The novel was Carpenter's first published book, and follows the adventures of Jack Levitt, an orphaned teenager living off his wits in the fleabag hotels and seedy pool halls of Portland, Oregon.

of remarkable quality, written with authority, detachment and an almost uncanny, deadpan intelligence," wrote Martin Seymour-Smith in The Spectator, adding "I have seldom come across a new novel in which such compelling readability coexists with such absolute seriousness of purpose and keenness of psychological insight.

He takes to frequenting pool halls and befriends a group of teenaged delinquents, including Denny Mellon.

Newly arriving in Portland is Billy Lancing, a black sixteen year old pool prodigy determined to make it on his own through hustling.

During the evening Jack is envious of Denny, who plans to join the marines, and Billy, who has a talent for pool, and is frustrated with his own lack of a future.

The two men have had difficult experiences: Jack survived solitary confinement in juvenile detention and worked as a boxer while Denny experienced trauma in the Korean War and has taken to a life of petty crime.

While in school Billy met a woman and married her, however he found traditional life unsatisfactory and was eventually convicted of cheque forgery.

He is shocked when she wants sole custody of their child, revealing that she is to marry Myron Bronson, a former friend and billionaire who had long been in love with her.

Years later while vacationing in Saint-Tropez, Bronson begins hatching a plan to get sole custody of young Billy as he has tired of Sally but still loves his son.