Charles Bock's "Beautiful Children"

Debut novelist Charles Bock grew up the son of pawn brokers in Las Vegas. Sounds like a novel. Now, it almost is.

In his new, fresh-out-of-the-gate first offering, Bock takes a heart-breaking tour of the dark side of Vegas, the wasteland beyond the glittering Strip and within the glittering Strip.

Bocks diggs deep into the bleak underworld of lost children — runaways and rejects who are marooned, depraved and bewildered by an "all against all" culture. He's being called an American Dickens.

This hour On Point: Dark Vegas, Charles Bock, and a wrenching debut novel "Beautiful Children."Guest:

Charles Bock, author of "Beautiful Children: A Novel."