A literary thriller about an infamous desert art installation, the
cult it inspired, and the search for a missing young woman that is
"cinematic . . . readers will be compelled to start again at page one to
discover how O'Connor pieces together his suspenseful, incredibly
well-written narrative" (Library Journal, starred review).
Los Angeles, the late 1970s: Jess Shepard is an installation artist who
creates environments that focus on light and space, often leading to
intense sensory experiences for visitors to her work. A run of
critically lauded projects peaks with Zero Zone, an installation at
the once upon a time site of nuclear bomb testing in the New Mexico
desert. But when a small group of travelers experience what they
perceive as a religious awakening inside Zero Zone, they barricade
themselves in the installation until authorities are forced to
intervene. That violent showdown becomes a media sensation, and its
aftermath follows Jess wherever she goes.
Devastated by the attack and the distortion of her art, Jess retreats
from the world. Unable to work, Jess unravels mentally and emotionally,
plagued by a nagging uncertainty as to her culpability for what
happened.
Three years later, a survivor from Zero Zone comes looking for Jess,
who must move past her self imposed isolation to face down her fears and
recover her art and possibly her life from a violent cult intent of
making it their own.
