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In the novel, Deepest Doors, James McBride becomes embroiled in political chaos in Azerbaijan, fights for his life in and around his hometown of New York City and eventually flees to the Indian Ocean coast of Kenya.  This all happens on his journey to discover who he really is and how he acquired certain very unusual abilities.

James makes his home in New York City but, as he eventually learns after his chance encounter with Sarah Plummer, he actually had spent most of his life in the nearby city of Newark, New Jersey (though he had no memory of this).

To many people, Newark is little more than a stopping point on the way to New York City, and not one where most would want to spend any length of time.  It is actually a much more interesting place.  Founded in 1666, Newark is headquarters to numerous corporations, such as Prudential Financial and PSEG. It is also home to several universities, such as Rutgers–Newark (including its Law School), the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and Seton Hall University’s Law School.  Newark is New Jersey’s largest and second-most racially diverse city.  It is the financial, commercial, and transportation nucleus of the Garden State.

Broad and Market Streets, prominently part of the story as James explores the familiar yet unfamiliar home, are also known as Newark’s “Four Corners” and is an intersection that has been known as one of the busiest in the United States. The crossroads for the city’s major north-south and east-west arteries, the intersection was used by the early settlers and was home to the community well. These two streets were the focal point of planning in 1666 when the community officially was laid out.

James and his friends traveled that area, as the attempted to learn more about James’ nebulous past; “They reached the end of Clinton, it teed at Broad Street, one of the busiest thoroughfares of Newark. James stood there a moment, Sarah looking down the street to the left and Bob to the right.”

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