Billy Straight : a novel

ISBN: 0345413865 (pbk.)
ISBN: 0679459596 (acid-free paper)
ISBN: 9780345413864 (pbk.)
ISBN: 97806794595910 (acid-free paper)
Physical Description: 467 p. ; 25 cm. print
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: New York : Random House : Ballantine, c1998.

Summary: Twelve-year-old Billy Straight - precocious, heartbreakingly perceptive, relentlessly moral - has fled the chaos and abuse of his life at home and is fighting to survive on L.A.'s meanest streets. All alone, Billy has fashioned a precarious existence for himself, using principled tricks to nourish his body and his mind. Late one night he watches from his hiding place as a man viciously butchers a woman. The victim turns out to be the ex-wife of a television celebrity with a history of domestic violence and Billy become the center of terrifying attention - from the media, from violent bounty hunters and from the murderer himself. As he runs for his life, relying on his native wit and instincts for survival, Billy is also tracked by a potential saviour: Petra Conner, a tough, gifted, beautiful homicide detective with a past of her own.