This suspenseful coming-of-age novel explores the early years of Easy Rawlins and Mouse Alexander, central figures in Mosley's popular series. Houston, 1939: Nineteen-year-old Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins agrees to drive his friend Raymond "Mouse" Alexander to Pariah, Texas to retrieve money from his stepfather. The journey soon engulfs the two young men in a mysterious bayou world of sex, voodoo, revenge, and death that changes their lives and foretells their destinies.