In this Southern Gothic suspense thriller, with strong overtones of gay romance, psychology professor Jon Wren’s experiences have nudged him close to an act of desperation.

Even as a child growing up in a small Southern city, Jon Wren frequently faced death. Before he’d even started school, he had played in the family parlor, where first an uncle, then a grandfather, lay in repose, their caskets positioned in front of the picture window. With their Instamatic cameras, several family members took photographs of well-dressed corpses.

As an adult, Jon would experience other deaths. Neil, his best friend, unlucky enough to contract AIDS before the advent of protease inhibitors. His parents, whose bodies finally surrendered to the ravages of time, stress, and in his mother’s case, Alzheimer’s disease.

In his 30s, Jon fell in love with Ryan Armstrong. When you’re head over heels, who thinks of death? And when you make a commitment for the long haul, death feels remote. Something that happens to other people.

Besides, who needs death to bring you down when two people, like Jon and Ryan, have each other?

Fast-forward 20 years. Ryan leaves. It is a departure not of his own volition.

Jon can live with the memories. After all, most of them were wonderful memories of a love that Jon thought would never die.

Then a cult leader, with a tremendous number of supporters across the country, storms into Orlando. He books a venue to spread his venom. The kind of rancorous lies he preaches disparage Jon’s relationship with Ryan.

And for that, Jon, once this man’s friend, must make sure there is a reckoning.