This alternate history/supernatural tale has vivid descriptions and such deep characters. It really does feel like a literary novel in terms of the author's exceptional writing and characterization. The theme is a bit dark but wonderful. It is about four people who have each just experienced a tragedy in their lives and they are all dealing with grief in their own way (one is Trina a nine-year-old deaf girl who becomes obsessed with a nuclear war) when weird things start happening in their small Oregon coastal town. Dead animals are showing up on the beaches mutiliated, etc. This is all set against a backfrop of 1980s nuclear tensions. The 4 characters are drawn together by events that culminate in a very surprising ending. The book starts out slowly but builds to a wonderful climax.