Sandi and Augie by John Benton

From the back cover of Sandi:

At seventeen, Sandi viewed "life in the fast lane" as pretty exciting.  But within two years, she learned that it inevitably leads to a dead end.  Because she was often "high," she was fired from her job in a pizza parlor.  Left with no means of supporting her insatiable drug habit, she teamed up with another junkie, Maggie, who supported herself and her young daughter by robbing bakeries.  From there they went on to credit card scams and prostitution.

After Maggie was imprisoned and Sandi almost lost her life while pushing drugs, Sandi realized that she was hopelessly tangled in a web of self-destruction from which she could never break free.  Therefore, when a loving, concerned neighbor told Sandi how she could find a new life in Jesus Christ, she didn't take too long to yield her life to Him.

Content: theft, drug use

Maggie's idea to rob bakeries is stupid.  Maggie drives a truck that delivers bread to bakeries.  Of course the bakeries would figure out that they all got robbed around the time that the delivery truck arrived.  These characters are such stupid criminals.

While this is a good book, I didn't enjoy it as much as other titles.

From the back cover of Augie:

When Augie was first approached by a cute young addict and prostitute who needed assistance in ripping off a customer, he agreed, believing "one time can't hurt."  Unfortunately, that impulsive attitude led him into drug addiction.  As their drug habits grew to be insatiable, Augie and Paula were imperiled by involvement in dangerous crimes to support themselves. 

After Augie mistakenly cheated an underworld kingpin, his days were numbered.  When Augie was shot by a hit man, Paula realized that their lives were destined to end violently.  Therefore, she eagerly received some information given to her by some loving people from the Walter Hoving Home.  Was it possible that they could really find a refuge before it was too late?

Content: prostitution, drug use, hijacking, mugging, homocide

From page  87:

We walked into the apartment, and Paula went over to a couple of old books that were on her dresser.  She opened up one of them.  What was she up to?

I immediately guessed what was next.

Paula walked over to me and showed me the book.  There was a big hole cut out of the pages, and the bullets were inside.  Pretty smart, I thought.

Of course.  What else would a criminal be doing with a book?

The schemes in these books are often amusing.  A man approaches Augie.  He fixes up tenements, but he has a competitor who puts in cheap fixtures and sells at a high price.  The man hires Augie to steal from his competitor so that he can use the fixtures in his tenements, where he charges a more fair price.  Sure, by stealing what he needs.  Pretty soon, Augie is stealing toilets.  Imagine what that looks like: Augie walking down the street, carrying a toilet.

From page 112:

"If I were you, kid, I’d walk in there and kill that Malinsky," the other cop told me.

I couldn’t believe it!  A cop telling me to waste Malinsky?  Then I thought about it.  They must be after Malinsky.  They knew he was murdering people.  And if Malinsky got killed, that would be the end of that.

"You mean to tell me you wouldn't care if I walked in there and killed Malinsky?" I demanded.

"Listen, we don’t have to paint you a picture.  Malinsky’s knocked off quite a few people.  The best thing that could happen would be for somebody to get rid of him for us.  Go get him, kid!"

The cops walked back to their car.  "We've got to go, man."  They didn’t even frisk me for weapons!

This is crazy.

I forced myself to read this book after not reading any of these books for three weeks.  The book is good, but I didn't enjoy it that much.