[1] The novel takes place in the slums of Brooklyn during the Great Depression, and follows the narrator, Harry Odum, from his early childhood to his death.

Through it all, the only person Harold feels any love for is his mother; he develops an Oedipal complex and an inability to sexually relate to anyone without resorting to his alter-ego, Madden.

The next day, Harold flies into a psychotic rage and rapes and kills his own mother, who he thinks committed suicide.

A dazed, traumatized Harold then goes for a ride with some of his partners-in-crime, who are afraid that he, in his current mental state, will give out information about crimes that might involve them, and they make sure he never talks about it.

The novel was adapted into the 1997 film Six Ways to Sunday, starring Norman Reedus and Deborah Harry.