Ronald Decker guilty of a first offence, minor drug dealing charge is put away in San Quentin where he is befriended by "old lag", Earl Copen. Copen is well in with the White Brotherhood just one of the many White, Black and Chicano gangs in constant brutal conflict in San Quentin. Their growing friendship is tested by Ron's rejection of a homosexual advance by another con which leads to an act of ultimately fatal violence and in despair they seize a remote chance of escape.
Bunker writes of the sordid, horrifically violent and lawless prison life where life is cheap and death by shiv awaits anyone looking the wrong way with a great literary quality and at a merciless pace that never falters and with the realism and knowledge gained from spending over 25 years in prison.
'Integrity, craftsmanship and moral passion...an artist with a unique and compelling voice'
- William Styron
'Edward Bunker is a true original of American letters. His books are criminal classics: novels about criminals, written by an ex-criminal, from the unregenerately criminal viewpoint.'
- James Ellroy
'At 40 Eddie Bunker was a hardened criminal with a substantial prison record. Twenty-five years later, he was hailed by his peers as America's greatest living crimewriter'
- The Independent