KIRKUS REVIEW
Another Danny O'Flaherty story, as Danny progresses from adolescence with ambition, bravado and sham, under which his insecurity is patent, takes a job as an express clerk, then to a night job as filling station attendant so that he may attend the University of Chicago by day. He becomes ""an intellectual"" -- an atheist -- a Bohemian; and under Ed Lanson's tutelage, decides to ""live dangerously"", frequents whore houses and gets a dose. By these questionable steps he approaches man's estate, takes up writing seriously, and at the close leaves for New York and literature. More of the same -- see other O'Flaherty tales (Father and Son, Ellen Rogers, No Star is Lost -- in varying degrees) realistic, definitely autobiographical, controlled. But not for the thin skinned.