Kerouac's grittiest novel is described by the New York Times as "sensual and unrestrained." Driven by three years of endless telegrams, phone calls, mail, reporters, and snoopers following the success of his novel On the Road, Jack Kerouac, known as the 'King of the Beats,' seeks peace, tranquility, and sobriety. Surrounded and outnumbered, he feels the need to "retreat back into solitude or die." Amidst the wild beauty of the California landscape, Kerouac struggles to come to terms with his own myth and its negative impact on his life. The result is a poignant account of a man wrestling with inner demons: blessed with great talent but cursed with a tendency toward self-destruction, a path lined with double bourbons, Manhattans, and Scotch.