"The 'mesmerizing... daring and important' story of a risk-taking girlhood spent in a working-class prison town--Andre Dubus III. For Maureen Stanton's proper Catholic mother, the town's maximum security prison was a way to keep her seven children in line ('If you don't behave, I'll put you in Walpole Prison!'). But as the 1970s brought upheaval to America, and the lines between good and bad blurred, Stanton's once-solid family lost its way. A promising...

Ruined and on the lam, former drug kingpin Max Fisher stumbles upon the biggest discovery of his crooked life: a designer drug called PIMP that could put him back on top. Meanwhile, a certain femme fatale from his past is producing a film based on her and Max's life story.

"Carmen and Grace have been inseparable since they were little girls--more like sisters than cousins, survivors of a childhood marked by neglect and addiction and a system that never valued them. For too long, all they had was each other. That is, until Doña Durka swept into their lives and changed everything, taking Grace into her home, providing stability and support, and playing an outsize role in Carmen's upbringing too. Durka is more than a...

BIMBOS, BUSTIERS, AND BOTOX! MURDER MOST FASHIONABLE… Author Elaine Viets kicks off this funny and fresh cozy series-about a woman on the run from her ex-with a rollicking tale of crime and vanity in the shadow world of wannabe molls. When unlikely sleuth Helen Hawthorne flees St. Louis, she fetches up in Fort Lauderdale, suddenly surrounded by the beautiful and the Botoxed. They all shop at the same place-Juliana's, the overpriced boutique where...

"A memoir of a decade in prison by a well-educated young addict known as the "Apologetic Bandit" In 2003, fresh out of NYU, Daniel Genis was working in publishing as his writer father had always expected. But he was also hiding a serious heroin addiction that led him into debt and burglary. After he was arrested for robbing people at knifepoint in 2003, Daniel Genis was nicknamed the "apologetic bandit" in the press, given his habit of apologizing...

Detailed summary in vernacular field only.

Equipped with platinum blond hair and a winning smile, NYC college girl Leah seeks out pleasure in any form. Between getting high with her roommate and snorting lines with her boss, Leah falls for Blue, a young man dealing drugs on her corner. Within days, the two are selling dime bags to her boss and his downtown friends, and living the high life. Summer love crashes to a halt when Blue is arrested and Leah is left with a serious bag of his coke....

The crossing guard: Freddy Gale has been waiting for the man who destroyed his life to be released from prison, so that he can even the score. (111 min., 1995). Benefit of the doubt: A convicted wife murderer returns 22 year later to seek revenge on the daughter who help convict him. (92 min., 1993). The night listener: A late-night radio talk show host becomes involved in the life of a young writer only to find the boy's identity mysterious and...

Four teenagers participated in a backyard brawl which resulted in a death. The trial led to life without parole, even though the evidence against them was not clear-cut. Ten years have passed and they are still behind bars, though an appeal is pending.

Like the never-ending war on terror, the drugs war is a multi-billion-dollar industry that won't go down without a fight. Pills, Powder, and Smoke explains why. The war on drugs has been official American policy since the 1970s, with the UK, Europe, and much of the world following suit. It is at best a failed policy, according to bestselling author Antony Loewenstein. Its direct results have included mass incarceration in the US, extreme violence...