Widow Kelly Carlsen has been through a lot since the death of her husband three years ago. Reported to the police for murder by her vindictive mother-in-law, she was suspected of poisoning her husband, jailed away from her son, and nearly went to prison before an autopsy proved her husband died of an undiagnosed nut allergy. Traumatized by the experience, she and her son Dan have become very close while also dealing with tension from the emotional scars left by the experience. She keeps a close eye on him—and not just because of what’s happened to her—she has reasons that are more genetic than environmental. Dan, like his grandmother, is a sociopath: manipulative, impulsive, and almost remorseless. Intensive therapy has helped him and his mother a great deal, but she has always worried that he is a ticking time bomb whose impulsiveness and lack of empathy will lead him straight to jail. So when Dan’s girlfriend goes missing after the two get blackout drunk on a date and Dan believes he may have killed her, Kelly scrambles to cover for him. But his vindictive grandmother has other plans and no qualms about lying to get what she wants. Now, a desperate mother willing to take any steps to protect her son must face a grandmother with no conscience—and be prepared to suffer the consequences.

Widow Kelly Carlsen has been through a lot since the death of her husband three years ago. Reported to the police for murder by her vindictive mother-in-law, she was suspected of poisoning her husband, jailed away from her son, and nearly went to prison before an autopsy proved her husband died of an undiagnosed nut allergy. Traumatized by the experience, she and her son Dan have become very close while also dealing with tension from the emotional scars left by the experience. She keeps a close eye on him—and not just because of what’s happened to her—she has reasons that are more genetic than environmental. Dan, like his grandmother, is a sociopath: manipulative, impulsive, and almost remorseless. Intensive therapy has helped him and his mother a great deal, but she has always worried that he is a ticking time bomb whose impulsiveness and lack of empathy will lead him straight to jail. So when Dan’s girlfriend goes missing after the two get blackout drunk on a date and Dan believes he may have killed her, Kelly scrambles to cover for him. But his vindictive grandmother has other plans and no qualms about lying to get what she wants. Now, a desperate mother willing to take any steps to protect her son must face a grandmother with no conscience—and be prepared to suffer the consequences.