Driving late at night on a rural road in North Carolina, Billy Dalton sees a fiery car in the distance. He brakes, sprints to the burning vehicle, and rescues a beaten woman and a rope-bound little girl just as the gas tank explodes.
Later, awakening in the hospital and covered with burns, the sheriff tells Billy there was no woman, no child, and no other vehicle found at the scene—only the scorched wreckage of Billy’s own car. Gradually and reluctantly, Billy accepts the story that he crashed his car into a tree and hallucinated the woman and the baby in the trauma of the fire.
However, thirteen years later, a surprise visit by a private investigator helps him unravel the secret of what really happened on the night of the burning car.
A suspenseful story of deceit, desperation, love, revenge, and redemption.
With pulse-thumping action and strong characterization, Lubitz dramatizes racism and corruption in the South leading up to and during the Civil Rights era. Billy’s and Lacey’s points of view alternate every few chapters, revealing dysfunctional family histories before their life paths join. Although Lacey’s tale is sensational, Billy shines as an unhappily married alcoholic consumed by repressed anger who gropes for happiness. Disfigured by the burning car, Billy can’t help but engage in self-sabotage when faced with others’ kindness, until the crucible of the Korean War reframes his existence so that he finally welcomes a fulfilling life. His quiet awakening and Lacey’s decision to fight for justice are satisfying in themselves, as is the accompanying suspense. How will they avenge themselves against the unyielding political machine?
Billy and Lacey’s shift from victims to survivors and then agents of restitution entertains yet highlights American atrocities like lynching. The story is a study in how exposing crime dismantles a community until oppressed are empowered. Told in straightforward language and boasting a cast of well-drawn side characters, this crime-court drama will please fans of American historical fiction and law-and-order aficionados.
Takeaway: A page-turning thriller about crime, corruption, and justice in the midcentury South.
Great for fans of: John Grisham’s A Time to Kill, Susan Carol McCarthy’s Lay the Trumpet in Our Hands
Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
"An immersive and affecting story of injustice and an exemplification of the unbreakable human spirit."
Kirkus Verdict: Get it.
