In 1954 Mississippi, Jack Branch returns to his father?s Delta estate, Great Oaks, to perform an act of noblesse oblige: teaching at the local high school. Conducting a class on historical evil, Jack is shocked to discover that his unassuming student Eddie is the son of the Coed Killer, a notorious local murderer. Jack feels compelled to mentor the boy, encouraging Eddie to examine his father?s crime and using his own good name to open the doors that Eddie?s lineage can?t. But when Eddie?s investigation leads him to Great Oaks and to Jack?s own father, Jack finds himself questioning Eddie?s motives—and his own.

As the deadly consequences of Jack?s actions fall inescapably into place, Thomas H. Cook masterfully reveals the darker truths that lurk in the recesses of small-town lives and in the hearts of even well-intentioned men.