A horror novel investigating the origins and dissemination of evil and cruelty across time and space. The book Preface begins is de Sade's Charenton, France, then quickly moves across the Atlantic to 1990s Maine. Gender and sexuality are primary subjects along with bullying and physical threats to two children and the town of Newton, Maine. The gender/sexuality issues comment on de Sade's misuse of those themes; the rest of the book subtly calls out contemporary horror fiction writers for gross abuses of taste and the safety of children. Racial issues are also treated as many of the most important characters are African-American.