Sleepers

Told as a true account, this novel follows four boys raised in poverty on New York's West Side, where hardship and loyalty bound them together. A prank gone wrong nearly killed a man, and the boys were sent to a reformatory, where guards subjected them to brutal abuse that marked them for life. Eleven years later, two of the friends had become hired killers for the mob. Their paths crossed again with the guard who had led the abuse, and the confrontation ended with his death in front of witnesses. Few expected the young men to ever leave prison, yet the four reunited for one final bold move, carrying their reckoning into a courtroom.

The story moves between the boys' childhood and their adult lives, focusing on how a shared past shapes loyalty, guilt and the urge for revenge. Lorenzo Carcaterra, who grew up in Hell's Kitchen, wrote the book, and it was later adapted into a 1996 film starring Brad Pitt, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman and Kevin Bacon.