This is the story of two men who first become friends in 1970s New York of the women in their lives & of their sons born the same year. Both Leo Hertzberg an art historian & Bill Weschler a painter are cultured decent men but neither is equipped to deal with what happens to their children
- Leos son drowns when hes 12 while Bills son Mark grows up to be a delinquent & the acolyte of a sinister guru-like artist who spawns murder in his wake. Spanning the hedonism of the eighties & the chill-out nineties this multi-layered novel combines a plot of mounting menace with a deeply moving account of familial relationships & a superbly observed portrait of an artist set against the backdrop of a society reaching new depths of depravity in its frenetic quest for the next fashion drug & thrill.