A New York Times bestseller and winner of the UK's John Creasey Award for Debut Crime Novel of the Year

'Mesmerizing. Intensely felt and beautifully told' New York Times

One Sunday nine-year-old Jess Hall watches in horror as his autistic brother is smothered during a healing service in the mountains of North Carolina.

Wiley Cash uses this haunting image - inspired by a horrific true event - to spin us into a spellbinding, heartbreaking story about cruelty and innocence, and the failure of faith and family to protect a child.

This is a novel thick with stories and characters connected by faith, infidelity, and a sense of hope that is both tragic and unforgettable.