In this novel, a young woman with few resources but gifted with a dangerous ability to navigate the desires of others, seeks to make a place for herself in a closed, rarefied world. Summer is coming to an end on the East End of Long Island, and a misstep at a dinner party leads Alex to be dismissed by the older man she's been staying with. Guided by a mutable sense of morality, she stays on Long Island, moving like a ghost through the beautiful hedged lanes, gated driveways, and sun-blasted dunes, a cipher leaving destruction in her wake. Taut, propulsive, and impossible to look away from, this book is a brilliant literary achievement.