A novel on mental illness, narrated by a man whose twin brother, a schizophrenic, amputates his hand as atonement for his sins. The novel describes the family abuse that led to the illness and the narrator's efforts to obtain the brother's release from an asylum.

In this addictive and highly original debut novel a fifteen-year-old boy dies mysteriously, leaving behind a secret ledger filled with his darkly comic confessions. Whether fantasizing about being a minority, breaking into his neighbors' homes, or gunning down an exotic bird, Henry Every's wayward quest for betterment sometimes bordered on the criminal. Alone now in their suburban house, his father pores over the ledger in a final attempt to connect...