Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Welcome to Spencerville, Virginia, 1977. A time when teenagers roamed wild and free. When sons worshipped God, loved their mothers, and feared their fathers. And when eight-year-old Rocky still worshipped his older brother, Paul--sixteen and full of rebel cool--who was happy to have his younger brother as his sidekick, until one day things went terribly wrong and Paul disappeared.
Seven years later, Rocky, now a teenager himself, must reckon with the past after a mysterious double murder brings terror and suspicion to their small town, and to their broken family."
Synopsis
A lush mystery-within-a-coming-of-age-tale-within-a-Southern-Gothic. NPR Books
A richly textured portrait of small-town dysfunction and murder . . . Secrets abound, imaginations run wild. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Welcome to Spencerville, Virginia, 1977. Eight-year-old Rocky worships his older brother, Paul. Sixteen and full of rebel cool, Paul spends his days cruising in his Chevy Nova blasting Neil Young, cigarette dangling from his lips, arm slung around his beautiful, troubled girlfriend. Paul is happy to have his younger brother as his sidekick. Then one day, in an act of vengeance against their father, Paul picks up Rocky from school and nearly abandons him in the woods. Afterward, Paul disappears.
Seven years later, Rocky is a teenager himself. He hasn t forgotten being abandoned by his boyhood hero, but he s getting over it, with the help of the wealthy neighbors daughter, ten years his senior, who has taken him as her lover. Unbeknownst to both of them, their affair will set in motion a course of events that rains catastrophe on both their families. After a mysterious double murder brings terror and suspicion to their small town, Rocky and his family must reckon with the past and find out how much forgiveness their hearts can hold."
Synopsis
It's 1977, and eight-year-old Rocky worships his older brother, Paul, who is happy to have his younger brother as his sidekick, until one day, Paul disappears. When, seven years later, a mysterious double murder brings terror and suspicion to Rocky's small town, Rocky and his family must reckon with the past and find out how much forgiveness their hearts can hold.