Don Carpenter's Hard Rain Falling is a tough as nails account of being down and out, but not quite down for goodua Dostoyevskian tale of crime, punishment, and the pursuit of an ever-elusive redemption. The novel follows the adventures of Jack Leavitt, an orphaned teenager living off his wits in the fleabag hotels and seedy pool halls of Portland, Oregon. Leavitt befriends Billy Lansing, a young black runaway and pool hustler extraordinaire. A heist gone wrong gets Jack sent to reform school, from which he emerges embittered by years of abuse and solitary confinement. In the meantime Billy has joined the bourgeoisieu married, fathered a son, acquired a business and a mistress. But neither Jack nor Billy can escape their misfit pasts, and they will meet again in San Quentin before their strange double drama comes to a violent and revelatory end. Carpenter was a writer of searing honesty and deep compassion. This reprint of his most famous novel reintroduces one of the most distinctive and gripping voices of postwar American literature.

Don Carpenter (1931—1995) was born in Berkeley, California. In 1947 he moved to Portland, Oregon, where he finished high school, went to college, married, and became the father of two children. He wrote articles, stories, and screenplays.

George Pelecanos is the author of fifteen crime novels set in and around Washington, D.C. An award-winning essayist, he has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, GQ, Sight and Sound, Uncut, Mojo, and other publications. Described by Esquire magazine as “the poet laureate of the D.C. crime world”, Pelecanos served as producer on several feature films. Most recently he was a producer, writer, and story editor for the HBO dramatic series, The Wire. His novel Right as Rain is currently in film development. Pelecanos lives in Silver Spring, Maryland.