1. The Mucker
Billy Byrne grows up amid the violence and poverty of Chicago and initially prides himself on being a hard, antisocial “mucker.” A sequence of crimes, flight and a sea voyage carries him far from the city, where shipwreck, danger and his relationship with Barbara Harding force…
2. The Return of the Mucker
Billy Byrne returns to danger after events in Chicago and is drawn south into Mexico. There he becomes involved with warring factions, armed pursuit and rescue during the upheaval of the Mexican Revolution, while his relationship with Barbara Harding remains central to his choices. The sequel…
3. The Oakdale Affair
A wealthy young runaway adopts the identity of a boy and falls in with a group of tramps after a burglary sets off pursuit and suspicion. Burroughs builds the story around mistaken identity, crime, class assumptions and the tension between respectable small-town society and people living…