First published 2019
Ellen Burns once fought as an activist, but now she faces a different kind of battle. Her brother has vanished, and finding him means crossing the country on a journey she never wanted to take. The search pulls Ellen deeper into a world she barely recognizes, where white supremacist networks operate in shadows and hatred runs through families like poison in the bloodstream. As Ellen follows the trail her brother left behind, she uncovers connections to domestic terrorism and the violent extremism that produced attacks like the Oklahoma City bombing. Each step forward brings her closer to a truth about her own family that she may not be able to accept. Boyd returns to fiction after twenty years with this story of a woman who must confront both the racism embedded in American society and the painful secrets that have shaped her own life. Ellen's search becomes a reckoning with the past and the dangerous present that surrounds her.
Genres: fiction, american-fiction, crime, contemporary, activism
Vibes: dark, emotional, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: reckoning-with-the-past, search-for-missing-person
Setting: America, Oklahoma
Period: Contemporary
288 pages · Paperback · Catapult
Content warnings: racism, violence