A darkly compulsive story about records and race, music and murder, from the author of The Impressionist

Carter and Seth are worlds apart - one a trust fund hipster, the other a suburban nobody - and yet they are united by a love of music. Rising fast on the New York scene, one day they stumble across an old blues song long forgotten by history - and everything starts to unravel. Carter quickly becomes obsessed with the unknown singer, drawn down a path that allows no return, and Seth has no choice but to follow his friend into the darkness.

Trapped in a game he doesn't understand, Seth plays the same cards that have been played before, says the lines exactly as they have always been spoken, acts the old familiar parts as if for the first time. He moves unsteadily across a chessboard of white and black, performer and audience, righteous and forsaken, caught between the man who makes the music and the one who calls the tune. But we have been here before, oh so many times over, and the game always ends the same way . . .