Book Description

Thrip, the sole survivor of the worst mass murder in Georgia history, is about to be betrayed by those trusted to protect him. He sits at his computer in an isolated farmhouse, interacting with his only true friend, a Homebound Outreach instructor, unaware of the forces conspiring to shatter his life and destroy his fragile inner world. Raised as a ward of the state until the age of twelve, now living as the foster-child of a fundamentalist Christian couple, the fourteen year old boy is being raised quietly and anonymously in a secluded house outside of tiny Ty-Ty, Georgia, where his County Outreach instructor, Deidra Brooks, homeschools him online. Though they never meet face to face, the two cultivate a transformative relationship filled with synchronic humor and bizarre stream-of-consciousness fantasies between routine school lessons. Mavyn Justain, who prefers the nickname ‘Thrip’, is agoraphobic, a social outcast, a brilliant preternatural child who only leaves home to attend church or the town library. He dreams of escaping from his foster parents to discover a world denied him because of his traumatic past- a past that will return to torment him at the hands of those who seek to profit from his pain. The hack Hollywood producer who wants to expose his trauma to the world- has a secret agenda. The private investigator hired to track down the identity of his true parents – drawn into mortal danger. The damaged veteran struggling with P.T.S.D., stock-piling weapons deep in the Georgia woods. The horror of another school-shooting in small town America. This gripping new novel by J.D. Brayton explores the dark side of human nature by asking the questions- In the computer age, how connected are we? Who is left behind? Who is safe? The author of ‘The Clabber Grrrl’s Retreat’, ‘Eye Skin’, and ‘The Light Horse’ returns with a thrilling tale of psychological suspense set in the pine woods of the deep south.