"A shattering, uncompromising novel of drug addicts"
FOUR SQUARE 1524
FIRST PRINTING AUGUST 1966
FIRST PUBLISHED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY ANTHONY BLOND LIMITED 1960
Sometimes with raw brutality, always with compassion, this uncompromising novel sweeps the labyrinth of pushers and prostitutes, the police ready to spring on The Man who controls the entire dope operation, to reveal the half-world of drugs, known as the Scene.
It is a world where sensibilities are tuned to heights as well as depths, as in the hauntingly moving affair between Andy Hodden and Taylor Mayo. A world of conflict in which men are tested to their fullest, as in the searchingly described characterisations of the two competing detectives of the Narcotics Squad. A world that reaches into the very core of society: the police, the courts, industry, the rich and the poor - none are immune from the infection of the Scene.
Only someone who himself has been an addict, as the author was, could describe so unforgettably 'the panic', the time of no dope, and portray withdrawal so convincingly. 'The Scene' is an important, gripping novel about a side of life that should not be ignored.