The Fourth Angel

The Fourth Angel is John Rechy’s most accomplished work since his explosive City of Night. It is the compelling, ferociously relevant story of four teenagers playing deadly games with drugs, sex, and one another. Behind a facade of tough cynicism, on a raging search for kicks, they explore the hot, dusty city, bent on trouble. There are three “angels”—Shell, Cob, and Manny, and their recruit Jerry, who becomes the fourth.

Hovering in that uncertain limbo between childhood and adulthood, the...