An off-beat novel of obsession and guilt, set in the bitter winter streets of Manhattan. Fred O'Connor's secret apartment was both a dream and a refuge - a dream of the ordered world he longed for and a refuge from the disordered America that he believed existed. It wasn't quite perfect - for one thing he had to share it with Bob, and for another he had bought it with money that was illegally earned - but it was perfect enough, and he would have gone to any lengths to protect it. But not even Fred knew how appalling 'any lengths' would be when smooth, pale Leo Smith came to threaten all he had ever lived for. Forced to confront reality, Fred O'Connor moves from a position of mad, lonely strength to one of terrible and ultimately tragic awareness.