Julian English seems to have it all: He is the son of one of the city's most prominent men, is president of the Cadillac dealership, is married to a beautiful and intelligent woman, and socializes with the young Country Club set. And then one night, with a bit too much bootleg liquor inside him, he throws a drink in the face of a "friend" (who happens to have loaned his business $20,000) who is irritatingly telling long-winded stories. Julian's wife is upset and embarrassed and they argue. And the next night he further humiliates her by again drinking too much and apparently seducing a mobster's mistress right in front of her and their friends. And things go downhill from there.
This novel, set in 1930 in a fictional mid-size city, reads like a Greek tragedy. Social circumstances and Julian's own fatal flaws combine to bring about his downfall. The combination of slangy conversation and mundane details with the epic-like tragedy makes for an interesting contrast.
This book is #22 in Modern Library's Top 100 English-Language Novels of the 20th Century. I would not rate it nearly that high, but it is very good.
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