Cousin Raymond

When young Luca Keaton saves his mother Eileen from attempted suicide on that Sunday morning in 1948, his act sets off a spiral of events leading to the near-destruction of his loving family, to a horrific discovery--and to murder. Eileen is sent away and Lucas, his kid sister Annie and their father must begin rebuilding their lives. Everything changes when Cousin Raymond comes to live with them. Orphaned when his father dies under curious circumstances, at first Raymond proves to be a welcome family member. But his violent streak quickly emerges in unexpected and merciless ways. New challenges emerge when Eileen returns home. Lucas escapes to New York's Little Italy, art school, romance and a vibrant life in 1950s Greenwich Village, as Ray vanishes into an underground world of his own. A frantic call brings Lucas home, where the Keaton family must face a grave new threat and a tormenting mystery, not resolved until years later, when Lucas unearths a shattering truth. Now he must embark on his quest for justice, deal with Annie's unraveling life, his own personal demons--and with Cousin Raymond in the dark heart of Florida's Big Bend wilderness. Cousin Raymond evokes the dynamic changes many Americans faced at the end of World War II, recreates the vitality and excitement of New York life in the 1950s and early '6os, and takes the reader on to new discoveries in the decades following.