Thirty years ago, Dustin Tillman's brother Rusty received a life sentence for the massacre of their parents, aunt, and uncle. Despite the lack of physical evidence, the jury believed the accusations that Dustin and his cousin made against Rusty. When DNA analysis overturns the conviction, Dustin braces for a reckoning. Now a psychologist in Cleveland, Dustin teams up with one of his patients to investigate the drowning deaths of a string of drunk college boys. Soon he becomes obsessed with the idea that a serial killer is behind it, crossing all professional boundaries—and putting his own family in harm's way.

"There's something irresistibly creepy about this story, which stems from the thrill of venturing into illicit places of the mind…. Chaon's novel [is] between Edgar Allan Poe and Alfred Hitchcock. By the time we realize what's happening, we've gone too far to turn back."—Washington Post