George Washington Jonson has been in the Atlanta police force for a decade, patrolling the streets he grew up on and managing to build relationships within the force - especially with Tucker, the veteran police officer and self-described 'redneck' who taught Jonson the ropes. Now it's 2005 and Jonson himself is tasked with training hot-headed rookie recruits. One night out on patrol with his trainee, Utner, a split-second confrontation with a white teenager takes a violent turn and Utner shoots the teenager dead. As the resulting furore mounts to a fever pitch, it threatens to expose the complex nest of lies that seethes beneath the entire city, and order must be restored. So far, so Hollywood. But then a dizzying somersault in the novel's structure upends the narrative and begins an even darker, more complicated and provocative story about racism, power and corruption - building to an unforgettable portrait of a nation divided.