From the towering imagination of literary icon Joyce Carol Oates comes a psychologically complex thriller that examines the fine line between genius and madness.

Andrew J. Rush is a successful mystery writer with twenty-eight novels to his name. He has a loving wife, three grown children, and is well-known in his small New Jersey town for his charitable work.

But Andrew J. Rush is hiding a dark secret. Under the pseudonym Jack of Spades, he has penned another string of novels - dark tales of murder, lust and madness.

When a court order arrives accusing him of plagarism, Rush fears his secret may be exposed. And unbidden, in the back of his mind, the Jack of Spades starts plotting his survival.