Sky Blue and Blackexplores the mysterious connection between seeminglyunrelated events while examining everyday life in the United States in themonths before September 11, 2001. Author Robert B. Murdoch weaves strandsof historical and fictional events to create a vivid tapestry of American life thatdepicts issues of chance versus fate, life and death, hope and sorrow, and loveand loss. Told chronologically,Sky Blue and Blackportrays the prosaic lives of severalfamilies in New Jersey and northeastern Ohio. It traces Al Qaeda terroristMohammed Atta's final months in the U.S. as he prepares for the attacks on theWorld Trade Center, while simultaneously following a serial killer innortheastern Ohio, who stalks and kills one person a month, taking a mementofrom each body to include in his gruesome scrapbook of death. Among thekiller's victims is Chandra Levy, the missing intern whose disappearance is thestory of the summer until the horrific attacks on 9/11. Meanwhile, the familieslive typical suburban American lives, unaware of how the ordinary events of thepassing months will connect them in a most extraordinary manner to thetragedy about to unfold on a crisp, blue autumn morning. A detailed and compelling story of American life,Sky Blue and Blackcapturesthe humor, tedium, and hope that make up our everyday existence. As thedramatic events of September 11th unfold, the lives of the various charactersfinally intersect on that fateful morning'and none of them knows who willlive or die.