Devon Richards is a 17-year-old boy who attends the prestigious Niveus Academy. He is one of only two Black students at the school. Unlike most of the students at Niveus, Devon comes from a poor neighborhood and is only able to attend Niveus because of a scholarship. Devon has spent most of his high school career keeping a low profile; he is not popular and has only one friend, a white boy named Jack who also comes from Devon’s neighborhood. Devon lives with his mother and his two younger half brothers, Eli and James. His father was incarcerated when Devon was a child. Although Devon is unaware of the fact for the majority of the book, his father was on death row and was executed seven years before the events of Ace of Spades take place.

At school, Devon’s primary interest is music. He likes to compose new pieces and hopes to attend Juilliard, a very famous performing arts conservatory in New York City. Besides music classes, Devon does not particularly enjoy school, although he gets excellent grades and has perfect attendance (before the Aces texts). He continues to attend Niveus because he knows that his mother has made a lot of sacrifices to help him get a good education and ultimately escape the cycle of poverty.