Armpit, or Theodore, a character from Holes, is going straight, working hard, saving his money, going to school, getting tested regularly for drugs by his suspicious parents, making friends with the girl next door and generally scaring people by doing nothing but being big and black. X-Ray, another Camp Green Lake alumni, ropes Armpit in to a ticket-scalping scam, not illegal but definitely dodgy, but that doesn't stop it from threatening Armpit's fragile and precarious existence.

Funny, sharp, warm and clever, this is the story of someone trying to keep on the straight and narrow despite the travails and temptations and surprises of modern life. Armpit's a great hero, dogged and down-to-earth and straightforward with a heart as big as the planet, but constantly being misunderstood or mistaken, except, perhaps, by his best friend, Ginny. Terrific.