A major theme is friendship and loyalty, but the book also deals with making decisions. Gangs, guns, drugs, drug running, and violence are shown in such a way that readers see that they are decisions that lead only to tragedy.

Jamal's family consists of an absentee father whose occasional visits result in demands and threats against him, a religious, hard-working mother who is consumed with grief over her son's involvement in robbery and murder, and Randy who was the leader of the Scorpions until his implication in the murder. He is stabbed and almost killed in prison. Sassy, Jamal's younger sister, picks at him, argues, and tries to get him in trouble, but she shows how much she cares for him as life becomes more desperate.

Tito wears Jamal's clothes because it makes him feel closer to Jamal, his friend. He asks Jamal not to fight...