After a devastating car accident, Nick whispers his last words to his wife, Mackenzie: “As soon as they know I’m dead, they’ll come after you.”

Frightened and bewildered, Mackenzie travels to Philadelphia for the reading of her late husband’s will. To her shock, she learns that Nick’s mother, Cora, is not dead as he always claimed—rather, she is living as a recluse in the family’s gloomy nineteenth-century mansion. Desperate to understand why her husband lied to her for so many years, Mackenzie accepts Cora’s invitation to stay as her guest.

As the women come together in the same house, their stories entwine, each driven by an agenda. Cora clings to her memories and will do anything to protect her family’s secrets, while Mackenzie struggles to uncover a terrible truth long denied. But as she brings to light the darkness in her husband’s past, is Mackenzie putting her own future at risk?

Revised edition: This edition of The Book of James includes editorial revisions.