In this character-driven crime novel set deep in Brooklyn, Amy Falconetti has gone into a sort of self-imposed religious exile after a tough break-up with her girlfriend, Alessandra. She's devoted her life to church service in lieu of the party life she once embraced. When she's confronted by a strange man who has been harassing an elderly woman to whom she delivers communion, a twisted fascination to understand him kicks in. She becomes a voyeur first, and next a witness to a murder, and ultimately a lone investigator who becomes the target of a conscienceless killer. Paranoia and dislocation turns end-of-the-line Brooklyn into a place where the possibility of doom waits around every corner.

Boyle has created a gripping story about the strains that fear, loss, and pain can put on a person, on a family, on a community.