Russell Banks died in 2023 and these three interconnected short stories were published posthumously. I really enjoyed them, although sometimes I wanted a little more...story?...crafting...length, I'm not sure. They all take place in a fictional New York state small town called Sam Dent. In the first a man sells off his family's land to a shady man who becomes increasingly dangerous. In the second a family move into a house, next door to white lesbians who are raising four black children. At first the new family want to make friends, but things are not all they seem at their neighbours. And in the fourth an elderly couple are kidnapped because their grandson owes money for drug smuggling. All stories were wonderfully bleak, just how I like them.