Violent, explosive, subversive, but also deeply human, G. Pelecanos' book vividly describes life in the ghettos of the American capital, where gangs and drugs reign supreme.

Washington, March 1986. On television, it's the month of the college basketball championship. But on the streets, kids are dealing, trafficking, and dying. Behind the display window, Marcus Clay watches and prays to succeed with the new record store he opened in the heart of the ghetto. Then a car appears, which explodes before it can stop at the curb. And then Marcus sees something that puts him in the middle of a war.

A drug runner is decapitated in the accident. A passerby—a white boy desperately trying to buy a woman's love—steals a bag of cash from the wrecked car. And a crime lord wants it back...

For Marcus' buddy, Dimitri Karras, the carnage is an opportunity to make a good score. For two corrupt cops, it's a chance to escape. And for dozens of lives caught in the vortex, it's just another spring in the American capital, where the game is played to the bitter end.

The novel "Sweet Forever" completes the D.C. Quartet:
- King Suckerman
- The Big Blowdown
- Shame the Devil