Atticus Turner and his father, Montrose, travel to North Carolina, where they plan to mark the centennial of their ancestor’s escape from slavery by retracing the route he took. But an encounter with an old nemesis turns their reenactment into a real life-and-death pursuit. Back in Chicago, George Berry fights for his own life. Diagnosed with cancer, he strikes a devil’s bargain with the ghost of Hiram Winthrop, who promises a miracle cure. But to receive it, George will first have to bring Winthrop back from the dead. Meanwhile, 15-year-old Horace Berry joins his mother, Hippolyta, and her friend, Letitia Dandridge, on a research trip to Nevada. But Hippolyta has a secret agenda that will take her and Horace to the far end of the universe and bring a new threat home to Letitia’s doorstep.

John Chu is a “sherpa,” a paid guide to online role-playing games like the popular Call to Wizardry. His new client, the pseudonymous Mr. Jones, claims to be a “wealthy, famous person” with powerful enemies, and he’s offering a ridiculous amount of money for a comprehensive tour of the world of virtual-reality gaming. For Chu, this is a dream assignment, but as the tour gets underway, he begins to suspect that Mr. Jones is really North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. He also has to worry about “Ms. Pang,” who may or may not be an agent of the People’s Republic of China, and his angry ex-girlfriend, Darla Jean Covington, who isn’t the type to let an international intrigue get in the way of her own plans for revenge.

When his father goes missing, Army veteran Atticus Turner embarks on a road trip to find him. On his journey to the manor of Mr. Braithwhite --- heir to the estate that owned one of Atticus’ ancestors --- he encounters both mundane terrors of white America and malevolent spirits. At the manor, Atticus discovers his father in chains, held prisoner by a secret cabal led by Samuel Braithwhite and his son, Caleb --- which has gathered to orchestrate a ritual that shockingly centers on Atticus. And his one hope of salvation may be the seed of his --- and the whole Turner clan’s --- destruction.

The MIRAGE presents a twisted alternate take on the 9/11 attacks: on September 11, 2001, Christian fundamentalists flew two planes into the Tigris & Euphrates World Trade Towers in Baghdad, and a third into the Arab Defense Ministry in Riyadh.