Rating: 
Summary: Noir in the Unknown Washington DC
Review: George Pelecanos writes convincingly about the underside of Washington DC, the flip side of the glamorous branches of government. We have all waded through those tiresome DC-based legal and political thrillers that would have you believe that Washington DC is the exclusive enclave of the hyper-rich, powerful and wonderful. Pelecanos paints a vibrant picture of life in a downscale bar, the customers, the employees, and the lives that touch them. Nick Stefanos is a part-time private investigator and a full-time bartender. It is never a pretty picture. Alcoholism is front and center; lives of desperation, futility, corruption and crushing poverty are touched. The local DC government is portrayed as decaying and failing.An interesting quirk is that all of the characters love music. Each scene has a piece of rock music that the author describes enthusiastically. It is just one of the details that provides so much richness to the image. In this dismal environment, Pelecanos creates characters that are real. They have hopes and aspirations. And, they are prisoners of their past. You enter Nick's world and are swept along in an interesting and exciting plot. This author has an uncanny ability to craft a plot that is always believable and inevitable, without being predictable. Nick finds the small links that pull the solution to an old mystery together in a totally credible manner. You will find yourself caring for and liking the exotic characters in this book. Many current mystery authors cite Pelecanos as personal favorites. I rate this five-stars with a bullet!
Rating:
Summary: Pelecanos at his best
Review: How does Pelecanos do it? He just keeps churning out 1 great book after another. Shame the Devil is no exception, GP's discriptions of DC, and his ultra realistic dialog sets him apart from the rest. If you like your crime fiction in an urban setting with no sugar coating, it does not get any better than Pelecanos.
Rating:
Summary: PELECANOS-ELMORE LEONARD MOVE OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: I caught Mr. Pelecanos being interviewed on NPR the other day, and decided to purchase one of his paperbacks. Lucky for me, Shame The Devil was selected.....Do you know the feeling when you find a new author who has written numerous books, and you realize that his style of writing, descripions, etc., strike a chord within you, and you realize you now have numerous hours of enjoyment reading? It is a time of great joy! This is how Shame The Devil affected me. As a born and raised native Washingtonian, I can attest that his descriptions of bars, homes, etc. are exactly how they are in DC and surrounding parts, and as retired law enforcement officer, who now does investigations and process serving in all areas of DC, I can vouch for his first hand descriptions of the streets of the DC area. When Mr Pelecanos creates his characters, the reader is treated to all aspects of their persona, including weaknesses and strengths, their ability and inability to deal with tragedy, and a sense of what motivates each person. He delivers great insight on black/white prejudices, and how people survive in a sometime hostile, deadly enviroment. The murderers in this story are mean and nasty enough, and the victims will warrant sympathy. His use of music, naming songs and artists that the characters are listening to on the radio also add to the atmosphere. Mr. Pelecanos has lived a lifetime farther than his 44 years on this earth. He truly is a student/observer of human behavior. I believe his use of his characters' inner mental dialogue is very similiar to another of my favorite writers, Ken Follett. Do I suggest you buy this book? I suggest you buy all 10 of his books. I did. I gotta go now, it's time to read.
Rating:
Summary: PELECANOS-ELMORE LEONARD MOVE OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: I caught Mr. Pelecanos being interviewed on NPR the other day, and decided to purchase one of his paperbacks. Lucky for me, Shame The Devil was selected.....Do you know the feeling when you find a new author who has written numerous books, and you realize that his style of writing, descripions, etc., strike a chord within you, and you realize you now have numerous hours of enjoyment reading? It is a time of great joy! This is how Shame The Devil affected me. As a born and raised native Washingtonian, I can attest that his descriptions of bars, homes, etc. are exactly how they are in DC and surrounding parts, and as retired law enforcement officer, who now does investigations and process serving in all areas of DC, I can vouch for his first hand descriptions of the streets of the DC area. When Mr Pelecanos creates his characters, the reader is treated to all aspects of their persona, including weaknesses and strengths, their ability and inability to deal with tragedy, and a sense of what motivates each person. He delivers great insight on black/white prejudices, and how people survive in a sometime hostile, deadly enviroment. The murderers in this story are mean and nasty enough, and the victims will warrant sympathy. His use of music, naming songs and artists that the characters are listening to on the radio also add to the atmosphere. Mr. Pelecanos has lived a lifetime farther than his 44 years on this earth. He truly is a student/observer of human behavior. I believe his use of his characters' inner mental dialogue is very similiar to another of my favorite writers, Ken Follett. Do I suggest you buy this book? I suggest you buy all 10 of his books. I did. I gotta go now, it's time to read.
Rating: 
Summary: Read the Book and Shame the Devil
Review: I don't think anyone captures the darker side of town quite as well as George Pelecanos. It's a rough, tough world out there and it's brought to life for us in each of his books and this one is as close to reality as any of his previous books. It's a gritty book with occasional scenes of extreme violence, populated with characters that have become tired with life and just about totally worn down through their hard living in a hard world. Set in the 90s, Shame the Devil features the characters in Pelecanos' three previous books, updates their lives for us and puts them through one final tough experience. It's probably necessary to have read the three previous books to gain a full understanding of all that's mentioned during this story. Old characters are revisited along with parts of their story, reminders of previous books and I should imagine some of these references would be lost if Shame the Devil were the first Pelecanos that you've read.
Rating:
Summary: Very good read
Review: I read this in about 5 days, so it is definitely a quick read that keeps your attention. Many of the characterizations are lengthy and real, though Farrow came across as two dimensional. There is less action and there are fewer interesting characters than in Sweet Forever, but this is still a gripping read.
Rating:
Summary: The man
Review: I would almost rate this a 5 star book based only on the descriptions and the dialogue of the bad guys in it. I don't know how an author could develop such an intriguing way of writing about bad guys and their interaction. Has Pelecanos spent time in prison or has he been an active criminal? I doubt it, but he had to have some way to sharpen his writing skills beyond just reading others' books and watching movies, etc. In addition to the virtues of the book which are mentioned above, there's a pretty good story going on here as well. Maybe not as good as in some other Pelecanos books, but good enough to keep me wondering what was coming. My only reservation about the book was that there were so many characters that I could have used a character list to help me keep track of who's who. That's a feature I've seen occasionally and would like to see more often. Overall, I'd rate this an outstanding work by an outstanding writer. I can't wait to get into another one of his books.
Rating:
Summary: Pelecanos is a genius at writing about bad guys
Review: I would almost rate this a 5 star book based only on the descriptions and the dialogue of the bad guys in it. I don't know how an author could develop such an intriguing way of writing about bad guys and their interaction. Has Pelecanos spent time in prison or has he been an active criminal? I doubt it, but he had to have some way to sharpen his writing skills beyond just reading others' books and watching movies, etc. In addition to the virtues of the book which are mentioned above, there's a pretty good story going on here as well. Maybe not as good as in some other Pelecanos books, but good enough to keep me wondering what was coming. My only reservation about the book was that there were so many characters that I could have used a character list to help me keep track of who's who. That's a feature I've seen occasionally and would like to see more often. Overall, I'd rate this an outstanding work by an outstanding writer. I can't wait to get into another one of his books.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful, gritty storytelling
Review: I'm new to George Pelecanos with this book, but it seems like the world at large is now getting to know him through his involvement in the HBO series The Wire (writing and producing). Shame the Devil is an interesting character study that becomes tremendously suspenseful in the 2nd half. I enjoyed the shifting focus, back and forth from Nick Stefanos the ex-cop and PI, to Dimitri Karras and the other members of the survivors group, and of course to the bad guys. There was no single lead character in this book, but I was glad just to go with the flow of the story. This is also a tale that builds grippingly to a grim conclusion. It was literally a page-turner -- I had to force myself to slow down and not skip anything. I picked this up as a bargain book, and feel grateful to be introduced to an author whose other works I will seek out.
Rating:
Summary: Pelecanos' Best One Yet
Review: I've heard that Pelecanos thinks King Suckerman is his best book. Others argue for Sweet Forever or Big Blowdown. But for my money Shame the Devil is his deepest, most emotional book yet. As a Greek-American who lives in DC (on one of the streets mentioned in his books too) I'm probably a bit biased, but Pelecanos is the best contemporary fiction writer working today.
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