'What did my father do? He killed my mother, my sister, and my brother, then waited to kill me...' Steve Farris is an architect who lives with his wife and son in the suburbs. His world changes drastically when he is contacted by Rebecca Soltero, who wants to interview him for a book she's writing about men who murdered their families. For in 1959 Steve's father shot his wife and their teenage daughter and son, then vanished. Nine-year-old Stevie, desperately missing his gifted older sister, managed to block out all thoughts about the deaths. Now Rebecca lures him into talking, and he is forced to acknowledge the questions that have haunted his subconscious mind: did his father mean to kill him, too? What secret did his father and his sister share? The novel shifts back and forth in time, from the present to the years before Steve's birth to the immediate aftermath of the deaths, but always comes back to the horrible deed - the excruciating how and the unanswerable why.