Creepy newcomer, Jay Hix, doesn't take long to make his name in Argus, a tiny city halfway between the boondocks and the backwoods. When a kid is found unconscious in Hix's van, townsfolk immediately judge him a pervert. *** One evening, at a house near town, teenage Nate and his friends drink and party. His friend, Rob, goes outside and doesn't return. Soon afterward, rookie police detective Greg Margrave stops Hix's van in Argus and within finds Rob unconscious, head bloody, indecently exposed. Hix tells Margrave he found Rob in a ditch and was rushing the kid to hospital, and that's the "God-honest truth." Glum Nate says he and another boy saw Hix drag Rob from the ditch and drive away. With no concrete evidence that a serious sex crime-or any kind of crime-occurred, Margrave can only guess at what the God-honest truth is. And with Rob in a coma, the truth remains elusive. DNA evidence-usually the ultimate answer to crime questions-offers no satisfactory answers. Margrave hopes this case has a simple answer, but he can't help wondering if what occurred is much more sinister than simple. Feeling the eyes of every Argus resident upon him, Margrave eventually exposes a secret that has nothing to do with Rob being comatose, but a lot to do with how the case is handled. Being a rookie, Margrave makes mistakes investigating Hix, and these lead to a violent confrontation... ...A fascinating, compelling story for those weary of police procedurals that seem to have all the answers.