Every choice made by eighteen-year-old Lefty Taggart hinged on one fact: he had an insatiable need for heroin. Teaming up with another streetwise junkie named Oscar, he entered the double-dealing world of drug connections, theft schemes, and fugitives fleeing the law.
Minutes before undercover policemen closed in on Lefty and Oscar, two compassionate strangers offered them a chance to stop running—and start life all over again. For one of them, however, it turned out to be too late.
LEFTY introduces you to the treacherous world of the ghetto... to the vicious cycle of drug addiction and crime... and to the one Person who offers anyone—no matter how far gone—a dramatic turning point and a whole new tomorrow.
Content: gun violence, muggings, beatings, mail theft, abductions
This book is nonstop action from start to finish. I read it fast due to how interesting the story is.
The book opens with Lefty about to attack an old man with a chain. Oscar comes along, warning Lefty that the man is a cop. Lefty gets away and meets up with Oscar. A boy approaches Oscar wanting to buy drugs from him. Oscar takes money from the boy, leaving with Lefty. He then informs Lefty that the boy was a young cop.
The cops start swarming, so Oscar and Lefty force their way into an apartment, holding a mother and young boy hostage for an hour until the cops disappear. Oscar and Lefty leave, going to Spino's apartment to buy drugs. On the way up, they spot a con artist on the stairs. Oscar robs him and threatens to kill him, telling him to stay where he is. The man is terrified and takes off his clothes to prove that he can't go anywhere.
Oscar and Lefty continue to Spino's apartment. Spino is furious that they have endangered him by coming to his apartment, so he robs them and threatens to kill them. The two leave, passing by the naked man who is still on the stairs and is now crying.
Lefty finally gets some drugs, goes home, and accidentally overdoses. Lefty's mom finds him and kicks him out for being a junkie. Lefty goes to live with Oscar in Oscar's nasty, infested basement apartment.
This all happens within 24 hours in the first 44 pages of the story, and I left out some events.
Reverend Benton shows up near the end of the story to tell Lefty about Christ. I find it amusing that Benton writes himself into the books and describes himself to be a very likeable person. More than once, Benton is described as having an "infectious laugh." On page 158, Lefty thinks to himself that he "couldn't help but like the guy."
Lefty is an engaging, exciting book.
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