The Last Kid on the Block
, by James Conaway, to be published this spring by Alfred A. Knopf. “My only regret is that Dean isn’t here now, so I could tell him what a good job I did killing him.” He sits cross-legged on a folding chair in the hospital ward of the Harris County jailhouse, laughing and brandishing a Marlboro. White fatigues hang open at the neck, revealing a sunken chest and the colorless flesh of the restricted prisoner. Rubber thong sandals dangle from grubby toes; gone are the wispy beard and shoulder-length hair of those blurred news photos, replaced by dark, oily curls pressed against his...