Author Edward Humes reviews LA Times columnist Steve Lopez’s new book and finds it “a very human drama that is hard to put down.” A snippet:

Los Angeles’ skid row, as Steve Lopez writes in “The Soloist,” is the homeless capital of the nation.

Hidden in plain sight just down the street from City Hall and mere steps from the offices of this newspaper, skid row is a reeking repository of disease, drugs and desperation that most of us avoid when possible or hurriedly step past when necessary, averting our stares from hollow cheeks and hollow eyes, as if they were invisible.

“The Soloist” is Lopez’s compelling and gruffly tender account of what can happen when you don’t step past.

In his unsparing portrait of this universe and the plight of the homeless mentally ill, Lopez offers not a moment of wonkery or preachiness — just his keen observations and eye for telling detail as he unfolds the story of his unintended and improbable friendship with a homeless, schizophrenic classical musician, Nathaniel Ayers.

Read the rest here.