The Big Blowdown

George Pelecanos · first published 1996 · ISBN 9780312142841

Set in post-World War II Washington, this novel tracks a young man named Nick Stefanos who returns from the war and drifts into a life of petty crime, violence, and searching for connection in a city full of compromises. The book moves through the 1940s and 1950s, showing how a single choice can set the course of a lifetime. It's a noir story about DC, but told through the eyes of someone trying to outrun his own nature.