Recommended reading - No Beast So Fierce, by Edward Bunker (1973):

No Beast So Fierce

By Edward Bunker.

Filmed as Straight Time (1978), directed by Ulu Grosbard and Dustin Hoffman.

Published by NO EXIT PRESS.

First published 1973.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 1842432664

ISBN-13: 978-1842432662

Description:

“One of the great crime novels.” – James Ellroy.

An angry and mercilessly suspenseful novel about an ex-con's attempt to negotiate the "straight world" and his swan dive back into the paradoxical security of crime. It is airtight in its construction, almost photorealistic in its portrayal of L. A. lowlife and utterly knowledgeable about the terrors of liberty, the high of the quick score and the rage that makes the finger tighten on the trigger of the gun.