King of Nod

Sweetpatch Island, South Carolina, 1971. For young Boo Taylor, it’s a land of lush salt marshes and sun-soaked beaches, rich in history and folklore — yet steeped in superstition and hiding a terrifying secret.

After 20 years of self-imposed exile, Boo is summoned home to Sweetpatch upon news of his father’s strange death to face the friends and enemies of his youth, including his long-forsaken love. It seems everything he ran away from — the bigotry, the violence, the betrayal — has been buried under a modern landscape of golf courses and luxury hotels. Yet his homecoming reawakens the ancient forces that haunt the island and seek to right a centuries-old crime. Scott Fad’s Southern Gothic masterwork, King of Nod, layers time and secrets in an intricate pattern of half-truths and glimpses of redemption to unravel the island’s great mystery — and its inexorable connection to Boo’s own fate. Paperback, 738 pages, $34.95; e-book, $9.99 (prices may vary by retailer).