Charlie Whitler--sober for the first time in his adult life--returns to Durham County, North Carolina. Only his maternal grandfather knows why he's home. The Hammonds, a once-wealthy family in decline, regroup in the Outer Banks as the story rushes toward its blunt and eerie conclusion.. FUMES is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.