An unidentified monster wrecks a paddle steam on the Mississippi River, killing all but one crewman. Newspaper reports of the incident and others draw Thorn to Natchez to confront the beast. Gideon Thorn investigates while negotiating the pitfalls of race and politics in post-Reconstruction-era Mississippi.

Thorn seeks to verify, identify and eliminate the aquatic predator, while thinking about Dinah Pilcher's recovery. Meanwhile, Natchez natives struggle within the Mississippi's rigid white ...
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An unidentified monster wrecks a paddle steam on the Mississippi River, killing all but one crewman. Newspaper reports of the incident and others draw Thorn to Natchez to confront the beast. Gideon Thorn investigates while negotiating the pitfalls of race and politics in post-Reconstruction-era Mississippi.

Thorn seeks to verify, identify and eliminate the aquatic predator, while thinking about Dinah Pilcher's recovery. Meanwhile, Natchez natives struggle within the Mississippi's rigid white supremacist "closed society," ex-slaves are seeking equality, while racist whites refuse to acknowledge losing the Civil War.
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