Set in Conway, Arkansas, just a half hour's drive from Little Rock, the story opens with a pregnant teenager looking for her fiancé, who has gone missing just a few days before they were supposed to be married. She tries reporting his disappearance to the police, who just laugh and state the obvious conclusion, a conclusion shared by the man's mother. But Lily refused to give up, although as a member of a fundamentalist Pentecostal church who has never cut her hair or owned a cell phone, she's not at all prepared to go out into the world to look for him. But she finds an unlikely ally in one of Peter's co-workers, who may not fully agree that Peter didn't run off, but who sees the danger in letting Lily wander into dangerous places unwittingly. He's willing to be the one to drive her into Little Rock and to let her know what is going on around her.

"Annnnd you ruined it," Allan says, grimacing like he tastes something sour. "Look, Lily, I'm not here to be a stand-in for all the gays, ok? You ain't Kimmy, and I ain't Titus."

"What does that mean?"

"Do you even own a television?'

"No."

But for all the charm of a mismatched duo on a quest, this is not a novel looking to make anyone feel warm and happy. Peter and Allan were working in a motel where drug dealers and human traffickers were operating and Allan is fully aware of how dangerous these men are and of the bad things going on in the back annex. He knows that even asking around for Peter could get them both killed. But he's a man with a heart despite himself and he liked the seemingly straight-laced Peter, and he's got a clear idea of what could happen to a naive girl like Lily.

So this isn't a novel with a happy ending, but it's also not a hopeless one. What makes this book shine is the complex characters Hinkson has created here. No one is entirely good or bad, and there's a nuance to his portrayal of the members of Lily's church that is rare to find. Allan, an intelligent gay man stuck in a small Southern town caring for his FOX News-watching father, while filling his apartment with books and old movies, is a fantastic character. And Lily may know nothing about the world, but she does know that her child will need a father and she refuses to let her shame at what happened, and for which she is blamed far more than Peter, prevent her doing what she thinks is right.

This is the second book I've read by Hinkson and it won't be my last. It's good stuff. ( )