Eli Bell is a traumatised teenager with an absent father, a mute brother, an imprisoned mother, and a heroin dealer for a stepfather.

After its original publication in 2018 in Australia by publisher Fourth Estate[3] the novel was later republished as follows: The novel was also translated into Spanish, Swedish, French, Dutch, Finnish, Turkish, Portuguese, Chinese, Czech, and Lithuanian in 2019; Italian, Polish, and Russian in 2020; and German, Korean, Japanese and Hebrew in 2021.

There are shades of Raymond Chandler in the final confrontation with the town's bleached and wealthy benefactor whose cement bunker conceals a chilling secret.

"[4] Sunil Dasgupta writing in the Washington Independent Review of Books noted: "This is Dalton’s debut novel, and he is a compelling storyteller with an exceptional voice.

[2] The book was adapted for a 7-episode TV mini-series produced by Brouhaha Entertainment's Andrew Mason and Troy Lum, which premiered on Netflix on 11 January 2024.