Delusional

The novel opens four months before the main action, as Thomas Wayne Owens, a reclusive MIT-educated engineer who models his lifestyle after Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, receives visitors at his off-the-grid cabin near Millwood, New York. Ellis Warrenton, a smooth-talking man; Kimmy, a young blond woman; and Pry (real name Leonard Barr), a volatile giant, have tracked Owens through his YouTube explosion videos and anti-technology writings. Ellis pitches a shared cause: fighting government tyranny and tech overreach through chaos. When Pry ignores warnings and touches items on Owens's workbench, a blasting cap detonates and blows off two of Pry's fingers, a detail that becomes a crucial forensic clue.

In present-day New York City, NYPD Detective Michael Bennett, a veteran investigator with the Manhattan North Homicide unit, and his young partner, Rob Trilling, a quiet former Army Ranger, respond to a fatal bombing at the Office of Technology and Innovation in lower Manhattan. A smudge at the scene indicates the intruder is missing two fingers on the left hand, and glitter was mixed into the bomb. The attack may be connected to a car bombing five months earlier that killed NYPD Patrol Sergeant Rose Vega, for which an unnamed anti-government group claimed credit. A Bomb Squad sergeant tips Bennett off about a burglary at Picatinny Arsenal, a military research facility in New Jersey, where C-4 plastic explosive and black powder were stolen using the same pry-bar technique. Trilling requests personal leave to help his brother, Gary, who runs the family car lot in Palm Island, Montana, a tiny town their great-grandfather incorporated, where an aggressive buyer is trying to purchase the property.

At the arsenal, Bennett meets Special Agent Maggie Chin of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), a combat-engineer veteran who proves herself a sharp partner. They pursue parallel leads, eliminating the victim's ex-boyfriend as a suspect when he provides a solid alibi. Meanwhile, Owens and his group celebrate the bombing from a Yonkers safe house. Owens fixates on bigger targets, selecting Virtual Spaces, a tech company in Midtown Manhattan, as the group's next strike.

Bennett's home life provides a counterweight to the investigation. He and his wife, Mary Catherine, who is pregnant with their first biological child, are raising 10 adopted children. Bennett's oldest daughter, Juliana, a college student, is dating Trilling and helping his five Pakistani roommates, women rescued from human trafficking. When a man named Ronald Pittman gropes one of the roommates and the other women fight back, Pittman falsely claims Bennett caused his injuries and files a complaint with Internal Affairs.

In Montana, Trilling encounters escalating threats against the car lot. The buyer, Arnold Marks, offers Gary an inflated price, and when Gary declines, Marks turns threatening. The situation worsens when the car lot's office burns down, killing Lillian Mathis, Gary's loyal bookkeeper. Bennett flies to Montana and deliberately provokes Marks, introducing himself as a homicide detective and later slapping Marks across the face to push him into rash action. Criminal intelligence analyst Walter Jackson discovers that Marks's real name is Arjan Marku, an Albanian immigrant suspected in multiple homicides and likely an FBI counterintelligence informant whose cooperation has shielded him from prosecution. A local attorney explains that Marku wants to build a resort hotel near a planned casino on tribal lands, and Palm Island's incorporated status makes it the only viable location.

Marku retaliates with a nighttime armed assault on the Trilling family homes. Rob's mother, Mona, slashes one intruder with a kitchen knife. Rob takes a rifle to a ridge while Bennett positions himself outside with a revolver. Marku arrives with an AK-47, but Chet Trilling, Rob's elderly grandfather, emerges with a shotgun and blasts Marku with bird shot, forcing him to flee. FBI agents visit the next day; one attempts to protect Marku's informant status, and Bennett throws them out.

Back in New York, Owens executes the Virtual Spaces bombing. He enters the building, places a briefcase bomb against an interior wall, and retreats to a nearby Starbucks to watch. The blast kills three people and injures over a dozen others. Juliana and Katie, one of Trilling's roommates, narrowly avoid the bombing because Juliana left her phone in an Uber, delaying their arrival for Katie's job interview.

Tensions within the bomber group escalate as Owens clashes with Ellis over targets. Owens wants to attack a facility belonging to Con Edison, New York City's electric utility, to black out Manhattan, while Ellis insists on robbing a bank for cash. Kimmy privately tells Owens that Ellis is motivated by money, not ideology. The group fractures further when Bennett and Maggie track Barr to a storage unit in the Bronx and confirm he is missing two fingers on his left hand, matching the forensic evidence. After a violent confrontation, they arrest him.

Barr's defense attorney, Robert Heitz, tips off Ellis that Bennett is pursuing the group. Owens hacks NYPD files to locate Bennett's blue Chevy Impala and rigs a bomb to its driver-side door. He also secretly booby-traps the remote for a separate satchel bomb as revenge against Ellis.

Bennett and Maggie discover Owens through his article in Tech and Society, which echoes Kaczynski's warnings about technology and government control. ATF files contain copies of Owens's YouTube videos, and a visit to his abandoned cabin yields a cigar butt matching those found in Barr's storage unit, confirming the connection. Owens's brother Spencer, a financial analyst in Chicago, provides the Yonkers address.

At the Yonkers house, Bennett and Maggie find Owens on the ground after Ellis has punched him. Ellis grabs the satchel bomb and flees. Maggie handcuffs Owens while Bennett chases Ellis. Ellis threatens Bennett with the remote, declaring, "This one is for Pry" (336), and pulls the trigger. The remote itself explodes in Ellis's hands, since Owens booby-trapped it. Bennett smothers the flames with his jacket. Ellis is critically burned. Kimmy escapes during the chaos; Owens later claims she left the group earlier, protecting her.

During the drive back to the city, Owens talks freely. He reveals that Ellis and Pry killed Sergeant Vega before he joined the group and expresses genuine belief that extreme measures are necessary to combat climate change and tech overreach.

At the Manhattan North office, Arjan Marku ambushes Bennett with a pistol, seeking revenge for the humiliation in Montana. He forces Bennett to disarm and orders him toward the Impala. Owens, who knows the car is rigged, grabs Bennett's shirt and mutters, "I wouldn't" (351). Bennett tosses his keys to Marku instead of opening the door. When Marku pulls the handle, the bomb detonates, killing him. Bennett suffers second-degree facial burns and a foot injury. At the hospital, Maggie presents him with his late wife Maeve's titanium Saint Christopher medal, recovered from the wreckage.

The novel closes with resolution on multiple fronts. Surveillance footage surfaces showing Pittman groping Ayesha, one of Trilling's Pakistani roommates, collapsing his complaint against Bennett. The entire Bennett family attends Juliana's opening night of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Trilling arrives with roses, and he and Juliana kiss in the aisle as Bennett watches with a reluctant smile.