Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo: Summary and Study Guide

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

You can also check the ending explained page for a focused look at the finale.

For a quick review, try the quiz or essay prompts.

If you have specific questions, the Q&A page may help.

For a deeper dive, explore the chapter summaries and character, theme, and symbol pages.

Now, let's dive in.

Quick Facts

• Genre: Queer Southern Gothic (horror/supernatural)

• Setting: Nashville, Tennessee (Vanderbilt University and the Capitol Street house, with excursions to rural Tennessee)

• Narrator: Third-person limited, following Andrew Blur

• Publication Year: 2021

Short Summary

After his best friend Eddie Fulton dies under suspicious circumstances, Andrew Blur inherits Eddie's house, car, and a supernatural curse. Refusing to accept the official suicide ruling, Andrew moves to Nashville and begins investigating Eddie's death, uncovering a family curse tied to the land, a hidden research project, and a web of academic exploitation. Along the way, he forms alliances with Eddie's roommate Riley and Riley's cousin Sam, confronts his own repressed desires, and eventually faces the true murderer: his professor, Jane Troth, who killed Eddie to steal his power. The novel culminates in a violent confrontation, the release of Eddie's ghost, and Andrew's tentative new beginning with Sam.

Full Summary

Summer Sons opens with Andrew Blur arriving in Nashville to retrieve the car of his recently deceased best friend, Eddie Fulton, whose memorial service is scheduled for August 10th. Andrew pays the impound fees and argues with his companion Del, who wants him to leave. He insists on finding out what happened to Eddie, whom he refuses to believe killed himself. After Del leaves, Andrew drives Eddie's black Challenger Hellcat to the executor's office, learning he has inherited Eddie's house, a graduate program, and a fortune. He then drives to the house on Capitol Street, where Eddie's roommate Riley waits. Reluctant to go inside, Andrew rests in the car and experiences a haunting: a spectral figure appears and touches his wrist, leaving frost-burn blisters. This is the third such visitation in fifteen days.

Andrew moves into the house with Riley, who shows him around. He finds Eddie's notebook containing notes about seeing dead people and unfinished writing about the land as a source that must be paid. He experiences a haunt-dream recalling a childhood memory in a cavern. He meets Sam Halse, Riley's cousin, who is pushy and tries to get his phone number. Andrew begins attending classes, where he meets Thom West, Eddie's peer mentor, and Professor Jane Troth, Eddie's advisor. Troth offers to continue Eddie's occult folklore research and gives him a tote of books. Andrew discovers Eddie's hidden notebook and papers have been disturbed, and he experiences a supernatural presence that grips him by the neck. He finds cocaine in Eddie's drawer and learns from Sam that he sold Eddie coke. Andrew races Sam on a rural highway, narrowly avoiding a head-on collision, and begins to suspect Sam's involvement in Eddie's death.

Andrew continues investigating, trying to access Eddie's laptop and searching for his missing phone. He attends a party at Sam's grandparents' house, where he gets into a brawl after overhearing derogatory comments about Riley and Eddie. Riley tends to his injuries, and Andrew insists he is not gay. The revenant—a copy of Eddie—manifests more frequently, feeding on Andrew's blood. Riley reveals he can sense the haunting and that Eddie brought him into his research. Andrew insists the creature isn't Eddie, just a copy. He learns from the McCormicks, an elderly couple Eddie was scheduled to interview, about the Fulton curse: a second son made a deal at a crossroads, sacrificing his sister to save his wife, gaining power over death, and cursing the family line.

Andrew and Sam grow closer, and Andrew has his first sexual encounter with a man. He puts on Eddie's ring, which triggers a violent supernatural reaction: the revenant seizes control of his body, nearly stopping his heart. Andrew fights it off by shoving the power into the ground. He discovers that Troth's husband Mark has Eddie's monograph and notes, and suspects Mark interfered with Eddie. Troth invites Andrew to her ancestral plantation home, where she drugs him and reveals she killed Eddie because his power should have passed to her. She forces Andrew to swallow a ritual paste and cuts his forearms, attempting to unite Eddie's revenant with him. Sam attacks Mark, but Troth stabs Sam and slashes his face. Andrew, merged with the revenant, animates Mark's corpse to block Troth's attack and consumes her power entirely. Sam frees Andrew and calls 911.

After hospitalization, Andrew learns Sam lost sight in one eye. He arranges to pay Sam's bills. News breaks naming Andrew and Eddie in an occult murder story. Sam tells Andrew the debt with Eddie is settled and asks him to leave. Andrew returns to Capitol and asks Riley for help. Together they drive to the Fulton family home, where Andrew forces the lock and releases his inherited power. They then go to the abandoned plantation from his dreams, where Andrew discovers occult texts and decides to burn everything. He uses a ring to transfer Eddie's ghost into the band, says goodbye, and throws it into a sinkhole, laying Eddie to rest. Back home, he cleans Eddie's room and joins friends celebrating Riley's accepted thesis proposal. Andrew texts Sam, who replies that he will see him that night. At a gas station, Andrew tells Sam he wants to do better and that Sam is worth it. Sam asks him to prove it, declines a kiss, and suggests they start fresh. Andrew returns to his car and follows the group.

Main Characters

• Andrew Blur – The grieving protagonist who inherits Eddie's house, car, and supernatural curse, and investigates Eddie's death while confronting his own haunted past.

• Eddie Fulton – Andrew's deceased best friend whose death is ruled suicide but is actually murder, and whose ghost haunts Andrew as a revenant, leaving clues about a curse and a hidden research project.

• Riley – Eddie's roommate and friend who helps Andrew, senses the supernatural, and becomes a close ally while dealing with his own family history and Sam's protective role.

• Sam Halse – Riley's cousin, a drug dealer and street racer who initially seems suspicious but becomes Andrew's ally and love interest, helping him confront the curse and the Troths.

• Jane Troth – Andrew's professor and Eddie's advisor, who secretly killed Eddie to steal his supernatural power and attempts to transfer it to herself through a ritual.

• West – A graduate student and Eddie's peer mentor who was exploited by Troth, returns Eddie's field journal, and provides information about academic politics.

Themes

• The Inherited Curse and the Hungry Land – A family's devil's bargain binds supernatural power to blood and land, transforming inheritance into a burden that demands ongoing sacrifice from each generation.

• Grief as Forensic Investigation – Refusing to accept a death transforms mourning into a reconstruction of the deceased's hidden life, revealing that intimacy does not guarantee knowledge.

• Academic Exploitation of Regional Folklore – The theft and commodification of folklore research by academic superiors exposes how institutions consume local knowledge for career advancement.

• Repressed Queer Desire and Masculine Performance – Denial of queer desire, maintained through heterosexual cover and reinforced by rural codes of masculinity, shapes self-understanding and fuels violence.

• The Revenant as Copy – Distinguishing a haunting from the person it resembles raises questions about identity and what survives death, complicating the work of mourning.

Symbols

• The Challenger (Eddie's car) – Eddie's black Challenger Hellcat, inherited by Andrew, serves as a recurring locus of haunting where the revenant manifests and the trunk holds the psychometric vision of Eddie's body being dumped.

• Eddie's ring – A cursed heirloom that acts as a supernatural conduit, triggering possession when worn and ultimately serving as the vessel into which Eddie's ghost is transferred for release.

• The matching wrist tattoos – Ritual tattoos from Columbus that bond Andrew and Eddie, symbolizing their connection, the earth-bond, and the claim between them that persists after death.

• The sinkhole/cavern – The childhood site of Andrew and Eddie's traumatic accident that recurs in dreams and haunt-visions, and becomes the final resting place where Eddie's ghost is laid to rest.

Ending Overview

In the final chapter, Andrew and Riley drive to the Fulton family home, where Andrew forces the lock and releases his inherited power. They then go to the abandoned plantation from Andrew's dreams, where Andrew discovers occult texts and decides to burn everything. He uses a ring to transfer Eddie's ghost into the band, says goodbye, and throws it into a sinkhole, laying Eddie to rest. Back home, he cleans Eddie's room and joins friends celebrating Riley's accepted thesis proposal. Andrew texts Sam, who replies that he will see him that night. At a gas station, Andrew tells Sam he wants to do better and that Sam is worth it. Sam asks him to prove it, declines a kiss, and suggests they start fresh. Andrew returns to his car and follows the group. For a deeper analysis, see the ending explained page.

Chapter-by-Chapter Summary

Common Questions

1. Who killed Eddie Fulton?

Jane Troth, Eddie's advisor, killed him to steal his supernatural power. She reveals this in Chapter 29.

1. What is the Fulton curse?

A family curse originating from a crossroads bargain where a second son sacrificed his sister to save his wife, gaining power over death and cursing