It's a year in the life of an open-air drug market in Baltimore. Most of the folks in the neighborhood are addicts and/or dealers, and thus most of the folks in this book are, too. I didn't finish reading; it was too sad. Even when there was a moment of happiness, I found myself thinking Which unthinking doper will find a way to ruin this moment and make it, in hindsight, bitter? I found myself picking up less challenging books instead. This book is good, too good for me to take.