The reader follows Charlie from bad to worse, encountering along the way his unforgettable entourage, among them Hank Kinsella, dark mentor, street philosopher, Newfoundland nationalist, maker of toy Newfoundland dogs, who as a baby would not drink milk from a bottle, only Tang warmed in a pot on the stove. Is Charlie simply a nice young man who has lost his way or a young man coming into possession of a dark genetic inheritance? And just how low can he sink? The reader can only hang on as this pitch-perfect and visceral novel careens towards its conclusion, an anti-epiphany that leaves both protagonist and reader just a little wiser.