Shame the Devil is a 2000 crime novel written by George Pelecanos

George Pelecanos

George P. Pelecanos is a Greek-American author. Many of his works are in the genre of detective fiction and set primarily in his hometown of Washington, D.C. He is also a film and television producer and a television writer...

. It is set in Washington DC and focuses on a botched robbery and its consequences. It is the last of four books comprising the D.C. Quartet. The other books in this series are The Big Blowdown

The Big Blowdown

The Big Blowdown is a 1996 crime novel written by George Pelecanos. It is set in Washington DC and focuses on Peter Karras. It is the first of four books comprising the D.C. Quartet...

, King Suckerman, and The Sweet Forever.

Plot introduction

Two ruthless killers head into a pizza place to rob the joint while one of the men's brother waits in the car. The robbery goes wrong and the men kill the restaurant's employees. The robber in the getaway car is killed by a cop and the robbers hit a little boy in their escape. The novel jumps forward two and a half years and introduces the character of Dimitri Karras, the father of the young boy. He attends grief counseling sessions with the family members of those who were killed that day. Karras begins to get used to living again when his friend, Nick Stefanos sets him up with a job at, "The Spot". Meanwhile, the robbers are plotting a plan for revenge. It all leads up to a showdown of good vs. evil.