In 1954 Mississippi, Jack Branch returns to his fathers Delta estate, Great Oaks, to perform an act of noblesse oblige: teaching at the local high school.While conducting a class on evil throughout history, 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 fathers crime and using his own good name to open the doors that Eddies lineage cant. But when the investigation turns in an unexpected direction, Jack finds himself questioning Eddies motivesand his own. As the deadly consequences of Jacks 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 well-intentioned men.