Inspired by true events, A Gathering Storm begins in a small university town in the South when a gay college student is beaten. In the ensuing days as the young man struggles to survive in a hospital, the residents of the town and the university find themselves at the center of a growing media frenzy as the crime reverberates through the local and national consciousness. Using details and elements from actual hate crimes committed against gay men, Currier weaves personal and spiritual layers into a timely and emotional story.

"Currier explores Matthew Shepard's murder in richly empathetic fiction. The large cast shows how widely a crime's ripples extend. Written in powerful, choppy sentences and consciously patterned after screenplays and true-crime stories, Currier's novel is told in the present tense, shifting among the perspectives of the many characters involved. A compassionate tribute to hate-crime victims."
—Kirkus Reviews