Publisher's Synopsis
This darkly compelling novel tells a harsh and brutal story of sexual obsession, virulent racism, and religious hypocrisy. Working in the tradition of the Southern gothic and novels like William Faulkner's Sanctuary, award-winning novelist Cobb (The Fire Eaters) fills his latest work with lurid violence and all manner of human depravity. The beautiful Brenda Boykin has been lured back to her hometown in Alabama by Roger Coles, a rich and powerful older man who has been lusting after her ever since he crowned her Homecoming Queen 25 years ago. The small Southern town that Brenda returns to -- and expects to find as idyllic as she remembers it from her childhood -- is, instead, thoroughly racist and full of sexual predators. It is also bristling with paranoia and hate that manifest themselves in a rabid militia, violence against the town's abortion clinic, and even a witches' coven. A powerful and frightening novel; recommended for all public libraries.
