The Contender is the story of Alfred Brooks, a black high school dropout who lives with his Aunt in Harlem and copes with his anger and frustration by boxing. The novel follows Alfred's flirtation with a life of crime, his brushes with drug culture and alcoholism, and his eventual conviction to right the course of his life and become a competitive boxer. It also deals with themes of racism, the vilification of black youths, and the perils of the criminal justice system.
By Night in Chile is the deathbed confession of Father Urrutia, a Chilean priest who recounts his life in a feverish and unbroken monologue. The novel is deeply political and portrays Urrutia's education of Augusto Pinochet as a grave sin against Chile. Urrutia himself considers his actions sinful and his life of ease within the Chilean literary world a betrayal of his faith and his countrymen. He dies repentant but wracked with guilt.