Six brilliant short stories, with the title story following an orphan travelling along the Mississippi, getting caught in the Starved Rock Massacre. This is followed by the story of two Iraq veterans adrift in civilian life of the Pacific Northwest. A reporter and photographer that witness the unexpected death of a Missouri Governor, and then onto Dublin following an outcast sailor in a pre-apocalyptic world. Next the infamous Manson family story through the eyes of one of its members. His last story contemplates war from a Blackwater contractor's perspective.