The Losers: David Eddings

Raphael Taylor was the golden boy - blond, handsome, a gifted athlete and student. Damon Flood was a scoundrel - a smooth, smiling cynical devil. The day Raphael met Damon was the day he began his mysterious fall from grace and the golden boy fell very fast and very low. Damon introduces Raphael to drink, wealth and a seductive woman then sends him out to his doom. After losing his leg in a drunken car accident, Raphael goes to recuperate in a seedy backstreet in Spokane, Washington. There he is surrounded by 'the losers', a nightmarish sub-culture of violence and despair that is kept going - and kept out of sight - by a band of incompetent social workers. Raphael struggles to come to terms with his new surroundings - until Damon turns up on his doorstep and the world of the losers explodes.