Oates employs a retrospective approach, three views of the life of Andrew Petrie, who is already dead (from the shots of an assassin, perhaps even a suicide) before the novel actually begins. There are three parts to the novel, a separate section for each of the three principal characters: a crazed monologue by Andrew's brother Hugh, who goes insane, shoots himself and is reduced to a vegetative state in a hospital bed; a third-person account of the widow Yvonne, her harassment by Hugh, and supposed murder; and a third-person account of Stephen, the brother who has been released as a mental patient and who calmly pronounces the death of Andrew as God's will. All are dominated by the dead man, all that they do or think is a response to Andrew Petrie's death. The correspondence with the bereaved widow is also integrated into the text of the novel...