With his third novel, published to overwhelming critical acclaim, Dale Peck delivers a gothic horror story of epic proportions.In the flatlands of Kansas, a small town called Kenosha burned to the ground; in its stead two new towns were created on nearby land -- the all-white Galatea and the black Galatia. To this divided community come two disillusioned New Yorkers, Colin and his young lover Justin Time. Their arrival triggers a brutal string of events, all linked to secrets of long ago, including the uncertain circumstances surrounding the lynching of an albino black boy. With the sexual assault and kidnapping of a town cheerleader, Colin and Justin find themselves both victims and suspects, protagonists and scapegoats. And as they discover the inner demons of a town reborn from the ashes, they must ultimately embrace their own dark truths.

Provocative, ambitious, satisfyingly complex -- in every sense, a major achievement from one of our most accomplished writers, a novelist of the first order.