What You Leave Behind

A beautifully balanced novel that includes a foray into the world of the Gullah-Geechee people, the experience of grief, and the uncovering of a land grab, all wrapped up in an edge-of-the-seat thriller. Deena Wood is back in her hometown in coastal South Carolina. A 40-something lawyer, she had been living in Atlanta until her husband divorced her, she lost a court case—and her job—and her beloved mother died. It’s time to start over, which means moving in with Dad and his new wife. To unwind, Deena likes to drive along the coast, and one day she comes across a cantankerous, elderly African American man who states that he is fighting to keep his valuable land. Suspicious of Deena’s motives—has she been sent to make him move?—he chases her off his property. But Deena can’t forget him, and when she returns a week later, she discovers he’s gone, with no trace left behind. Deena becomes obsessed, and sets out on a fascinating but deadly search that takes her deep within her community as she goes after a conspiracy that has been exploiting the rural poor for decades, right up to today. Morris (All Her Little Secrets) has written a perfect novel for a book group, and it’s sure to be one of the best books of 2024.