Marshall McEwan, a successful D.C. journalist, returns home to help his mother care for his terminally ill father. He does it out of love for his mother, not his father, who he hasn't really had a relationship with since he was a child. Returning to his hometown also gives him an opportunity to rekindle his romance with an old flame, now married to a man whose family is instrumental in everything that happens in town. When his childhood mentor turns up dead in the Mississippi, Marshall is sure it's the work of the Poker Club, the movers and shakers that run the town based on what they want and how much money they can make. This group of men includes his lover's husband and father-in-law. Going against them will put Marshall's life and livelihood in jeopardy. It may be a similar formula to his "Natchez Burning" trilogy, but, man does it work. Iles' masterful writing brings the South to life with an unmatched intensity that makes this book impossible to put down.