First published 1998
Clay returns home from college to a world of limitless excess. Porsche-driving, cocaine-fueled friends drift through endless parties in glitzy mansions and seedy clubs. Clay tries to reconnect with his girlfriend Blair and high-school pal Julian, now a hustler and heroin addict. But as Clay's holiday spirals into dizzying desperation, he's forced to confront the moral decay at the heart of his privileged existence.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, american-fiction, contemporary
Vibes: dark, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Los Angeles, Los Angeles (Calif.)
Period: 1980s
208 pages · Mass Market Paperback · Penguin Books
Content warnings: addiction, drug-use