After the death of his father, a young journalist named Faruq Zaidi takes the opportunity to embed himself in a mysterious cult based in the California redwoods and known as the nameless, whose strikingly attractive members adhere to the 18 Utterances, including teachings such as all suffering is distortion and see only beauty. Shepherding them is Odo, an enigmatic Vietnam War veteran who received the sight—the movement’s foundational principles—during his time as an infantryman. Through flashbacks that recount the cult’s wartime origins, we see four soldiers contend with the existential struggles of combat and with their responsibilities to each other, and by the end of the novel we learn which one becomes Odo.
Faruq, skeptical but committed to unraveling the mystery of both the nameless and Odo, extends his stay by months, and as he gets deeper into the cult’s inner workings and alluring teachings, he begins to lose his grip on reality. Faruq is forced to come to terms with the memories he has been running from while trying to resist Odo’s spell. Ultimately this immersive and unsettling novel asks: What does it take to find one’s place in the world? And what exactly do we seek from one another?