La 4e de couverture indique : "On 29 June, 1941, thirty-six members of a small community near Boston go out on a picnic off Bailey Island on the pleasure craft, the Raven. Mysteriously, only the women and one man, the captain, naked and tied to a keg, come back - dead, found by a lone lobsterman and his nine-year-old son. Then nothing - no other bodies and no trace of the vessel are ever discovered. Conflicting details about the boat's disappearance abound. Was there fog, or was the weather clear? Was it sunk by the Germans, or scuttled for insurance money? Was a bad sea at fault, or a bad captain?"

Nathan Stein -- once an attractive, cultured lawyer -- has stipped into the dark world of his powerful father's corrupt practice. After one too many shady deals, he finds himself alone, sick in body and spirit. His career and life are careening out of control, and he's about to become the prime suspect in the murder of a young woman. As we follow him over a long day and night, Nathan encounters the friends, lovers, and family members he has betrayed. Lurching toward redemption, he must answer for his actions. Is he a murderer or the victim of an elaborate frame-up? Or do his sins go even deeper? A tale of chilling suspense that belies the elegance of its prose, Blood Acre is a compelling story of one man's harrowing search through the dark streets of the soul.