Summary

The novel starts with the first part “Soldier of God: Luther Amos Dunphy; November 2, 1999.” Oates tells the first chapter, “Muskegee Falls, Ohio,” from Luther’s perspective in the first person. The chapter opens as Luther aims his gun at Voorhees. He is in front of the Broome County Women’s Center, where Augustus Voorhees is the abortion provider. Voorhees tells him not to shoot, but Luther has already pulled the trigger. He turns to the doctor’s escort and shoots him too. He kneels and says to the bodies, “God have mercy! God forgive you” (5). Luther lays the gun down in a cross perpendicular to the cracked pavement. He kneels and raises his arms in surrender, assuming he will be shot. The chapter ends in italics as Luther prays to be taken to heaven, but instead explains that...