Sean Goff was a dynamic Pentecostal minister who was already running his own church by the age of twenty-two. He had wed a pliable teenager and bent her to his will, eventually convincing her to agree to his secretly taking a second wife named Joy. Although at first the clandestine arrangement worked well, problems soon began to surface.

Leif Wright, Sean’s friend and co-worker, confronted Sean about his hidden polygamous lifestyle, which threatened to scandalize their employer, a world-famous televangelist.

Sean’s foray into polygamy led to his association with an online community where he earned respect by dispensing advice to other evangelical polygamists. He derided divorce as the sign of a weak man who didn’t know how to lead his women. It was especially troublesome to Sean when Joy hinted that she wasn’t happy and wanted to have a meaningful career. Then Joy suddenly disappeared, although friends continued to receive her e-mails. The messages seemed strange, and some wondered whether she was really traveling around Europe.

Leif Wright takes his readers into the mind of a ruthless, controlling killer in this straight-from-the-headlines true crime saga, leaving us all to question just how well any of us really knows our neighbors, friends and spouses.