From Publishers Weekly

When the shooting stops on a blistering summer day at May's Pizza Parlor in Washington, D.C., in 1995, five people lie dead, a policeman is left crippled and robber Frank Farrow speeds off with his loot and not a trace of regret. But Farrow, the main villain in Pelecanos's fine new addition to his hard-boiled lineup, still isn't satisfied. He wants to return to finish off the injured cop, who killed Farrow's brother during the shoot-out. Farrow doesn't anticipate, however, the burning desire for revenge harbored by the family and friends of those butchered in the notorious pizza bloodbath. Chief among them is 50-ish Dimitri Karras, whose five-year-old son died when he was mowed down by the getaway vehicle Farrow was driving. Now, three years later, Karras is just getting his life back together, much like the other survivors, all of whom meet regularly to share their grief and soothe their torment. By chance, Karras teams up with Nick Stephanos, a freelance investigator who finds out Farrow is back in town to exact his twisted vengeance. Stephanos tries to dissuade Karras from tracking down Farrow, but even he understands the urge for retaliation. Karras and Stephanos, who have starred in several of Pelecanos's earlier books (King Suckerman; The Sweet Forever), deepen considerably as characters in this hard-driving story of heartache, Stephanos's adjustment to the new-found maturity of middle age and Dmitri's search for some small relief in revenge. Set against a backdrop of greasy-spoon diners, church basements, dive bars and sparsely furnished apartments, the narrative is unsettlingly harsh yet captivatingly tender, the gritty back-and-forth of everyday urban life vividly etched. 11-city author tour. (Jan.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal
The setting is Washington, DC, where everybody lies, cheats, and steals, but the characters of Pelecanos's (King Suckerman) new novel would have a tough time wangling an invite to the White House. This time the robbery of a pizza parlor in 1995 leads to the death of an innocent boy, the son of Dimitri Karras, back from earlier efforts by Pelecanos. The plot is the very leisurely working out of the aftermath of that robbery. Much of the action (and talk) center on The Spot, a neighborhood bar/gathering place where Karras gets a job as a dishwasher. The talkAwhich, with Pelecanos's ear for dialog, is goodAmoves from family to neighborhood and sometimes even to the Pizza Parlor murders. A bit of Dashiell Hammett as filtered through the lens of Spike Lee, Shame the Devil can be recommended to anyone who fancies neighborhood stories exchanged on the stoop at sunset. Those looking for a fast-paced page-turner might pass. For urban and larger public libraries.
-ABob Lunn, Kansas City P.L., MO
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
"...a remarkable multigenerational saga of crime and justice...a noir-tinged history that ranks with the best of Mario Puzo for capturing a period and a milieu...as well as any American writer ever has..." -- Chicago Tribune, 1/30/00

"...all elements of a typical hard-boiled crime novel are here...but Pelecanos's character-driven plot shows that noir doesn't have to be a shopworn style ready for the parody bin." -- GQ 1/00

"By taking his time, by working seemingly tangential subplots smoothly into the main story, Pelecanos finds an extra layer of resonance...this novel dares to escape the genre straitjacket and defer its violence to just before the point of endurance. It's a thriller with an ethnic accent, brains, balls, and everything in between." -- Village Voice, 2/15/00

"Pelacanos is one of those dangerous writers who aren't afraid to take risks..." -- New York Times Book Review, 2/6/00

This remarkable tale of loss and redemption caps off a series of three crime novels set in Washington D.C., not the Washington D.C. you might think that you know, but a city of crime and shadows. It might sound silly, but this book took my breath away. ( )

The fourth in the Washington DC series, this one is set in the 1990s. This one lacks the interesting period detail of the previous three books, simply because the 90s weren't so interesting for music and fashion as the 50s, 70s and 80s. Also the big showdown is pretty similar to the big showdown in the previous books so what is meant to be the griping climax isnt as interesting as much of the rest of the book. However, what this book does have is great characters, even the good characters are flawed. The ending (the bit after the showdown) was brilliant and moving. ( )

4003. Shame the Devil A Novel, by George P. Pelecanos (read 29 March 2005) This is a hard-boiled crime novel, with a massacre of four people at a pizza joint as the basic event. It is laid in Washington, D. C., but not in the 'corridors of power.' Lots of violence, unnecessary explicit sex scenes, fast-paced (you never wonder when something will happen--it always does), there is no subtlety in the story line. This book came out in 2000 and apparently is a book in a series dealing with the characters therein. I could read something more by him, who is the present day equivalent of authors like Dashiell Hammett, whose The Maltese Falcon I read with appreciation on 3 Mar 1995. ( )