"Born in Denton Burn, Ric Renton has a troubled upbringing that led to him spending his young adulthood in prison. During a stint in solitary confinement, he declined a proffered bible and, on a whim, chanced it and asked for a dictionary instead. This choice afforded him with an ability with language that would shape his life far beyond his station through his writing. This is his story. Three young men - Knox, Brown, and Shepherd - pass their time in a prison with the highest suicide rate in the country. Energized by their friendship but with the walls around them getting smaller, they are haunted by the repeated pronouncements of another life lost. The arrival of a night-watchman, Jock, offers Shepherd an unexpected way through the darkness. One Off is rich with emotion but sizzling with high energy and the blackest humor." -- Back cover
