"Everything's bigger in Texas. Even the Secrets." Rufus McKay was not always the bright shining star of the art world. He owes his reputation to the strange happenings in his childhood community, and to the generations past. The images in his paintings are memories--of his loyal friends and his quirky family, and of the harrowing murders that darkened his sunny South Texas youth. Young love, old grudges, and new beginnings abound in Nicholas Bridwell's globetrotting debut novel. Equal parts saga and mystery, The Ties That Bind is bursting with a cast of worldly characters and Texas-size drama.