"Secrets and evil can't just be blurted out..." Riley Janes asserts in the opening pages of this dark and humorous tale about two teens who end up hurting each other while trying to free themselves from the twisted reality that asserts itself over Isle of Hope, a small Georgia town.

When Riley wakes up in the hospital, she can't speak. The doctor says it's due to the trauma of "the accident" and encourages her to write her thoughts down. Meanwhile, Billy Jack is also writing an account of what transpired. Haunting their steps is the troubling question: are there valid excuses for...