "Jaume was defeated by whom and died in what year?"

Answer: "In 1229 by Alfonso III"

OPTIONS:
- no
- yes
Answer: no

You might want to know how cold it is. You may need to know how fast the wind is blowing. Maybe it rained last night? Do you know how much? Does it feel humid to you? You have heard all these questions before. To answer these questions, we need data. That data comes from special tools. These tools collect data about the weather. You can see some of the common tools listed below: A thermometer measures temperature. An anemometer measures wind speed. A rain gauge measures the amount of rain. A hygrometer measures humidity. A wind vane shows wind direction. A snow gauge measures the amount of snow.

Question: "How is weather measured?"

OPTIONS:
- no
- yes

Answer: "Watching the weather report"

Response:
no