Hell to Pay
George Pelecanos · first published 2002 · ISBN 9780316695060
Private investigators Derek Strange and Terry Quinn navigate Washington D.C.'s criminal underworld when they become entangled with a powerful mobster, a murder charge, and the death penalty. The case pulls them through the city's overlooked neighborhoods and moral gray zones.
On our lists
The Best Crime Novels of the 2000s
Pelecanos writes crime fiction that honors the streets he writes about. This novel, and its sequel Soul Circus, represent the best American urban crime writing of the decade, rooted in place and character rather than spectacle.