Hard Rain Falling

The novel Hard Rain Falling by Don Carpenter is a tough-as-nails account of being down and out, but never down for good—a Dostoyevskian tale of crime, punishment, and the pursuit of an ever-elusive redemption. The story follows the adventures of Jack Levitt, a teenager living off his wits in the fleabag hotels and seedy pool halls of Portland, Oregon. He befriends Billy Lancing, another teenager who is a young black runaway and pool hustler extraordinaire. A heist gone wrong gets Jack sent to reform school, from which he emerges embittered by abuse and solitary confinement. In the meantime, Billy has joined the middle class: married, fathered a son, acquired a business, but ends up with a mistress. Neither Jack nor Billy can escape their troubled pasts, and they will meet again on San Quentin before their strange double drama comes to a violent and revelatory end.