After killing a black inmate, the brutal Lamar Pye breaks out of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary along with his retarded cousin, Odell, and a hapless artist-turned-felon named Richard. They embark on a desperate run across Oklahoma and Texas, pursued by state troopers. The escapees hide out with a convict groupie who has lived alone since murdering her parents as an adolescent. In a parody of domesticity, Lamar embraces these losers as the family he never knew. Unlettered Lamar is a natural leader, more intelligent by far than his pursuers, but his gang screws up every time at a terrible cost in bloodshed. Hunter’s (Point of Impact, LJ 2/1/93) portrayal of Lamar is unromantic but sympathetic. Lamar is a loser who never had a chance; he uses his short period of freedom to get his own back and to indulge in the mindless violence that is the only thing that truly satisfies and delights him. This seriocomic chase thriller packs a punch. For most popular collections.