'There is nothing like it. The way the world gets real quiet when a gator's nearby. The way no toad or bird or blade of grass in the landscape dares to move. And then the water, suddenly boiling as that black head surfaces and the ancient reptile erupts into the air hissing like a devil...The way the crack of the rifle seems to come from deep inside Cutter, from someplace under her ribs. The way she feels it in her throat, she knows she's a good killer - and yet. She is stalling...' The Labasques aren't like other families. Living in a shack out in the swamps, they scrape a living hunting down alligators and other animals just to get by. To the good people of Jacknife, Louisiana, they are trouble-makers, outcasts, the kind of people you wouldn't want living on your doorstep. So when Cutter Labasque is found face down in the muddy swamp, no one seems to care, not even her two rough-cut brothers. The only person who questions the official verdict of suicide is Cutter's childhood friend, Loyal May, who has just returned home to care for her ageing mother. Loyal left town at the age of 18, having betrayed Cutter. Now there may be no way to find forgiveness, but there may be restitution...