Animal

Animal is a 1990 urban-fiction novel set in Los Angeles, following a young man's rise through the drug trade and his struggle with a violent past. The title refers to his street nickname, not to animals in a literal sense, so no animal-related tropes apply. The book is a gritty crime saga built around a protagonist's criminal ascent and the violence surrounding it, hence crime and a dark, tense atmosphere; the coming-of-age element fits his arc from a troubled youth to a hardened figure in the underworld. No romance, no found-family, or other trope tags fit the plot facts provided.