great playlist and period piece

As expected, good on its DC local flavor. Otherwise kind of overloaded with characters and unnecessary sexism.

When a pizza shop robbery takes a violent turn, the thieves are never caught and the lives of several people are torn apart, most notably Dimitri Karras when his young son Jimmy is struck and killed by the criminals as they make their getaway. Years later, Dimitri is trying to put his life back together when he runs into an old acquaintance, PI Nick Stefanos. But what connection does Dimitri have with that fateful robbery...?

The DC Quartet goes out with a bang and it's my favorite George Pelecanos yet. The stories of Dimitri Karras and Nick Stefanos intersect and the whole is even better than the sum of its parts.

When we catch up with Dimitri, he's divorced and can't escape the memory of his dead son. He's in a support group with the other friends and relatives of the murder victims from the pizza shop robbery. Nick's still working at the Spot and still taking on PI work but is staying away from murder and drugs. He's still battling his considerable drinking problem.

The story comes together very organically. By now, the denizens of Pelecanos' DC are pretty real for me and the interactions between Nick and Dimitri were my favorite parts of the book. When Nick got Dimitri a job at the spot, I had a feeling how the end would shape up. I was nearly right and I'm glad the ending didn't mirror The Big Blowdown.

It was cool to see Boyle working with Karras and Stefanos. I missed Marcus Clay and Clarence Tate but it was cool knowing how they ended up after The Sweet Forever. Good for them!

The book has a slow build as the killers return to DC and Nick and Dimitri eventually cross paths. While I didn't think the gun fight at the end was as good as the one in The Sweet Forever, I liked the ending a whole lot more. The greedy part of me wants to read another book about Nick and Dimitri but I'm glad Pelecanos is leaving them behind for now. They've earned it.

Shame the Devil brings closure to both the DC Quartet and the Nick Stefanos trilogy. Like I said above, it's my favorite Pelecanos so far.

A worthy conclusion to the DC Quartet. The beginning of this book was heart breaking and the rest of the book dealt with the aftermath of the extreme violence. There was some humor and redemption though too and of course music, car details, basketball and other Washington DC lore that the author always throws in.

The final novel in the historical DC Quartet finally brings the reader into the then-present day of the 90s, drawing together threads from the previous three books as well as from Pelecanos's Nick Stefanos series. Although I respect the number of elements that Pelecanos keeps in the air, in the end, trying to tie it all together leads the plot to be a bit slower and less thrilling than his previous books. PI Nick Stefanos, formerly just a cameo player in the series, takes a lead role here. Stefanos is a likable protagonist, but his prominence comes as a bit of a surprise. Whereas earlier titles followed a group of friends, mainly 70s burnout Dmitri Karras, thrown into threatening circumstances almost by chance, Stefanos's main storyline is propelled by his private eye profession. He plays a smaller role in the main plot, where a bunch of vicious killers have returned to town to settle scores. This dividing of Pelecanos's narrative saps the main thread of some strength. Whereas his climaxes usually rivet the readers to their seats, here it feels a bit perfunctory. Pelecanos is more interested in the fates of Karras and Stefanos, using this novel to put them in a better place than the emotionally scarred state they start the book in. While this redemption isn't unearned, it detracts from the usual energy of the plot.

That said, the book is never anything less than utterly readable. It's just a bit less of a page turner than some of his other books.

To be fair, I didn't know when I picked it up that it's the last book in a four-volume series. .

Review here: https://www.danscanon.com/2020/02/shame-devil-by-george-pelecanos.html

Pelecanos has a unique writing style---one with which I'm not enamored---yet the content of the book is strong.

Shame the Devil starts with a crime, and follows all of the people affected by that crime through to a very satisfying conclusion. In addition, it has several seemingly unconnected plot lines that come neatly together in the end. Both of these are frustratingly rare finds in literature. Pelecanos also creates strong, believable characters, and believable and compelling conflicts.

Bottom line---This is a pretty good book, a fast and easy read.

This was really hard for me to read.

People are of course getting killed left & right all the time in these books, but the execution-style killings of the employees at May's pizza place really got to me, especially when Steve Maroulis won't put his head down because he knows what's going to happen to him. His terror & then Vance Walter's screaming for his dad - good grief. Totally chilled me. And as the mother of a young, short dude who likes to run ahead on the sidewalk no matter how hard I try to keep him walking near me or holding my hand, I had to set the book down for a bit after Jimmy's death. I'm not ashamed to say that cried when Bernie Walters is reminiscing with Dimitri about the time that Vance got stuck in the river on the sinking boat & cried out, "Daddy!" and Bernie had to stop telling the story for a minute & I swear I'm even tearing up a little bit just writing about it. It's painful enough as a parent to look back at times when I possibly failed my kid. How on earth can anyone ever have the strength to do so when they've outlived their child? I can't even let myself think about it.

But in any case, before I get all sniffly & this dissolves into some weepy mom action, let me just say that this is a great book. I like this Dimitri a lot better than the coke-addled guy in The Sweet Forever & Nick Stefanos pretty much = the man. I absolutely loved the crowd at the Spot & I'd like to see a novel about the lot of them. I can't really believe that

James beating up Maria's husband

would work out as rosily in real life as it's implied here, but why not go ahead & write a book about them & prove me wrong, George? Now I'm gonna go hug my kid.