In the tradition of Huckleberry Finn and The Catcher in the Rye, Russell Banks’s quintessential novel tells the story of a disaffected homeless youth living on the edge of society. Rule of the Bone introduces us to Chappie, a punked-out teenager navigating a harsh world.

Chappie lives with his mother and abusive stepfather in an upstate New York trailer park. As he slips into drugs and petty crime, he becomes a permanent outsider, adopting a new identity as "Bone" and marking his transformation with a crossed-bones tattoo.

His journey takes him from dangerous biker-thieves to the refuge of an abandoned school bus, where he meets Rose, a child he rescues, and I-Man, an exiled Rastafarian. Together, they embark on a remarkable adventure from Middle America to the ganja-growing mountains of Jamaica—a journey of self-discovery through a world of magic, violence, betrayal, and redemption.

With a compelling and off-beat protagonist, evocative of Holden Caulfield and Quentin Coldwater, and a narrative voice that masterfully captures modern vernacular, Rule of the Bone is a haunting and powerful novel, an indisputable and unforgettable modern classic.