Hage's look at the underbelly of organized religion and immigrant life in Canada is unflinching and grim. . . . Cockroach's finely wrought scenes build in tension toward a conclusion that's fitting and yet unpredictable.--Kevin Chong.

During a bitterly cold winter in a snowy northern city, a self-confessed thief has just tried to commit suicide by hanging himself from a tree in the local park. Rescued against his will and obliged to attend sessions with a well-meaning but naive therapist, our narrator tells her his heartrending and hallucinatory story.