Summary

In the opening chapter, a young man named Jamey drives Tom Lowe Jr. and his neighbor, Trina, to the home of Mike Andrews, a loan officer who gave Tom a risky adjustable rate mortgage. Tom hopes to steal Andrews’ trash in an effort to find easily cashable convenience checks. As he sneaks around the home, Tom angrily wonders “why does Mike get to come home and be with his kids?” (8). Andrews, seeing someone on his property, yells that he has called the police. Tom, Trina, and Jamey flee. They eat at a sub shop, where Tom thinks of his former career as a carpenter. After falling off a roof, Tom became addicted to opioids and lost his home (which he had built himself). His wife, Ronnie, then left him.

Tom returns to the 8, a public housing complex in Amesbury, Massachusetts. He hopes to...