When Althea Leary abandons her nine-year-old son, Jasper, he s left on his uncle s farm with nothing but a change of clothes and a Bible.
It s 1952, and Jasper isn t allowed to ask questions or make a fuss. He s lucky to even have a home and must keep his mouth shut and his ears open to stay in his uncle s good graces. No one knows where his mother went or whether she s coming back. Desperate to see her again, he must take matters into his own hands. From the farm, he embarks on a treacherous search that will take him to the squalid hideaways of Detroit and back again, through tawdry taverns, peep shows, and gambling houses.
As he s drawn deeper into an adult world of corruption, scandal, and murder, Jasper uncovers the shocking past still chasing his mother and now it s chasing him too.