This story's a blend of realism, fantasy and mystery. Stanley Reader, a young war veteran, suffers from amnesia and hallucinations. The cause is due to psychological trauma and injuries he sustained during a bombing in Afghanistan. Back home he awakens from a terrible dream: His former girlfriend, Thel, is trapped on a lifeguard tower engulfed in flames. He hasn't seen her in over a year. What he last remembers is being with her at the very same lifeguard tower he dreamt about. By the next morning, she is gone. Stanley soon finds himself on a pathway filled with ominous and surreal settings. He's now on a search to find out what really happened to her. During his one night odyssey, Stanley encounters familiar faces and odd strangers: His former professor, who has a fetish for French films; the professor's daughter, who's preternaturally introspective and well-versed in the paranormal; a deranged lion trainer fed up with the circus; two conjurers who've mastered the old ways of magic; a ghost from the war who tries to help Stanley survive the night; two malevolent thugs with a grudge against him. There's also a lion on the loose. And startling moments do arise when Stanley thinks of seeing Thel float like an apparition through the streets. Stanley returns to old haunts ranging from a coffee shop, a dive bar to a cafe. There's a car-chase, murder and magic. Eventually, he'll find himself at that one lifeguard tower from his dream. There a strange, forgotten memory will emerge central to Thel's ultimate fate. It involves a mysterious painting. And it will place Stanley between the ideal importance of joy and profound elements of madness "