The Animal Factory: A Novel

by Edward Bunker

Overview

In this dark thriller, two inmates become friends in California's San Quentin, a world of violence and paranoia where prisoners struggle to survive.

Basis for the film starring Willem Dafoe, Edward Furlong, and Mickey Rourke―directed by Steve Buscemi.

Ron Decker is a newbie, a drug dealer whose shot at a short two-year stint in the can is threatened from inside and outside. He's got to keep a spotless record or it's ten to life. But at San Quentin, no man can steer clear of the Brotherhoods, the race wars, the relentlessness. It soon becomes clear that some inmates are more equal than others; Earl Copen is one of them, an old-timer who has learned not just to survive but to thrive behind bars. Not much can surprise him—but the bond he forms with Ron startles them both; it's a true education of a felon.

"Edward Bunker is among the tiny band of American prisoner-writers whose work possesses integrity, craftsmanship, and moral passion . . . an artist with a unique and compelling voice." ―William Styron

"Edward Bunker writes about the netherworld of society's outcasts with a passion and insight that comes from having lived life close to the bone." ―The Los Angeles Times

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781466852976
Publisher:	Minotaur Books
Publication date:	06/04/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	208
File size:	823 KB

About the Author

Edward Bunker is the author of the acclaimed crime novels No Beast So Fierce, Dog Eat Dog, and Little Boy Blue. His long-awaited memoir, Education of a Felon, was published by St. Martin's in March. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and child.

No Beast So Fierce, was published in 1973.
 
Paroled eighteen months later, he gave up crime permanently, and spent the rest of his life writing novels, many of which drew on his experiences in prison. Also an actor, his most well-known role was Mr. Blue, one of the bank robbers in Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs. Bunker died in 2005.