In this darkly playful novel, polymath Rene Belletto tells two complimentary stories: In one, a man finds himself paying a ransom demanded by the kidnappers of a woman he's never actually met; in the other, a second man makes plans to fake his own death to escape a woman whose devotion has begun to terrify him. Fast, funny, and sarcastic, partaking of the same vocabularies, imagery, and pitch-black sense of humor, these two variations on a single theme form a novel as much at home in the surreal as in everyday reality.from Dying "One evening, shortly before my departure (just hours before my departure, truth be told: I only set aside my quill to make my escape), I resolved to put the story of my sojourn at the Rats and Vermin Hotel down in writing. Alas, I didn't succeed. I learned that I wasn't master of my own hand. It was stronger than I, yes stronger than I . . ."