The “extraordinary” debut novel ( Newsweek ) from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Independence Day tells the story of two godless pilgrims who converge on an uncharted island in the Mississippi. • “One of those books that hit you hard." — Houston Chronicle Robard Hewes has driven across the country in the service of a destructive passion. Sam Newell is seeking the missing piece of himself. When these men come together, each discovers the thing he's looking for—amid a conflagration of violence that's as shocking as it is inevitable.