Fifteen years ago, Richard Boothby received a fateful call from his ex-wife that their twenty-three-year-old son, Oliver, was dead. To stem the pain, Boothby turned to psychoanalysis. He was no stranger to the concept - as a professor of philosophy, he had focused his career on the intersection between psychoanalytic theory and contemporary philosophy. Exploring the epidemics of substance abuse and gun violence from an intimate perspective, Boothby's poignant account of grief shows how the death of a loved one can in some ways bring us closer to them and ourselves.